by Brenna Lyons
“Well, considering Hunter told me, I’d suppose it’s no secret.”
“So, tell them already.” She sent Jayde ducking with a well-aimed arc to the chest.
“They’re sealing his printing. Sarah has agreed to marry him.”
“Good,” Erin decided. “That frees me to do what I want.”
“And what is that?” Talon demanded.
Erin shrugged as she blocked one of Jayde’s blades. “Hunter will provide the König heirs and the Crossbearers. I’m not going to be a brood mare. I will never willingly print. This — unwillingness you’ve seen me display is not a temporary thing.”
Jayde stopped fighting abruptly, looking at her in shock and dismay. “What? When did you decide this?”
“Months ago. Now that I have autonomy, I can exercise my rights, in this case, my right not to print and not to have children.”
Kohl blustered. “You can’t,” he exploded.
“Why not? My mother was given that freedom.”
“I never intended to exercise it,” she countered hotly.
“No. You wanted to choose your mate, but that is immaterial. You could have exercised it. I intend to.”
Talon set his jaw. “The stone expects,” he began angrily.
“Talked to it lately?” she interrupted him. “Corwyn had. He told me that no one could force me into anything I didn’t truly want to do.”
Kohl snorted. “He believed that. It cost him his wife and child. Take a lesson from that, young lady.”
Talon’s eyes narrowed. “The house lords expect that you will start touring and meeting all the young Warriors soon — at least within a few years. You will do that. If there is a match for you in our houses, the stone will not allow you to ignore it.”
“Fine. Tour me. It’s your right to direct me to whatever range you see fit to strand me in. But, I will not be pressured. I am not willing, and any Warrior that doesn’t show the proper respect for that will face me. Not you. Me!”
“On that point, I will defer. It’s your right to exact your own punishment for offenses against you, unless it falls under a capital offense. We’ll give you two years to come to your senses before we tour in earnest, but you will tour after you turn eighteen.”
“As you wish.”
“Where do we start?” Jayde asked.
“I would guess Europe would be a good place to start. Erin knows the North American Warriors pretty well, and she’s already related to two houses. We may find a match over there.”
Erin laughed harshly. “Don’t hold your breath.”
* * * *
February 2, 2025
Sarah snuggled further into Hunter’s arms and watched Erin worriedly. She had been exceedingly withdrawn over the weeks since her announcement, brightening only when Hunter announced that they had succeeded in conceiving a König baby.
Worse, Sarah had given her word not to reveal Erin’s secrets. That had been a torture, watching Erin hurting – and Hunter with her, with no way to soothe either of them.
Erin was good at what she was doing. She had invented a plausible excuse to avoid Maher range. It was pure genius, really. She begged for her two years of freedom to be spent in Hunter and Crossbearer ranges, where she would face no pressure. After that, she decided to agree to a slow tour of the continent where she knew few Warriors, effectively shutting herself off from Curt for almost four years — or more.
Still, Erin was unhappy with her plan, and Sarah couldn’t help but feel it with her. She had to wonder if Curt was really as unaffected as he seemed. Hunter went on and on about the solicitous care the young man took with Erin, when Sarah made a discrete inquiry about Adam’s family. She had to wonder, based on that information, if there was more to the situation than Erin was seeing.
Still, Sarah had given her word. She couldn’t find a way to clue Curt in. She couldn’t even discuss the situation with Hunter, which was really her first choice. Anything she did aside from discussing it with Erin, which was futile, would be breaking her oath. Even with no secrets of her own from her husband, she couldn’t excuse breaking her oath to reveal Erin’s.
She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn’t see Hunter’s comment coming until it was too late to stop him.
“So, you really do like driving everyone crazy, don’t you?” he prodded Erin.
The younger woman groaned. “Et tu, Jäger KreuzStütze-König? What difference does it make? You and Sarah are already working on the next elder killer.”
“You were born,” he countered. “There’s a reason for that.”
