A Soul for Trouble (12 page)

His gaze travelled between the two men in front of him before coming to rest on Cinder.

“Do you mind if he follows her?”

What little color the pale moonlight gave Kell’s face fled. He cleared his throat. “And what if your wolf attacks us?”

“As long as you don’t hurt her, he’ll behave. He’s quite attached to her, after all.” The Ranellians exchanged glances. Bynn cleared his throat. “I have no problem with the wolf, Your Highness. He seems tame enough.”

When Bynn reached for Trouble again, Dev gave her to him. The nobleman carried her with ease toward the other side of the clearing, with Cinder on his heels.

Dev watched them until they disappeared from view. His heart pounded, and he hoped he’d made a wise decision trusting the prince. With his lap bare, he got a closer look at his thigh. Blood oozed from the wound, and a wave of dizziness blurred his vision.

Kell leaned over and offered his hand. “I think the healer needs to tend to you before your apprentice.”

“I’ll be fine.” A grunt escaped Dev’s throat as he came to his feet and tested his leg. He could put a little weight on it, but he stumbled forward when he tried to walk. Pain snaked up his thigh like a dozen hot daggers.

A strong arm caught him and kept him from sprawling in the mud. “Are Gravarian knights as stubborn as they are suspicious?” Laughter laced Kell’s voice.

Dev ground his teeth to keep from telling him exactly what he thought, but he worried the cries of pain would overshadow his words if he opened his mouth. Instead, he accepted the prince’s aid and limped across the clearing.

“Sir Devarius—”

“It’s Dev, if you don’t mind.” He already felt nauseated enough without having to deal with excessive formality.

“Dev, I truly do appreciate your help tonight fighting Sulaino.”

“You have your work cut out for you if you think you can defeat a necromancer without magic.”

“Which is why I want to see you and your apprentice live. We could use your assistance.” He stopped and refused to budge. “What makes you think we’ll stay and help?” Disbelief crossed Kell’s face, revealing his youthful idealism. By Jussip, he and Trouble were two of a kind. A few decades’ worth of experience would temper it.

“The only reason I’m here is because I went chasing after Trouble,” Dev continued.

“She’s the one who came up with the crazy idea she could stop the Necromancer you call Sulaino. If I had my way, I would’ve thrown her over her horse and been several miles down the road by now.”

The frown on the prince’s face deepened. “You call yourself a knight, and yet you would not come to the aid of others when it was needed? What about honor and chivalry?”

“I don’t know where you Ranellians get your definitions of honor and chivalry, but in Gravaria, honor means upholding my oaths. I pledged my service to the Empress of Gravaria, and I swore an oath to protect Trouble. That’s it. I’m not obligated to help you at all.” Kell shoved him away and reached for his sword. “You’re a man without honor.” Dev held his arms out to his sides. “And you’re willing to attack an injured and unarmed man because he speaks the truth. How honorable is that, Prince Kell?” He almost spat out the last words.

The prince’s fingers unwrapped from the sword’s hilt one by one. “Point made. Let’s get you to the healer before I have to drag you through the mud.” A still figure emerged from the shadows, and the smell of death wafted in the breeze. Dev tensed. Could Sulaino have already sent more undead to attack them? He stopped, nodding toward it.

Kell stared at it for a minute then turned away. “It’s one of my own men. He was killed in the fight, and Sulaino changed him. I couldn’t bring myself to destroy him.” Water steadily dripped off the figure. If he didn’t act soon, the undead would thaw out of his icy shell and continue to follow the Necromancer’s orders. Dev limped toward it, raising his elbow. The head of the ice statue cracked under the force of his first blow.

Kell grabbed his arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m setting his soul free. As long as his body remains intact, it’ll be tortured by that fiend.” He wrenched his arm free and managed to shatter the head into dozens of shards before Kell flung him to the ground.

“But he was one of my men.”

Dev struggled to his feet. “No. The moment Sulaino animated him, he became his slave.

He has no memories of his friends and family. He exists only to carry out his creator’s bidding.”

A muscle rippled along Kell’s jaw. He glanced at the jagged torso and legs that remained.

