Argh!
Well, that hadn’t gone as expected.
Maybe if I’d been able to pick my jaw up off the ground and think straight from the beginning, I could’ve gotten a decent word in edgewise before they had hauled me off. But I had taken one look at King McDreamy, and everything had just gone blank. All I could think about was how much I wanted to get him alone so I could explore him thoroughly.
It seemed too good to be true. Except there was no denying the way my mark affirmed it.
Pleasure rippled over me, and I shivered, thinking about how much I had appreciated everything about the man I’d just met.
And he had liked me too. I could feel his arousal and amusement and entertainment whenever he had focused on me. But he kept quelling his lustier feelings with a darker emotion I couldn’t quite place, which was confusing.
All this was so new to me; however, I wasn’t quite certain how it worked.
And, yes, I was still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that the mark had matched me up with the big kahuna.
Was it too late to apologize to the magical tattoo on my temple?
Whatever. Better late than never, I say. I was more concerned with figuring out how to see him again.
Wait. Royal?
Ooh! I bet I could get Vander to—
Wait another second.
Olivander.
That meant—
Oh…
Oh no.
Vander, Unity, and I had recently uncovered a prophecy that was supposed to break the Graykey curse I was currently being held under.
And all of this had to be done within the next twelve months or so, or the entire planet was probably going to implode on itself, taking out everyone on it.
Not exactly an optimistic forecast for the inhabitants of the Outer Realms.
Which was why Unity had tried to get me to hook up with her husband and create said world-saving baby because—oh yeah, I forgot to mention—Olivander came from House Bjorn.
Except…
All we had to do was be willing to surrender its life up for a bloody demise.
I swallowed weakly and felt suddenly nauseous and woozy-headed. A cold sweat began, and I pressed my hand to my stomach, already worried about some non-existent baby that I wasn’t even pregnant with.
I jumped, completely having forgotten about him.
Tearing my thoughts from curses, doomed planets, one true loves, and dying children, I looked up and scowled.
Politely clasping his hands behind his back, he flushed slightly before glancing shyly my way. “Since the king turned down your offer, you must be wanting to seek a protector elsewhere, then, I’m guessing.”
Ha. As if.
“But…” He blinked, confused. “He told you no.”
Brow furrowing, the knight tipped his head, trying to make sense of my words, but it didn’t seem to compute with him that I would actually dare ignore a king’s initial command.
I mean, I don’t think he would.
Well, I refused to believe he’d ever harm me, and that was a good enough assurance for me.
I was going to find some way to see him again, anyway, no matter the risk.
“Hey.” I paused and turned to Tolman as we neared the harem wagon, not at all worried about his warning. “Do you happen to know his first name?”
Tolman furrowed his brow. “The king’s?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
His face paled. “But we do not directly address a king to his face by his given name. It’s just not done. You’d be executed for sure.”
Wow. Strict rules. It suddenly made me miss home, where you could call your country’s leader a worthless, lying pig, and more people would agree with you than castigate you for your lack of respect.
“Of course,” I said, nodding in agreement before I asked, “but do you know what it is, anyway?”
“Well, yes. Everyone does.” He scowled at me as if insulted that I even had to ask. Then he glanced around, licked his lips nervously, and leaned in. “It’s…” He huffed out a breath, then whispered. “His official title is King Xavier of House Kole, High Ruler of Realm Lowden.”
Tolman huffed out a helpless sound and looked significantly distressed. “Why do I have a bad feeling you’re going to do something completely reckless?”
Chuckling, I patted his arm. “Oh, Tolman. You already know me so well. We’re going to be good friends; I can tell.”
“Trust me,” I assured him as we neared the wagonload of harem girls. “You don’t want more than friendship from me. I’m kind of a mess.”
Tolman didn’t look quite so convinced, but he murmured an obliging, “If you say so,” before he offered me his hand so he could assist me up the ladder and back into the wagon.
“Thank you, anyway,” I said, no longer upset with him. “You probably saved my life back there by sticking up for me against Eyebrow—er, I mean, against Guthrie. You’re a true gentleman.”
I leaned up to kiss his cheek before I started my ascent into the wagon bed. Tolman flushed and looked up at me with puppy love swimming in his eyes. Then he bowed stiffly at the waist and proclaimed, “Ever in your service, milady,” before he pivoted away and hurried off.
I blinked after him, then turned to discover nine pairs of eyes on me, openly watching my encounter with the soldier.
“Saving yourself for the king, hm?” Osa finally asked, her voice catty and full of spite. “Guess that didn’t work out so well.”
“Oh!” I said in surprise as I motioned after the departing Tolman. “You think I… That we… Oh, no. I’m sorry, I didn’t—er—we didn’t. Tolman was just escorting me back after—”
Most of the ladies around me snorted in disbelief.
“Well, whatever you did,” Althea spoke up. “You already got the sod half in love with you. I swear, there were little hearts swimming around his head as he sauntered away.”