“Strangely enough, the stone gifted me with fighting abilities beyond the norm. Maybe I’m supposed to be a night Warrior, and you — with your tremendous capacity for nurturing and protecting hell-bent children — are meant to provide the babies. Has anyone but me considered that possibility? You know, you guys have a damned sexist view of this situation.”
“You’ll never be a night Warrior. It’s too dangerous,” Hunter reiterated patiently.
“I’m dangerous,” she countered just as patiently. “In case you slept through training today, I can hold my own against three Warriors without Sarah feeding me information. Even Corwyn could only take on two together.”
“Don’t get too cocky,” he admonished.
“About what?” she complained. “It’s not like I ever get to put all this training to any practical use.”
“Count yourself lucky,” he grumbled.
“Count me bored. I refuse to believe that there is nothing more to life than having sex with and children to some self-important Warrior who’s out for the notoriety of banging the König princess.”
“You don’t know what printing is like. I’d give just about anything to spend every moment of every day with Sarah.”
“But, you wanted to print. I want to be a Warrior. I imagine it makes a big difference.”
“Not according to Colin and Stephen. Neither one of them wanted to print.”
Erin shook her head adamantly. “Stephen had a duty to print. He knew it and accepted it. Since Corwyn lost Anna and had no sons, and Colin had that lousy brush with printing, he was next to provide them.” She smiled a lazy smile. “And, Corwyn and Stephen both ordered Colin to print. He would have been hurting if he had refused, so he accepted it. Not that Jan would have let him escape... But, I’m not accepting anything.”
“Fine. I’ll add my orders to Talon’s, Jayde’s, and every other house lord’s. You have a duty.”
“I do not accept those orders. Stephen and Colin didn’t accept it until Anna was lost and they had no choice. Face it. You’ve got one hell of a bodyguard, Sarah. Nothing will touch you, if I can help it. As long as you’re alive and capable of bearing children, I don’t have to submit to what they’re demanding of me.”
Sarah groaned. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with being your convenient excuse. After all—”
“You know my reasons,” Erin cut her off cleanly.
“That doesn’t mean I agree with them. You didn’t agree with mine.”
“And you’re very happy. I know. You know I won’t be if I change my mind.”
“No, I don’t know that. I have only your opinion to go on. Your reasons could be as baseless as... Well, we’ll see if mine are in time, but I’m taking the chance. I’m starting to think maybe yours are a little bit baseless, too.”
Hunter leaned over her shoulder. “Maybe you should tell me what her reasons are and let me decide if they’re baseless,” he suggested.
Erin gave him a bland look. “If Sarah’s vow means anything to her, she can’t tell you. Don’t hold it against her, though. It doesn’t mean anything as far as you’re concerned.”
“You seem awfully sure that Sarah will side with you.”
“See, that’s the problem. Don’t lay that on her. Don’t give Sarah a guilt trip on this. It’s not choosing sides if she decides to keep her vow. She gave her word in blood oath, and a blood oath is between the two
parties alone. I’ll keep my end, regardless. I gave my word.
“You have what you want, Hunter. Sarah can tell you that I’m a big part of that. All I’m asking is that you back off and let me have what I want, too. In return, if you want to look at it that way.”
Hunter hesitated. His hands tightened around Sarah as he considered Erin’s plea. His mind was working furiously. Hunter hadn’t considered that Erin might have gone to bat for him. He hadn’t considered that Sarah’s change of heart had been anything but simply coming to her senses.
He cleared his throat. “Sarah, I won’t ask you specifics. Is Erin honest in her belief that she couldn’t be happy with another course?”
Erin turned away, and she blanked her mind, steadfastly refusing to sway Sarah in any way, even unintentionally. That made keeping her vow even more imperative. Overall, Erin was one of the best manipulators Sarah had ever met, but she seemed to be only hurting herself with it, so Sarah had to wonder if it was within her rights to do anything about it. If Erin was listening, she gave no sign of it. She was listening. She had to be.