“Perhaps I was foolishly wishing your apprentice could reverse the spell.” A bitter note of laughter answered him. “Trouble’s powerful, but there’s only one way to bring the dead back to life, and you’ve already seen it.” Kell traced the sharp edges of the ice. “It seems like the apprentice is more powerful than the master.”

Resentment surged through Dev. He didn’t like the idea that the prince thought his powers inadequate. In truth, Trouble had demonstrated strong potential in the elemental magics even without Loku’s influence, but the only reason she succeeded tonight was because of the god’s power. “All the more reason to get her to the Mage Primus in Gravaria so she can complete her training under someone whose skill matches hers.”

“Are you sure she’s your apprentice and nothing more? After all, not many women would travel alone with a man unless they were on, um, intimate terms.” Dev resisted the urge to punch the insolent grin off the prince’s face, especially after his question reminded him of how close he came to kissing her earlier this evening. “My duty takes precedence above everything else,” he replied woodenly, “and she lives up to her name.” Kell’s smile widened. “It’ll be interesting to see how things play out then.” He turned to the soldier who approached him and said, “Lassandro, please help Sir Dev to Cero’s tent so he can have that leg sewn up.”

The soldier bowed and led Dev in the opposite direction of the prince.

He frowned. Why did he feel like he’d just inherited a whole new set of problems?

Chapter 14

Kell rubbed his chin as he reviewed his conversation with the Gravarian knight. Dev was holding something back, but what? His gut told him it had something to do with the girl, and he was determined to get to the bottom of it, especially after seeing Sulaino’s interest in her.

Inside Kell’s tent, Bynn stood back, drawing something on a piece of paper.

Cero had just finished tying a knot in the bandages around the girl’s torso. “Now, let’s take a look at her head,” the healer said after nodding in acknowledgement to the prince.

“I can take care of that,” Kell said. “Please tend to the other men. Some of them have more serious wounds than hers.”

Cero assessed him with keen eyes. “You look like you got nicked a few times yourself, Your Highness.”

The scratch along his cheekbone stung as he ran his finger across it. “It’s stopped bleeding.”

“Any other injuries?”

“Nothing more than a few bruises.”

The grey-haired healer nodded, satisfied that his work was done. “I’ll leave a bit of my salve so that wound won’t leave a noticeable scar.”

“But the ladies like men with scars,” Bynn said with a grin. “Especially pretty little wounds like that. They’ll give the prince a roguish air.”

“Would you like a matching one?” he teased back.

“Only if you think it will help me get into Lady Ralena’s bed when we return.”

“I think I’ve heard enough from you two young men.” Cero gathered his supplies with the aid of his assistant. “I’ll be in my tent if you need me later tonight, Your Highness.” As soon as they were alone, Bynn’s face grew serious. “Come take a look at this, Kell.” He leaned over his friend’s shoulder at the odd symbol sketched on the paper. “What is it?”

“I don’t know, but when Cero lifted her tunic to tend the cut on her back, I saw this.” He dropped the paper on a small table and lifted the girl. “See for yourself.” Underneath her tunic, Kell saw the same black symbol drawn on the small of her back.

“I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Nor have I.” Bynn laid her back down on the cushions and pulled the blanket up to her chin. She continued to sleep, unaware of their examination.

“I have a feeling Sir Devarius knows what it means.”

Bynn didn’t miss the note of sarcasm in his voice. “Were you able to learn anything from him?”

“Only that her name is Trouble.”

He snorted. “Fitting, I suppose. Let’s hope she’s a nice witch when she wakes up. I’d hate to end up frozen, too.”

“According to Dev, it was her idea to come help us.” He turned the paper around, wondering if the symbol made sense upside down. “If she wanted to hurt us, she could have done so. The only things affected by her spell were the undead.”

“I admit I feared for my life when she started casting, though. Did you notice how her eyes glowed?”

Kell looked from the drawing to the girl. “No, I was more focused on keeping debris from blowing in my eyes and worrying about my bits freezing off.” He shivered at the memory of the storm she conjured. He’d never felt wind that cold before.

Bynn laughed. “With you, it’s always about your bits.”

