A Price for a Princess (13 page)

What did he just say?  I felt my bear prowling in my mind. 
Danger was near
.

Rysk and Tyrant glanced back at me with furrowed brows.  "What would you have us do now?"  Rysk asked.

"Leave.  Go back to your duties."  Aedan said dismissively.

Unease settled through me.  Something was definitely wrong; Aedan was acting strange and Rysk and Tyrant were confused.

And then suddenly everything became clear as a man with long white hair stepped from behind the throne and chuckled darkly.  Urijah! 

"Hello, little bear."  He stroked his fingers over the top of Aedan's head and Aedan cringed at the touch.

I gasped in surprise as Ekho jerked me behind him and Perseus, Odin and Finn drew their swords.  "What's going on?"  I demanded.  Rysk and Tyrant stopped dead in the motion of turning away from us and gaped in surprise at the wizard.  "Rysk?  You betrayed me?"

Rysk turned his head to look at me, "Never!"

Tyrant said, "Sire, what is the meaning of this?  You sent us to bring Daeton here to keep her safe from the wizard.  Why is he here?  Why aren't the guards attacking?"

"Excellent idea," Urijah sneered.  "Come to me now, little bear, and I'll allow your horse and your cat to continue to live."

"The fuck we're going anywhere without Daeton," Ekho seethed.

My bear coiled under my skin.  My voice came out on a growl as my joints began to burn and ache and my muscles felt like I'd run a marathon.  "What the hell did you do Aedan?  He killed your father!  How could you side with him?  How could you let innocents die?"

Aedan dropped his head in shame but Urijah fisted his hand in his golden hair and forced his head up.  "Tell her the truth, Aedan.  Tell her what the price for a princess is, what I promised you in exchange for her life."

When Urijah twisted his hand in his hair, Aedan winced and said, "Ah, he said he'd let me live if I gave you up."

"Oh, you stupid fuck."  I growled, darting a glance around to see the number of guards.  Lots.  There were lots of them.  And only 7 of us, as Rysk and Tyrant took up defensive positions with us.

Urijah chuckled, "It was easy enough when Iliarta spilled my plans to the universe through that damned witch in your realm, to come here and give Aedan what he really wanted.  He wants to live.  The only way he can be assured of his continued reign is to give you up. In exchange, I promised to let him live."

There was something very dark in his words and I shook my head.  "You're a fool Aedan.  He'll never let you live.  You've sent your kingdom to slaughter for your selfishness."

"Smart."  Urijah said with a wry smile.  "Why have just one unique bear when I can have two?"  From the sleeve of his dark robe he pulled a small needle-like dagger with a bulb on the hilt and poised it over Aedan's heart.  The wizard spoke a few quick words and Aedan went completely still as if in a trance.  The dagger lifted slightly and flew towards the prince's heart.

"No!"  I screamed, and the guards rushed forward to try to stop him from plunging it into his heart, but they were all too late.

And then chaos ruled as Vehsi and Raiders poured into the room from behind the throne, swords swinging.  "Bring me the girl, slaughter the rest!"  Urijah crowed, the bulb of the dagger slowly filling up with dark red blood from Aedan's heart.

"Get to safety," Perseus shouted, surging away from me with sword swinging.  I couldn't move, my body felt frozen to the stone beneath my feet as I screamed in rage and betrayal.  My husbands battled around me, joined by Rysk and Tyrant who shouted for the Dire Wolves and the dead prince's guards to kill Urijah and keep me safe.  My skin prickled as if it were covered with needles and I dropped to the stone in agony as my skin began to split from my bones while they cracked out of joint and reformed.  I cried out at the blistering pain that absorbed my entire being until that scream of pain shifted into a roar of revenge.

I stood off the floor, groggily shaking my head, and looked down to find silver paws tipped with black claws.  Unsteady at first, I lifted onto my hind legs and bellowed, and the war cry of the Dire Wolves resounded around me, followed by the Centaurs' shouts and Ekho's approving growl.  I towered above the tallest guard and took out the Vehsi and Raiders with easy swipes of my paw, clearing a path to the throne as if I was cutting down wheat.

I opened my mouth to curse Urijah, forgetting I was a bear, but the guttural growls and barks from my throat made him stumble away from Aedan in surprise.  I knocked his guards away and dropped to all fours, ramming into his stomach with my shoulder and taking him down.  Several Raiders cut at my hide but I ignored the pain, focused entirely on the wizard who had wanted me dead.  He chanted frantically, and I felt his skin heat like fire that burned my fur and I smelled metal just a heartbeat before he lifted another dagger to stab me.  I stomped my paw down on his hand, crushing the bones until they snapped and he howled, and I latched my jaws on his throat and bit down.  My sharp teeth tore through the skin of his neck and he writhed and jerked under me until my jaws cracked his neck and he went still. 

Disentangling my teeth from the meat of his neck, I snapped my teeth at the nearby Raiders and they screamed in terror and skittered like mice through the doorways behind the throne.  Ekho and Perseus joined me on the stage.

"Holy hades, honey kitten, you took him out like a warrior!"  Ekho was smiling, but the fine tremor in his hands as he hugged my thick neck tightly told me just how worried he'd been.  "And you're gorgeous.  I've never seen a bear your color before."

I chuffed at them, the only thing I could really do to tell him how glad I was that they were alive.  Perseus ran his fingers through the thick fur on my neck, his eyes bright with unshed tears.  "A fucking sight, baby.  You were incredible.  I've never been so proud."

If I could have smiled with those big jaws, I would have.  I settled for nuzzling his hand.  My skin was burned in some places, from whatever fire spell he'd been conjuring, but the wounds were already healing.  In my shift I healed faster, so even the other wounds were stitching themselves closed.