Sarah sighed. “Yes. Yes, she believes what she says. I don’t know if she’s right or wrong, but she believes she’s right.”
Hunter nodded against her shoulder. “All right, Erin. I don’t like it, but I’ll back off. I would like to make one observation, if I may.”
“Sure,” she answered without expression.
“You don’t seem very happy with this course, either,” he noted.
Erin smiled wryly. “Yeah. Life sucks all the way around, Hunter. Better this way than the other, but it still sucks. What I was born to, right?”
“You’re sure about that? You’re sure you have no other options?”
She nodded slowly. “I’m sure.”
“You can’t do anything the easy way, can you?”
“I suppose not,” she admitted. “I wish life were simple. I really do, but it’s not.”
Sarah grimaced at the ring of truth in that. “I know you do. I wish it were simple for you, too. You know...”
Erin shook her head, pulling the rest of the thought from Sarah’s mind as she knew she would. “I could never do that,” she decided.
Chapter Eleven
April 12, 2029
“The Königs are coming here?” Curt asked with a broad smile.
“Yeah, it’s been awhile,” Bryant noted. “It’s been…”
“More than four years,” he supplied. “They haven’t been in our range for more than a day or two at a time since Erin got her autonomy.”
“Can’t imagine why,” Bryant drawled. “Every Warrior deserves proper consideration.”
“For what?” he demanded.
His brother smiled a predatory smile that set Curt’s teeth on edge.
“That would be why she’s stayed away,” he grumbled.
“What?” he asked in an innocence that annoyed Curt all the more, because Bryant really didn’t understand it.
“Erin’s not trolling for a mate, Bryant. Her parents may be, but she’s not. When she is, she’ll be obvious about it. Erin doesn’t believe in baiting. Until she, if she ever, decides she wants a mate, any pressure you put on her will only make her more determined than ever not to choose.”
“How could you possibly know that?” Bryant demanded.
“Because, while you have been sniffing after her for the last eight years, I’ve been talking to her.”
“So, you’ve been getting a foot in the door,” he grumbled.
Curt sighed. Bryant really was clueless when it came to women. Only he would think talking to a woman could have the solitary purpose of getting her into bed.
“No. You really are an idiot, aren’t you? Get this... I became her friend, you dolt! I may be closer to her than Hunter or her father sometimes, but you know how friend is spelled in romance language? D-E-A-T-H. Got it?”
Bryant raised an eyebrow dubiously. “I’ve heard that. So, you’re saying you have no interest?”
“Get real. I am male, but I only pursue willing women.”
“How can you be so sure she wouldn’t be willing, if a man showed a little interest?”
“Talked to the other young Warriors lately?”
Bryant shook his head. “Only Adam. Why?”
“Adam is a printed man. He’s not making passes at Erin. The point is, Warriors who come on to Erin don’t last long. From what I hear, she makes a habit of a brutal smack down followed by a sub-zero freeze out. That is a woman who does not appreciate unwelcome attention.”
His brother’s smile spread. “Got any personal experience going for you?” he inquired.
“No. She didn’t have autonomy yet when I saw her last. Think I wanted to face Talon?”
“Guess not. Anyway, I’ll let you get back to work. I have a beast I’m tracking.”
Curt waved and watched him go. No, he hadn’t wanted to face Talon, but that hadn’t been what stopped him from kissing her. By the time Erin left Maher range, Curt would have taken on Talon, Jayde, Hunter, and Kord together for a single kiss. What stopped him was her proclamation.
He could still feel the cool grass beneath his cheek and her warm body laid next to his, resting after taking the rowboat out on the lake. They had come to their spot on the other side, the one where they would lay and talk about life as they dried off from swimming, but it was late November then, and there had been a chill in the air.
