THE ROYAL TRIALS: HEIR

by James Tate

Just when I thought he was going to put me down, he took two steps backward into the room he'd come from and slammed the door shut with his boot.

  "What are you—" My amused outrage was cut short as his lips captured mine, searing heat through me as his strong body crushed me against the door. I barely managed a shocked gasp before our tongues met in a soul deep, passionate embrace.

  "Holy... uh..." It was safe to say that, when we broke apart, I was totally lost for words. "Um."

  Ty’s lips curved up in a self-satisfied and totally sexy grin. "Told you I could prove it." His hips shifted, and his hardness rubbed me through my thin pants in a way that made me whimper and tremble and damn near beg him for more.

  "Liar," I replied, but my voice was little more than a breathy moan. My tryst with Zan in the shower had only served to pique my desires, rather than relieve them. Not to mention, the memory of our time in the meadow was fresh in the front of my mind. "Lee told me."

  Those words were a bucket of ice water on Ty's playful, seductive mood, and he sighed heavily.

  "Show me," I urged him when he gently set my feet back on the floor and stepped back a bit. "Please?"

  Not meeting my gaze, he raised his shirt, and I bit my lip to keep from cursing. Aside from the rippling muscles and smooth skin, there was an unmistakable discoloration right at the base of his rib cage. That black mark spread out in a spider web of lines, radiating about four inches from the center.

  "Lee said he was able to drain the worst of it out, but this last part wouldn't shift." Ty's voice was carefully neutral, and he dropped his shirt back down before I could reach out and touch the mark.

  "Does it hurt?" I asked him gently while worry coursed through me.

  He shook his head. "No, it's just... I don't know. Uncomfortable, I guess?"

  I pursed my lips, trying not to let all my fears and panic show on my face. "Lee probably just needs some rest, that's all."

  Ty gave me a weak smile. "Probably."

  Neither of us really believed that was going to fix it, but for lack of any better ideas, it'd do for now.

  "In the meantime, I do believe you promised me a whole night alone with you if I got off that cliff alive." He arched a brow at me, his hands returning to my waist, and I smiled back at him.

  "Only one problem, Prince Thibault," I replied, running my hands up his chest and clasping them behind his neck. "It's daytime."

  He scowled and was about to come back with a solution to that—no doubt—when someone banged on the door, making in reverberate against my back.

  "Time’s up!" Zan shouted, and I couldn't help exchanging a naughty grin with Ty. Maybe this complicated relationship situation wouldn't be so bad... if Zan was serious about not letting his jealousy get in the way.

  Still, his words from the night before drifted back to me. He'd claimed that Ty and Lee were just playing the long game and had no intentions of settling on shared custody of my lady bits when it was all over.

  But he’d just been saying shit in the heat of the moment. Hadn’t he?

  "Come on," Ty groaned. "We’d better see what big brother wants. But I'm making it perfectly clear here and now, little one. You're mine tonight."

  A flush of excitement raced through me, and my core heated with anticipation. "A deals a deal."

  Chapter 6

  Gathered around the common table in the inn, we needed to establish some hard and fast facts before we could move forward with plans to rip Titus's head from his shoulders and mount it on a pike in front of the Lakehaven palace.

  "It's currently three hours past dawn," Barmzig—still disguised as Rema—stated, clasping her elegant hands in front of her. "You only have three more hours until the second trial officially ends. Any contestants not present in the palace at the celebration are automatically disqualified."

  "So?" Sagen wrinkled her nose, folding her arms over her chest. "Who gives a shit about the Trials when—" She cut off what she was about to say, shooting a pointed look at Jules.

  I followed her line of sight and sighed. My fake maid, and former best friend, looked like a wilted flower. She huddled in her seat with her shoulders slumped and her face ashen, even with John Greenjoy's arm around her for comfort.

  I could understand her shock. For all her rough upbringing and the crimes she'd been party to as one of Bloodeye's whores, she'd never witnessed a real battle—not one with senseless, indiscriminate killing—and she'd never needed to kill anyone with her own hands before. All of which had happened in the morning’s events.