“Feed him some kind of love potion, did you?” Osa wondered. “Must’ve been a good one because that boy still wants to rut you in every way possible.”
“No,” I muttered. “I most certainly did not—”
“Just tell me how much he paid you,” Naveen demanded.
At the front of the wagon, Uvall gave a sharp whistle and snapped his reins. The wagon lurched into movement, and my gut gave a heavy swish that made me nearly lose my lunch right then and there.
Moaning, I gripped my belly and breathed through my nose a few moments before glancing up at Naveen and saying, “I didn’t charge him anything.”
“Ooh…” Erinn hissed out a regretful wince and shook her head. “You should never give away a freebie, milady. More and more will start expecting it until you work yourself right out of business.”
I sighed. “I meant, I didn’t charge him anything because we didn’t have sex.”
“And I wasn’t born yesterday,” Naveen snapped. “Try to scam me over as much as you like, but I will be getting what you owe me.”
A collective gasp rippled around the wagon bed, and all the other prostitutes pulled back toward the sideboards to get out of the middle, as if they were making a ring for Naveen and me to physically duke it out in.
The driver glanced over his shoulder when his name was mentioned, but he had the good sense to keep quiet during our squabble.
Naveen narrowed her eyes but couldn’t naysay me, since she knew I was right.
“Already paid for, milady,” he tossed back. “By Naveen.”
Oh, good gravy.
The boss mama smirked, and victory flashed in her eyes.
“Fine.” I heaved out an exhausted sigh. “How much do you want for the wagon ride? After that, we’re done here.”
“I want thirty percent of whatever you made from that guard.”
“Oh my God,” I snapped. “How many times do I have to tell you? I didn’t sleep with the freaking guard.”
I blinked at her. “I didn’t do that either.”
“Alright,” Naveen huffed, digging into a deep leather satchel next to her. “Enough of this. I’m done going ‘round with you. You’ve forced my hand; now it’s time for the truth.” She pulled out a small black cloth pouch that looked like it could be a coin purse, and she tugged open the pull cord before reaching in with two fingers and withdrawing a pinch full of yellow, sparkling powder.
I squinted, wondering what that magic-looking dust did. Unity had given me a similar pouch full of magenta powder that changed appearances. It was called a glamour. We used it to hide my Graykey mark. But yellow was new. It must—
Naveen flicked it right into my eyes.
“Argh!” I squeezed my lashes shut and rubbed at them, yelping, “What the hell?”
“How much money did you make from that man?” Naveen demanded.
“Are you even a prostitute?” Osa asked.
I rolled my eyes. “No. Of course not.”
“Then why did you climb into this wagon with us?” another wondered.
Everyone gasped in shock. Even Uvall glanced back to gape at me.
“No, it—”
Wait a second. I should not be telling these complete strangers all this. I had a bad feeling it would not be in my best interest to reveal so much.
“Dammit,” Naveen hissed when I remained stubbornly mute. “The powder already wore off.”
“Give her some more,” Erinn urged. “I want to find out who her true love is.”
“Hell, no.” Naveen shook her head. “I already can’t believe I used that much on her in the first place.”
“I know, I know.” Naveen was sniffing acerbically before she waved a dismissive hand. “But I can’t stand being lied to. I had to know the truth.”
“Hold up.” I lifted a hand and paused a moment before exploding, “Did you seriously just truth serum me?”
I gaped at the black pouch as Naveen pulled it closed and tucked it away protectively.
“You should’ve sprung for the good shit when that mage was peddling it,” Osa told her. “I hear that keeps a person talking true for nearly a full minute.”
“But maybe we could’ve learned who her true love was,” Erinn said.
When all the women looked at me, awaiting an answer, I flushed and cleared my throat. “Oh! Well, I—I haven’t figured out who it is yet,” I lied, glad that Naveen’s cheap truth powder only worked for a few seconds. “He was too far up the line when I tried to seek him out on the break, and the guards wouldn’t let me through. So Tolman escorted me back to the wagon.”
“He must be high ranking if no one would let you near him,” Erinn announced before letting out a dreamy sigh. “Wouldn’t it be amazing if one of us was paired off with a royal guard or dignitary, or maybe even the—”
She looked almost hurt as she made that announcement, and for some reason I started to feel sorry for her.
“But…” I shook my head, confused. “If you’ve met your mate, then…”
Why in the world was she a prostitute?
I stopped myself from asking, though, my gaze going to her temple that held no tattoo.
Unity had told me that your love mark disappeared when your partner died.
Lips parting, I sucked in a breath, and sympathy filled me.
“No, don’t you dare look at me like that,” Naveen sneered, casting me a hard scowl. “I’m not High Cliff-born. I never had the mark. I never lost my tattoo.”
“Oh.” I breathed out a sound of relief, only for Naveen to keep talking, her gaze distant and fuzzy.