Curt moved his eyes over her body, feeling his instant reaction and suddenly glad for the jacket he wore that was now hiding his arousal. That body hadn’t changed much in the years since they took on Adam together. It was slightly more lush, her arms stronger, her hair a mass of curls that hugged her scalp, but it was still Erin.
The problem was, every time he lay with her on the grass or leaned close to whisper to her or took her out driving on the back roads to get her practice in, it was harder to remind himself that Erin was anything but a girl he desired.
Worse, she made so many innocent moves— Erin didn’t realize the danger she posed to herself. She was unschooled, so she couldn’t realize that Curt’s raging hormones interpreted everything sexually, even her movements when she curled into his chest or ran a finger over his arm. She didn’t know the shear control involved in seeming unaffected by her.
He hadn’t been printing, he decided. After all, Curt hadn’t gone insane in four years without her. Even withdrawal from early printing was supposedly painful. He just — missed her. So, they were only friends after all, and anything else had just been his over-active nineteen-year-old hormones raising hell.
No, while Curt was trying to convince himself yet again that he could not be so bold as to tempt Talon’s ire by kissing his daughter, Erin was coming to the decision that he found hurt far more than it should have.
“Know what I want?” she asked in a wistful voice.
“What’s that?” he replied in neutral tones, running his fingers absently over her amulet through the bracer that was damp from the splashing they’d done with the oars.
“Freedom.”
“You’ll have your autonomy in a few months.” And, oh how he lived for that day!
Curt blushed at the thought that he was far too much like Bryant, but could he help it if his dreams seemed to revolve around Erin seeking him out the night she had her autonomy for a tryst? It seemed that knowing she was sleeping just down the hall from him wrecked havoc with his mind and body.
“Not autonomy. Freedom.”
He sobered at that. “If it were possible—” Curt sighed and tapped her blood mark above the collar of her jean jacket.
“I know, but I’m tired of the stone ordering my life.”
“So, what can we do about it?” he asked honestly. They’d discussed this subject many times.
“You? Not a thing. Me? I’ll have my freedom — at least from the stone. I may have to be a Warrior, but that’s all I have to be.”
“What does that mean?” he asked in concern.
“That means I’m not producing children. Ever. Let Hunter produce them. He’s first born anyway.”
“But, when you print, your body will want to, won’t it?”
“Not if I never print. I won’t. I simply won’t ever let a man inside striking distance.”
“Gee, thanks,” he commented acidly.
Erin elbowed him in the ribs roughly. “I don’t mean you. After all, you’re my friend.”
Curt felt as if she had ripped out his heart, but he managed to laugh lightly. “Okay. What will you do for release?” he questioned.
Some irrational part of him needed to put a stop to this before he lost any chance he might salvage of making his own dreams come true. He was so very close. Just a few more months, and she’d be free to seek out any man she wanted, and Curt would be free to try to get her to see him as more than a friend.
“The same thing I do now, of course.”
He couldn’t help it. He choked on that one.
Erin turned to look at him curiously. “What? Don’t you?” she asked.
“Of course I do,” he shot back.
“Then, what’s the problem? I have urges the same as you do,” she explained patiently.
The problem was Curt didn’t want to imagine her urges — or satisfying those urges at that moment. If he considered that too closely, Talon would have major issues with him. Followed by Kord, if he lived that long.
“It’s not the same with a partner. It’s more satisfying. I’m not sure self-gratification will be viable in the long run,” he managed.
She gave him a teasing grin. “As if you’d ever shown the self-control to know? Since you never did, you can’t possibly know if it was enough without a partner for comparison.”
“You’re right,” he admitted grudgingly. “I can’t know, can I?”
“Well, I will. I’m not a rutting animal, and I refuse to be one just because the stone wants it. No printing. No husband. No babies. Not ever.”
“The house lords will blow their stacks,” Curt reminded her.
“There are male Warriors who never mate. My mother was given the choice never to print. If she had a choice, so do I. Unless I’m willing, no Warrior would dare touch me. I’m not willing, and I never will be.”