“I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Yes, I can imagine the ladies of the court wailing in grief if you were missing what they’ve come to love.”

Despite their banter, Kell saw signs of his friend’s weariness. “I’ll take care of her from here. Go get some rest.”

“Are you sure you’ll be safe alone with her?”

Kell flashed a grin. “I think you should be asking if she’s safe alone with me once she wakes up.”

Bynn chuckled. “So full of yourself. If I didn’t know you better…” His words drifted off as he shook his head.

“You know me better than most, my friend. I’ll call for help if I need it.”

“You never struck me as the type to share.”

“There’s a first time for everything, I suppose.”

Bynn was still laughing as he left the tent.

Kell dipped a cloth in the water basin and began removing the dried blood along the side of her face. Under the layers of dirt, she was actually kind of pretty, in an odd way. Her golden hair, creamy skin, and heart-shaped face captured his attention after years of staring at the dark features and oval-shaped faces of the ladies at court. Perhaps introducing Gravarian ladies to the court would finally entice his father and the other lords to re-open negotiations with the neighboring kingdom.

He laughed in spite of himself. Here he was, inches away from a powerful Gravarian witch, and all he could think about was what she would look like cleaned up and in a fine dress sitting next to him during an official dinner. How many men would stare at him in envy?

“This is all nonsense,” he murmured
. I should be thinking about how to convince her to
help us defeat Sulaino and how to keep my father from burning her at the stake, not thinking
about how her hair is the color of fresh honey.

A rustling sound caught his attention. Kell looked up to see the wolf creeping closer to them. He jumped back and tensed, waiting for the animal to attack. Cinder’s glittering yellow eyes locked with his for almost a full minute before the animal yawned and rested his head on her stomach.

Kell inched closer to her, restraining the tremble that wanted to work its way down his arm into his hand. He had seen what timber wolves did to a man, and this monster made them look like pups. “I’m just going to finish cleaning her up, if that’s agreeable to you. I’m not going to hurt her.”

Cinder tilted his head to the side, and his tongue flopped out, giving Kell an unobstructed view of his fangs. He didn’t think it was meant to be an intimidating gesture, but it sure didn’t put his fears to rest.

With delicate swipes, he resumed cleaning the blood matted in the hair at her temple. He expected to see a stellate wound that would take him the better part of an hour to sew back together, but when he got to the surface of her skull, the skin showed no signs of injury. Not even a goose egg.

What in the name of the Lady Moon was this? Judging from the amount of blood on her face and clothes, there should be something. He ran his hand through her hair, searching for any wounds, lumps, or indentions. Nothing. No signs that a huge chunk of ice hit her hard enough to knock her out.

His search became more desperate, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. But when a soft moan vibrated through her cheek, he froze. Cinder lifted his head and watched her, stretching his neck so his nose almost pressed against her chin.

She turned toward Kell and opened her eyes.

His body refused to move. Few things in life had shocked him to the point where he had to remind himself to breathe, but this moment was one of them. He’d never seen eyes the color of sapphires before, especially with the odd halo of pale green around the edges.
What kind of
witch is she to hold me prisoner with just her gaze?

Then to his surprise, she smiled. “Who are you?”

Those three simple words unlocked his muscles. He pulled back from her. “I’m Kell.”

“Kell.” The soft way she repeated his name felt like a massage working down his back.

“Where’s Dev?”

“He’s in the healer’s tent, having his leg sewn up.”

Her pale brows knitted together. “Was he hurt badly?”

Her concern for her mentor mirrored the worry he’d seen on the knight’s face earlier, convincing him they were closer than a typical mentor and apprentice. “It looked like a deep cut, but he was awake and trying to leave as soon as he could.” She chuckled. “That sounds like him.” When she tried to sit up, her body wobbled. He caught her and caused her to hiss through her teeth when his hand pressed against her back.

“Sorry, it still stings. And I wish the room would stop spinning.”

“You took quite a blow to the head. Perhaps you need to rest.” He lowered her to the cushions.

A heavy sigh escaped her lips. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Of course I am.”

“Why do men always think they know what’s best for everyone else?” The corners of her mouth twitched.