“I was born in the Kingdom of Tipton,” she explained in a hollow voice, “and living there happily enough until some damn High Cliff soldier, visiting with the dignitary he’d been tasked with keeping safe, took one look at me and claimed I was his true love.” Snorting, she glanced away and wiped at a single tear trailing down her cheek.
“The bastard made me fall in love with him within the fortnight,” she complained. “And when he returned home to High Cliff with his dignitary, I went with him.”
Knowing there wasn’t a happy end to her story, I balled my hand into a knot and pressed it against my stomach. “What happened?”
Naveen nodded once. “Turns out,” she said, staring out over the cliff and off into the sea, “he worked a lot in the castle. Close to the king.”
“King Ignatius took one look at all this luscious red hair,” Ursuline murmured sadly, taking over the story as she stroked her hand slowly over Naveen’s long locks. “And he wanted our girl for himself.”
A sob worked up Naveen’s throat. “He asked Illius, my love, if he could borrow me. And no one denies a king—not at the risk of his own life, anyway.”
I gulped and covered my mouth with my hands as a fresh wave of motion sickness swamped me. “My God.” I did not like where this conversation was headed.
“I cried,” she admitted, her voice hoarse as she wiped at her wet face. Erinn and Althea reached out to grip her skirts in comfort. “When the king took me, I sobbed like a child. And Illius couldn’t handle feeling my pain—my fear. He tried to stop it, so they killed him. Right in front of me. And the king finished raping me as my dead mate lay only a few feet away. They wouldn’t even let me go to him to bring him back to life with true love’s kiss afterward.”
“Monsters,” Osa hissed before spitting over the side of the wagon. “Thank God that royal ass is finally gone.”
I glanced around at the other women as they nodded in agreement, a couple more of them spitting their disrespect for Olivander’s father as well.
“Wait,” I finally said, shaking my head in confusion. “If none of you liked him, then why…?”
I shrank away from her, feeling lightheaded. This was not the kind of world I was used to inhabiting. I knew Olivander’s father was dead now, but so much other stuff was so different than it was at home. It really wasn’t safe for me to be out and alone away from Vander and Unity.
“Actually,” I started, trying to straighten my back in a false show of bravery. “I was going to ask why you were so intent on following another king when you didn’t choose this kind of life to begin with. You’re free now; you can be anything you want.”
“God, you really are stupid, aren’t you?” Osa laughed harshly and shook her head.
“Because…” one of the other girls told me, rolling her eyes. “Once you become a working girl, you’re always a working girl. There’s no escaping it.”
Oh man.
I opened my mouth to give them the bad news that Xavier had no plans of having a harem either—plus, no way in hell was I going to let any of them near my man—but then…
I just couldn’t disappoint them like that.
“I...see,” I ended up saying instead. I wished I could do something for them all. They should get to be and do whatever they wanted. “But maybe in Lowden,” I started, “no one will know what you were in High Cliff, and you could start over fresh. Be anything you—”
“Already too late for that,” Althea answered, shaking her head. “We’ve tupped half the guards just now. Everyone will know what we are as soon as we roll into town.”
“Well, damn.” I huffed out a breath and frowned. I’d find some way to help these girls. I just had to.
“Enough talk about that,” Erinn spoke up, turning to me with wide, curious gray eyes. “Tell us what it was like, Rowena? Feeling your true love for the first time in your mark?”
“Jesus, Erinn,” one of the others groaned. “You ask that question of every mated person you meet. And they always say the same thing.”
“It was overwhelming,” I breathed, answering anyway, as an echo of that initial reaction pierced me again. “At first, I didn’t know what was happening. But the sensation just kept getting stronger and more irritating until—”
“Irritating?” Osa interrupted with a frown. “It’s not supposed to be irritating.”
“Persistent,” I corrected, and she nodded as if understanding that term better. “Like some invisible string had suddenly been tied onto my temple and was tugging at it, trying to get me to follow the sensation to the other end before it would even consider stopping.”
“Are you still feeling it now?” Erinn wondered in awe.
I nodded. “It wants me to go that way.” And I pointed ahead toward the front of the caravan.
“Okay, fine,” Naveen snapped, lifting her hands to call for order among her women. “When the next break comes, we’ll help Rowena sneak past the guards so she can make her way to her mate.”
She touched her own unmarked temple and smiled sadly. “Positive,” she murmured. “Anytime a woman can escape the life of a working girl, she should take it.”
I gulped and glanced around me to watch the others nod solemnly, and my heart ached for them. I had no idea what kinds of lives they’d had; but I knew each and every one of them had been forced to scrape and struggle to get where they were now, and all of them envied me for finding a way out.
It made me want to just gather all of them to my chest and hug them before helping them all find their own happily ever afters. “You guys are the best,” I announced as I wiped at my suddenly moist eyes. “Seriously. Thank you.”
“Alright then,” Naveen called, clapping her hands as she turned all business. “Everyone, gather around. This is how we’re going to do this.”