  Still, it was safer for everyone if she didn't have the full run of secrets. Despite the steps we'd taken to mend our relationship, I could never forget that Jules valued her own safety over anything else. If push came to shove, she'd sell me out in a heartbeat.

  "Jules, would you mind heading up to pack our things?" I suggested, and her bloodshot eyes flew to mine.

  "So you can talk about what happened here without me hearing?" Her tone was accusing and totally devoid of any "maid-like" subservience.

  I sighed again and tried to suppress an eye roll. "Yes, Jules. Exactly that. Now go."

  Her brow furrowed, her eyes sharpening as she prepared her claws to come out—but it just wasn't the fucking time for her drama. "Jules. Go." My voice was as hard as steel, and my glare was probably colder than ice. Enough so that her mouth snapped shut and her eyes widened in shock.

  "Come on," Greenjoy said gently, helping her from her seat. "I'll come with you. I'm sure they just need to discuss strategy for the next trial. With the princes all here, they can't possibly disqualify both Callaluna and Sagen."

  Jules gave me another glare, but didn't protest as her lover led her away from our table and up the stairs to the bedrooms.

  Once she was gone, I let out a long breath and scrubbed my hands over my face.

  "She's going to be a problem, isn't she?" Sagen observed.

  I nodded with a little bit of resentment. "She's already a problem. I'll handle it, though. She's not the worst of our issues right now."

  “I’ve already sort of handled it,” Zan admitted. “While she was focused on being angry at you just then, I took a quick trip down her memory lane.”

  I gasped, a bit taken back. “You erased her memory? Of what?”

  Zan shook his head, looking uncomfortable. “I didn’t erase anything, I just put a light binding around the knowledge that you are our real queen. Just so she can’t tell anyone else. Obviously the word will spread from the ladies here in Ironforge but hopefully it’ll take more than a week for the rumors to reach the palace.”

  “Oh.” That was pretty quick thinking. “Thanks.”

  Barmzig nodded her agreement. "As I was saying, you all need to get back to Lakehaven before the trial ends and you're all disqualified. Undoubtedly Titus knew about Taipanus's mission here and presumes you all are dead or captured."

  "Only problem is that Lakehaven is a solid two to three day ride from here," Lee pointed out.

  "It's a shame the trains were the first thing to fail during the Darkness," Ty commented, drumming his fingertips thoughtfully on the tabletop. "They could have had us there a whole lot faster."

  Captain Jefferson shook his head. "Not fast enough, Your Highness. I remember when they were operational, and while incredible feats of technology, they weren't magic."

  "Maybe not," Barmzig commented, "but I am. Now that I'm no longer putting so much of my power into protecting your crown, I have magic to spare." She gave me a small smile, and it was touched with nostalgia. "I don't know how much information you were given in those pocket visions, but for the sake of everyone involved, I'll explain a few things. First, and most importantly, your gods are not really gods. We're simply a race of beings much more powerful than you all." She shot me another small look. "Than most of you, anyway. Our home is not on this world, not in this realm. But a long time ago one of our most powerful ancestors discovered a way to travel between realms. She discovered a whole world of beings who loo
ked like us, but lacked the ability to tap into the natural magic all around them."

  "She came here," Zan stated, and Barmzig nodded, tucking her long, pale purple hair behind her ear.

  "There is a whole story here about how we came and played 'god' to your people. About how rules were established and how certain people broke those rules, which resulted in your race gaining magic of your own. But we simply don't have time. Suffice to say, that same magic that allows my people to move between realms will also allow me to transport you to Lakehaven. I think." She looked a little uncertain and gave an apologetic shrug. "I'll do my best, anyway. The last eighteen years I've been pushing all my magic into hiding Ophelia's crown, so I'm a bit rusty."

  "Why'd you do it?" I asked her, anxious to hear the answer. "Why would a so-called goddess make such a sacrifice? Why stay here and let yourself be changed along with all the townsfolk? You could have just stashed the crown somewhere and washed your hands of it all."

  "I could have," she admitted. "But Ophelia was my friend. When she asked me to hide her crown, it was never meant to be a long term thing. She'd planned on coming back for it when things were back to normal. But she was murdered, and Titus took the throne. I knew I couldn't betray my friend by letting that cockroach get his hands on her most powerful artifact."

