“You can’t all have her,” Jada gasps.
“None of us plan on having her,” I say.
“I said I don’t get it before, but I mean it. How is this little mortal even still alive?”
Rose waves a hand, like she’s not interested in the new argument, then points sharply down at the map.
“There’s a plan. I’m all for the unwavering magic of… this… even if it is an inconvenient challenge. But…” She trails off, partly because Thane is doing his wolf growl and Killian is doing an equally spine-tingling Darkness growl.
“Well, I think you need to consider your mother's wishes. You three need to leave Pax’s mate alone. Competing with him shouldn’t be an option,” Jada interrupts.
Has she always been this annoying? It’s been a few decades since we’ve worked together. Talked, yes, and we’ve dined and danced at castle functions plenty of times since Mother’s death, but no moments that should be layered with hierarchy and respect. I can’t recall if she ever bowed to Pax as commander, back when he was the only one. Or any of us as heirs, or even Father for that fact – yet somehow she managed to be the perfect picture of what a Saber noble, almost a princess, and one of the few Sabers not forced into triunes, should be. Attentive. Poised. Considerate. Loyal. Passive. That kind of thing.
But now she’s suggesting Kitten is somehow a problem, a challenge to be overcome or discarded.
“She isn’t a challenge, and we aren’t competing – she’s part of the plan,” I say.
Rose meets my gaze, edging a little away from Pax. Clearly unaware that the guy can’t act on his desires. Which is a good thing, since I’m pretty sure he desires blood right now.
“One of the pieces we can’t know?” Rose asks, her tone calming.
“I need to know,” Jada demands, anger written across all of her tense features.
Rose holds her arm out, stopping Jada from taking a step forward.
Jada grew up with us – but all that has given her now is far too low a level of self-preservation.
“I trust your rule,” Rose says, her words stilling the fire in Jada.
And the rippling aggression coming off Pax and Killian.
Jada shakes Rose’s arm off, then flicks her hair back. “I trust your rule,” she bites out, then leaves.
That woman is walking a continuing-to-thin line. Pax needs her to set the example of respect and loyalty, but she’s pushing the boundaries like she did when we were children.
Rose waits until Jada is out of view.
Running a hand over her short hair, she says, “The mortal is going to save us all?”
I nod. “Most likely.”
“Then you boys better work harder at training her and keeping her away from your allies – or we’re all going to die.”
“We will, as soon as we return to the White Castle,” Pax says.
“We’re going back?” I ask.
“No,” Killian grunts.
Rose looks from one of us to the other, clearly in shock.
Then she licks her lips, turns, and starts to walk away.
“I’ll get my team ready. We’ll eat, then leave to search those villages,” she says. Then, when she’s almost out of sight on the path, she adds, “I’m not surprised. She tasted pretty damn good.”
Aeons. One sentence a guy laced with Allure should not be teased with is the taste of the woman he wants to get alone.
I run my fingers through my hair, eyeing the cottage and its quiet little work room three stories above all of this.
“No, you cannot watch,” Pax growls, clearly at Thane.
“Watch who?” Killian demands, finally unfolding his arms. He shoots a glance after Rose that could be full of confusion, or it could be constipation.
Not going to ask him which.
Pax grinds his teeth, which makes every word he manages to get out sound all the more aggressive. “Watch Beautiful and Rose.”
Killian snorts. “Rose likes her lovers to fight harder – Rose likes breaking points. Shadow isn’t like that, so Rose won’t go there.”
He settles himself on one of the logs, right on the edge where he has a view of the cottage out of the corner of his eye.
“But Rose does like women,” Pax says.
“I like women,” Thane growls.
But it falls on deaf ears as Pax sinks onto the next log, straddling it to give himself a clear view of everything in the direction of Kitten – and his Sabers.
I kick the rocks off the map and let it curl up like an unleashed spring before leaning down to get it – then deciding down is a pretty good direction right now. So I move the map aside and sit in its place. The cottage, and Kitten somewhere beyond with Seth, is squarely in my view.
“Can we keep her safe?” Killian asks, his tone low and the question hanging like maybe the answer shouldn’t be voiced.
“I can keep her safe,” Pax rumbles. “But once this bubble is gone, I’m not even sure she’ll want me to.”
The declaration is raw with self-doubt. Killian nods in camaraderie, and I look at them both in shock.
“What do you mean?” I demand.
We all have our issues, but now is not the time for Pax to fall into his. Sure, saving her is priority number one, but after that he wants to take her to the White Castle. Killian wants her kept away from it – and none of us are willing to ask what she wants.
“Remember what it was like with Jessamy? I broke orders to chase her from the moment I laid eyes on her.”
“We’d never ridden harder,” Killian agrees.
All of us – but it was a different time.
“And when we caught up, I could hardly find the words. I felt like a boy again. I brought her flowers – I grew her an orchid! Hired minstrels to play ballads that we’d worked on together.” He pauses to wave at me, then at Killian. “You taught me to hand-forge a blade with the pattern of her fingerprint etched into the steel. And what have I given Shade? A bed on the
