Ryan’s eyes hardened because he immediately went to the same thought I had: assassin. A change overcame him, skin thrumming, hands tightening. I wasn’t dealing with a concerned boyfriend anymore. This was the Knight Commander of the Castle Guard, whose one job was to protect the Crown and all its extensions.
And he was fucking pissed.
Knight Commander Ryan Foxheart looked up at the guards down the hall and barked, “Sound the alarm. Now.”
Chapter 3: The King is Such a KILF
BELLS WERE clanging throughout the castle as Ryan and I raced toward the King’s offices above the throne room. A section of the knights were already in motion to take any member of the King’s Court to the lower levels where the dungeons were fortified against any outside attack. My parents and Tiggy and Gary would have been corralled either way, depending upon where they were in the castle. I tried not to think of them too much, instead focusing my attention on the job in front of me: protecting the Grand Prince and Good King Anthony of Verania.
It was one of the first lessons Morgan had taught me when he had taken us away from the slums: the walls could crumble around us, the floor might shake beneath our feet, the stars could rain down atop our heads in blazing bursts of rock and fire, but nothing would matter more than protecting the King. “He’s the reason Verania stands tall and proud,” Morgan had said as I’d stared at him with wide eyes. “Without him, or without someone to take his place like the Prince, Verania could fall into darkness. The people are what make Verania great. But it’s the King that holds us all together.”
Granted, the King wasn’t one to just stand aside and let others protect him without lifting a finger, much to Morgan’s consternation. It certainly didn’t help matters when the King would rather be in the thick of things than standing on the sidelines. He knew of his own importance, but he wouldn’t let others fight his battles for him. He’d be side by side with his people if at all possible.
And so it was that I had to trust Ryan’s knights to take care of my family if they weren’t going to be with us. I had a job to do, one job, and that was to make sure the King and Justin were safe. Morgan would be doing the same.
We hit the second floor of the castle and turned left, running down a long hallway with high ceilings. Flags decorated the walls on either side of us, symbolizing the major cities of Verania. Maids and butlers were scurrying around us, trying to make their way to the throne room where they’d be surrounded by the Castle Guards.
A group of Ryan’s knights stood in front of the doors leading to the King’s offices, Pete, who had known me even before I’d come to the castle, amongst them. He looked wary as we approached, sensing that something wasn’t quite right. “Report,” Ryan snapped as we got within hearing distance.
“Secured, sir,” Pete said. “Nothing in or out except for known personnel. King and Prince in the safe room.”
“Morgan?” I asked.
“Already here,” Pete said. “Just appeared out of nowhere, like he usually does.”
“One day he’s going to teach me how to do that,” I muttered.
Pete smiled at me. “Don’t rightly know if that’d be something we’d want, you being able to sneak up behind us.”
“I’m a delight,” I told him.
“Is now really the time for this?” Ryan growled.
I rolled my eyes. “Sorry, Pete. You know how he gets when he’s all worked up over something.”
“Oh boy, do I ever.”
“I don’t get like anything—”
“You kind of do,” one of the knights said, voice muffled through the armored helmet over his head. “Mostly.” He withered under Ryan’s glare.
Gods, I loved the knights.
I turned at the sound of hooves on stone and immediately had a weight lifted off my shoulders.
Gary was trotting toward us, followed by Tiggy, who carried a person under either arm as carefully as he could.
Rosemary and Joshua Haversford.
My mother and father.
“Do you hear this ruckus?” Gary said, standing in front of me, nostrils flaring. “There I was, partway through my beauty bedtime regimen, which you know I don’t need because I am beautiful and always have been, when what should I hear? Alarms, Sam. Alarms. And I would say that my first thought would have been for you or the safety of the King, but that would be a lie. No, my first thought was about me. How this would affect me. Sam. Sam. I have come to the startling realization that I am a self-centered bitch and even better, that I would do nothing to change it.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Whose idea was it to grab my parents and make sure they were safe?”
“Mine, of course,” Gary said.
“Ah. Not as self-centered as you might think, then.”
Gary frowned at that. “Godsdammit. I care too much. It is my gift. It is my curse.”
“I helped,” Tiggy said. “I have feelings too. Many, many feelings.” He squeezed my parents tighter to him. “I have feelings right now.”
“He does,” my mother said, patting an olive-skinned hand against his chest. “He told us that he would smash anything that would try and hurt us.”
My father looked grumpy. “I don’t see why I had to be carried. Especially in front of all the knights. This is so embarrassing. I can smash things too. I’m almost as big as Tiggy.” Which really wasn’t too much of a stretch. My father’s people came from the snowy North, and it showed by the sheer bulk my father carried with him.
“I love you, tiny human,” Tiggy told my father.
“Gah,” Dad said. “I can’t even with your face right now. It’s unfair. I’m trying to be cross and you’re just sitting here looking like you do. I don’t even care if the boys saw this now. You can carry me all you want to.”
Tiggy looked inordinately pleased at such a prospect.
“Where’s Kevin?” I asked.
Gary rolled his eyes. “Said something about defending my honor and blah, blah, blah. He’s probably circling above the castle right now, snapping at nothing and calling it a success. I love him with a fire that burns within me. Now, are you going to tell me what’s going on, or do I have to choke the life out of you?”
“That escalated quickly,” Pete said.
“It usually does with them,” Ryan said. “Let’s just be thankful Gary isn’t glittering yet.”
“Do I need to glitter?” Gary asked him, narrowing his eyes. “Does Gary need to bring the—”
“Nope,” Ryan said. “Absolutely not. Everything is fine. There’s nothing—”
And since I felt just awful about this whole thing (and was probably not the most sensible person to have existed), I blurted, “A strange woman broke into the castle and bad-touched me and I had a vision about a white dragon in the middle of the Dark Woods and then Ryan domestically violenced me back to reality and now we think there’s an assassin trying to murder all of our faces.”
It was rather quiet after this pronouncement.
Then:
“You got to third base with a woman?” Gary screeched.
“I didn’t domestically violence you. Stop saying that,” Ryan snapped.