  I sucked in a deep breath, trying not to let her heartfelt words affect me. I didn't know my mother, not like how Barmzig had known her. Yet the pain was so fresh after speaking to her in that vision...

  "Could I, I mean, if we're alive at the end of all this, could you tell me your story? And about her?"

  "Of course I can," she responded, her smile warm. "I'll be here, helping the women of Ironforge find their feet again. Right now, though, you all need to get going. The battle is over, but the war is far from won."

  "I'll grab Jules," I said, standing from my chair. I'd also grab the crown from its hiding place because I had a feeling we'd be in need of all the power we could get our hands on in the coming days.

  "Everyone meet back here in ten minutes," Barmzig ordered. "You've all got a long day ahead of you."

  Ty groaned at this, Lee stifled a yawn, and Zan ran a weary hand through his hair. We were all wrecked, but nowhere near enough to let Titus win. We'd make it through these next few hours, then hopefully we could sneak in a few hours to nap. It'd all work out because we were in it together. And we were all still alive.

  Chapter 7

  Barmzig was true to her word, opening a portal that allowed our whole entourage—horses included, because fuck leaving Cat behind—to step directly into the open courtyard behind the royal stables.

  The poor stable hand who happened to be in sight when we materialized must have damn near had a heart attack and collapsed in a dead faint when the whole lot of us appeared—presumably—from thin air.

  We had a small amount of time, so we all hurried back to our rooms to change. Knowing Titus, there would be a huge celebration going on in the grand ballroom—explaining why the palace seemed so deserted—and I'd be damned if he thought he'd get one up on us. No, we'd clean up and present ourselves as though nothing had gone wrong in Ironforge.

  Except, of course, we'd be bringing him a little gift.

  I was the last to arrive outside the ballroom after changing into a glittering purple gown with a matching filigree mask. My hair had taken the most time to sort out, but Jules had been determined. By the time she was done, no one would have suspected the tangled mess it'd been in when we arrived.

  "Everyone ready?" Zan asked, eyeing his brothers from behind his black velvet mask, then casting a worried look over me and Sagen.

  Ty grinned wickedly, rubbing his hands together. "More than ready. That bastard thinks he killed us. I can’t wait to see his face when we show up alive and well."

  Zan chuckled back, and Lee cracked a grim smile.

  "Let's do this, then." Zan steeled his jaw, then shoved the heavy double doors open, startling the stewards on the inside, who'd no doubt thought everyone had already arrived. His brothers followed him, but I grabbed Sagen's arm before she stepped into the ballroom with our gift to Titus.

  "Take this," I told her, holding out a fabric bag for her to take, despite her already having her hands occupied with our gift for Titus.

  She frowned at me, then at the bag. "Why?"

  I arched a brow at her. "Because it doesn't match my outfit," I deadpanned. "Just take it; that's an order." I said it with a teasing smirk, but she rolled her eyes and took it from me anyway. Maybe my new status—secret though it was—would come in handy.

  Without waiting for her to check the bag or hand it back, I hurried inside the ballroom to catch up with the princes—then stopped dead in my tracks.

  "What the fuck?" Sagen echoed my thoughts perfectly as she stopped behind me.

  All throughout the ballroom, the stuffy, stuck-up, pandering aristocrats who frequented all of Titus's parties were different. They laughed and danced and gossiped—nothing new there. But the fact that several women were sporting seriously realistic wings, that a man passing us seemed to have the lower half of a goat, and one gentleman was juggling fireballs suggested something seriously strange was going on.

  "Please tell me I'm seeing things," the raven-haired princess behind me groaned. "This is too weird, even after everything we've seen lately."

  "They have magic," I commented, staring wide-eyed as a middle-aged woman floated several feet off the ground, then started turning somersaults while laughing hysterically. "How do they have magic?"

  Farther into the ballroom, Lee caught my eye, and he gave a pointed nod to a tray of drinks being carried around by a scantily clad server. As it passed me, I snagged a goblet from it and took a sniff.