Rysk and Tyrant, battered and bleeding, limped to the stage to see their prince.  Their faces were carved with grief and confusion.  Tyrant looked at me, shaking his head.  "I'm sorry, princess.  I never would have guessed he was so cowardly."

Rysk, brow furrowed, said, "What should we do?"

Perseus wiped his swords on the shirts of dead Raiders before sheathing them.  "Who takes over with the prince dead?  There must be someone next in line."

"I'll call the council, they'll know what to do."  Rysk said, suddenly gathering himself and straightening.  He called orders to the surviving guards and wolves to dispose of the enemies' bodies and to prepare the fallen of their own for proper burial.

"Princess," Rysk said, turning back to me.  "I'm truly sorry for nearly bringing you to your death.  I'll have a room prepared for you to wait out the time of your shift and something for you to change into.  I'm certain the council will want to speak with you."

I nodded at him and watched him leave the chambers.  Tyrant moved around the room with the other guards, slinging Vehsi and Raiders into a pile in the corner.  I was certain they weren't going to get any proper burial.  Odin and Finn lent their strength with the dead before joining us on the stage.

Several minutes later, as Ekho continued to stroke my fur and Perseus watched that no one came close to us, two young girls walked in and curtsied, "Princess, we were sent to bring you to your chamber.  Please, if you'd follow us."

I nodded again, feeling downright silly and wishing I could speak in my shifted form, and stepped off the stage with Ekho on one side and Perseus on the other, Odin and Finn bringing up the rear.  We followed the girls down the hall, turning here and there.  They were dressed in simple shifts with slippers on their feet and couldn't have been more than 15 or 16.  They both had a decorative collar around their necks, which made me think they were probably slaves.  I certainly hoped whoever took over after Aedan didn't like slavery, but considering it was the norm around here, I figured that was far fetched.

Two Dire Wolves in their human form stood guarding the door and the young girls scooted by them fast and into the large chamber.  An enormous bed draped from the ceiling with plum colored silk fabric stood against one wall, and I would have loved to just fall down on it and go to sleep for about a hundred years.  Across the room, a fire burned brightly in a stone fireplace, in front of which sat a long table with three chairs.  Other servants arrived right behind us carrying covered trays, jugs and bowls and swiftly set the table.  We watched their hurried movements as they set the table and pulled the lids from the trays to reveal steaming food that made my stomach growl loudly.

Perseus chuckled and rubbed my ear as I sat next to him on my haunches.  "Is there, um, anything more we can do for the princess?"  One of the young girls asked, darting her eyes up to Perseus and then back to the floor in deference.

"When she comes from her shift she'll need a bath."  Ekho said thoughtfully and then looked at his own blood streaked fur and said, "I guess we will, too."

The young girl who had spoken walked over to the wall and gestured to a long rope.  "Pull this and we'll come and fill the tub up with hot water.  How long will she be in her shift?"

Perseus looked down at me, "Do you know, love?"

I opened my mouth to say four hours at least, but only a whine came out.  I huffed and it came out on a growl to which they both chuckled.  "Well, however long it is, we'll ring for you.  Thank you."

The girls showed Odin and Finn to the joining room that had its own bath, two tubs already filled and ready for them.  When the girls came back into our main room, they tried not to stare wide-eyed at us and ducked from the room quickly with the other servants, shutting the door soundly.  The shuffling of the guards outside told me they were standing by and would not move to let anyone in.

"Hungry, honey kitten?"  Ekho asked as we moved to the table.  I was starving and I butted my head against his hip and he laughed, "Alright, alright.  Let's see, what does a unique were-bear eat for her first shift?"  He looked over the trays with a serious face before lifting one entire tray and setting it on the floor in front of me.  It contained thick raw steaks.

"Good, sweet?"  He asked, his mouth quirked up in a half smile.

I chuffed at him and snagged the first of many steaks in my jaws, settled it between my paws as I stretched out on a thick rug, and tore into it.

Ekho and Perseus ate on the floor, placing their trays and goblets on either side of me and tucking into broiled hens and roasted vegetables.  I would never have guessed that I'd find raw meat appealing, but it was pretty damn tasty.  They talked about the skirmish in the throne room and how surprised they were to find that Aedan had betrayed me.

Ekho stroked his thumb over my furry cheek, "I thought the worst thing we'd have to deal with was him trying to stake a claim to you as fated-mate.  But this was so much worse.  And it cost him his life, anyway."

Perseus hummed in his throat, "You never know the true character of a man until it's tested.  He valued his own life over the lives of those in his care.  Whether today or at some point in the future, he would have looked for a way to save himself.  I am glad you're safe now, sweetheart, but I don't want to ever come so close to losing you again.  When you went up against those guards on the stage and they were hacking away at you, I -" he stopped, choking on emotion.  I leaned over, nuzzling him and growling softly.  He dropped an arm around me and squeezed.  "Let's not try the fates again anytime soon, okay?"

I would have laughed if I could have, but all I could do was sigh and hope that we really were that lucky.

Comfortably full, we lounged on the rug, Ekho laying contentedly against me, two furry bodies that wanted to comfort each other, with Perseus stretched out in front of us.  They talked about what the future might bring with the wizard and Aedan dead and I offered growls and whines when I had something to add.  Eventually I felt the bonds of my shift begin to ease away from me, and I wiggled under Ekho and he moved off me as Perseus went to the pull and beckoned the girls to prepare our bath.

Ekho laid a blanket over me since the room was immediately bustling with servants carrying buckets of steaming water from outside of the room.  It seemed to take a lot longer to shift back to human than it had to bear, but perhaps that was because I'd been in a rage the first time.  My bones cracked loudly and my joints reformed as the fur slid back into my skin and everything about my human form returned to normal. 

"Ah, that sucked!"  I groaned, too weak to get off the floor.