  "Now I'm even more confused," I admitted, turning to Sagen and showing her the cup. "It's water."

  "It's not just water, beautiful girl," a woman laughed, dancing between us and snagging the goblet from my hand. "It's the elixir of life!" She gulped the water back in one mouthful, then danced off into the crowd with a peel of laughter.

  "Thank Aana, you're alive!" Hazel exclaimed, rushing over to us and grabbing my hand. "Everyone said you died in the shop fire at Wakefield, but I didn't believe it for a second."

  I cringed. "Don't swear to Aana," I told her. "Trust me on that one."

  Hazel gave me a confused frown, then shifted her attention to Sagen. "Oh. She's here, too. Of course we couldn't be lucky enough that her highness wouldn't make it back."

  It was everything I could do not to laugh at the deprecating tone Hazel used and ended up covering my snicker with a cough. Not that Sagen bought it, if the glare she shot me was anything to go by.

  "Any ideas what's going on here?" Sagen asked Hazel in a flat voice. "Court has become somewhat more magical than it was a week ago."

  Hazel's lips twisted in a scowl, and she looked around us at the nobles who seemed totally unconcerned with how badly they were behaving. "It's apparently been like this for the last few days." She rubbed her nose, smudging the cosmetically drawn on mask she was wearing. "Remember the wild magic storm we got caught in? Some genius went out and collected buckets of the rain when it passed close to the city. That's what they're all drinking. Wild magic."

  I startled. "That seems..."

  "Totally stupid?" Hazel finished when I trailed off. "No shit. This is going to end so badly." She paused, peering behind Sagen. "Uh, Callaluna? Why do you and Sagen have Gracelin tied up and gagged?"

  A cruel smile pulled my lips up, and I shrugged. "She tried to kill the princes. We thought the king might like to know."

  Hazel's jaw dropped in shock, right as Agatha joined us. Strangely, I'd known those two would make it through this trial in one piece.

  "Callaluna, thank the gods. The king is just about to call us all forward to close the second trial. Please tell us you found the crown! Rosalee and Bella haven't returned and all of us have somehow lost our stones and I'm pretty sure someone will have to answer f
or that if no one came back with the crown." Agatha was babbling, her eyes darting around the room. I knew the moment she found Lee because her whole face heated pink and her gaze dropped quickly to the floor.

  "It's time," Ty murmured in my ear, and I startled. The fact that I hadn't noticed him approaching spoke to how much crazy shit was going on around us. "We get through this, then we can come up with a plan."

  "Yes, we can," Sagen replied. It was pretty clear what she was saying. She wanted to be included in all our secret plotting, and to be honest, I was glad for it. One thing the last week had proven to me was that Princess Sagen of Asintisch was a force to be reckoned with.

  A hush fell over the crowd as a herald sounded his horn, and King Titus and Queen Filamina stood from their thrones. We made our way forward, joining the last remaining ladies in the Trials in deep curtsies in front of the dais.

  When we rose again, Ty was back in his place beside his masked brothers like he hadn't been gone at all. Slippery. How had I never noticed how stealthy he could be?

  "Ladies," Titus greeted us with a smarmy smile. "How good to see you all back safely. I heard there was some trouble in the border towns this week." His beady gaze raked over all of us, pausing briefly on me, then stopping on Gracelin. "Well, this is an interesting development. Who wants to explain why Lady Gracelin is bound and gagged?"

  "Gladly, Your Majesty," Sagen spoke up and heaped a whole lot of sarcasm on that title. Sassy bitch was growing on me. "Gracelin here was complicit in an attempt to assassinate your heirs, the crown princes." She jerked on the rope she'd been using to pull Gracelin around, sending our prisoner crashing to her knees on the stone floor. "Sadly, her co-conspirator was killed in the fray."

  Titus's smile slipped slightly at this, but he recovered easily. "Oh, what a shame. But the suspense is too much; you must share with us the name of this co-conspirator who'd be so treasonous as to attempt the murder of my children."

  He may have been wearing a mask, but surely no one could have missed the hateful glare he shot at his sons. That wasn't the face of a loving father or even a benevolent king. That was a selfish, power-hungry madman.