by Angel Payne
As everyone swooped their gazes to the switchbacks leading back down the cliff, Samsyn roared, “Get him now!”
Half a dozen guards sprinted, turning the cliffside into a strange combo of the Tour de France and Super Bowl. While it only took them a few minutes to tackle the guy and haul him back up the ridge, it was the opening I needed to get back to Evrest’s side. “Never figured you for a witch hunt kind of guy.”
He whirled on me. Both of him. Then all three. Whoa. Maybe copycatting the guards on the rushing act hadn’t been such a great idea. I blinked hard to realign my vision, though one of him, glower still in place, was just as intimidating—and stunning—as three. Ahhh, hell.
“Dammit, Evrest!” I clenched my fists, refusing to let his incensed allure get to me. “There’s nothing hinky going on here, okay? Stop looking for someone to blame! Fiyero drew the short straw and had to carry my sorry ass for the day. My tension was probably as thick as a fog bank. Horses have ESP for that kind of shit. He was likely looking for a reason to bolt, and my crap-ass horsewoman skills provided him with motive, means, and opportunity. Period. End of story.”
“Rahmié!” The shout pierced the air as the guards dragged forward a man of about my age, dark hair messed and dirty clothes rumpled. “Rahmié; I plead you, King Evrest—and Miss Saxon—I did not want to do it. Deep in my belly, I knew horrible things would happen if I did. I swear I did!”
Karma poured liquid lead down my throat. As the shit oozed into my stomach, I forced my gaze toward Evrest. The brutal tics in his jaw confirmed the new stab of dread in my gut.
Hell. Something strange was happening in Oz.
Evrest amazed me by becoming the walking picture of calm—until I caught the raging elixir that glinted in both his eyes. Damn. This was what his anger really looked like. It was no longer scintillating. It was scary. “You did not want to do what, Merlyn?”
The man quaked. I barely held back a grimace on his behalf, hoping the scene wasn’t about to take some a Tarantino-esque turn. Nearly met my maker less than an hour ago. Please, guys, no soggy pants or wrenching groveling.
“M-my family owes hers some money, Your Majesty.” He weighted some enough to mean a lot. She—she told me the debt would be paid in full if I gave Fiyero the sedative, enough to make him seem docile for a while.”
Painful gulp. Strike that. Swallowing scorpions would’ve been easier. “You mean he’s not docile all the time?”
“N-not exactly.”
“Not exactly?”
Merlyn could barely look at me. “By the Creator, Miss Saxon, I never thought you would be in danger! I swear I shall never be so cavalier again.”
“Damn right about that.” Evrest lunged forward, hands aimed for the man’s neck, but Samsyn held him off.
“It was all supposed to be a jest,” Merlyn whimpered. “She made me think it was just all in fun.”
“She who?” I asked—though after Evrest and Novah traded a knowing look while he helped her up, I had my answer.
Evrest whirled to Samsyn, shoulders coiled with tension. “Find Chianna. She is surely lurking around here somewhere.”
My senses careened again, zigzagging like the seagulls on the currents above. Chianna. Was she that loose of a nutwheel? Or…was she that jealous of me?
The concept made my head swim again but I self-corrected. What kind of a world changer would I be if resorting to the Spanish Inquisition, guilty until proven innocent instead of the other way around?
I turned to Evrest. Yanked hard on his elbow before murmuring, “Promise me you won’t jump her shit right away.” He feigned confusion due to the language barrier, making me add fingernails to the hold. “Knock it off. Give her the benefit of a—”
“Evrest? Darling?”
Chianna approached with round eyes, clasped hands and voice to inspire a diabetes onset. Annnnd I instantly kicked myself for the last twenty words out of my mouth. The woman lasered on Evrest like I wasn’t there. Her performance was so over-the-top, a high school production in Podunk, Idaho would cut her in first auditions.
Evrest stiffened. “Chianna.”
“Are you all right? By the Creator, how fast you sped off during our chat on the hill.” She flattened fingers to his chest. “I hardly breathed while watching everything. You were so brave and—”
“Chianna.”
She looked to her hand—hardly believing he’d just shoved it back at her. “What is wrong? Why are you so tense?”
Tense. Perfect word choice. I’ll take some too, please. With a side of massively pissed. While I didn’t expect to get Chianna’s first nod of attention, being treated as invisible was another story. At least the recognition served one purpose. Nothing like the cold shoulder treatment to expose the glaring, awful truth. Too bad it didn’t ease the stab of hearing Evrest growl it the next minute.
“Look at me, Chianna. And speak the truth. The horse, Fiyero. Did you bribe Merlyn Xandon to sedate him before Novah picked him up for Miss Saxon’s use today?”
“Excuse…me?”
“I will not stand for a lie, woman. If you do not speak, I will have the matter investigated. And if I then learn that you deceived me to my face—”
Her wail interrupted him. “Oh, Evrest!” She flung herself at him, burying her face in his chest, wrapping arms around his waist. “I am not deceiving you, I swear! I—I was simply frightened—so, so scared of what to say! Merlyn and I—our hearts were in the right place—we have been silly pranksters together since our school days—”
“She de-winged the butterflies and I took the blame,” Merlyn muttered.
“—and we thought it would be a little fun jest. To give Camellia a horse that really was docile as a lamb. You see?”
“Certainly.” His tone belied the polar opposite of the word. “Except that you purposely picked a temperamental horse for your ‘little fun’.” He stepped back like she’d come down with leprosy. “That was not ‘silly’, Chianna. It was cruel. Purposely so.”
Her face twisted as hard as her new fists. “In everything I have said and done in the last two years, it has only been with you in my mind, Evrest.”
He blinked. The thunder vanished from his face—washed away by an emotion nobody was likely to misread. Sadness. “Then I am frightened for you, Chianna. And me.”
She stumbled at him again. At least I think she did. I wasn’t feeling great. The tension between them, nearly a pall on the air now, wasn’t helping. I stared at Chianna’s face, so pale and devastated now, wondering if she was going to puke. Or maybe that was a little projection…
“Evrest.” Fat tears plummeted down her face. “Please—”
“Your remorse falls empty with me, Chianna.”
“Hey.” I tugged at his shoulder. “Maybe she’s really—umm—sorrah.” Damn. Why did I suddenly sound like I’d pounded five tequilas? No salt or lime, either. No bueno, amiga. “Maybe thish was all a big mishtake.”
Something whooshed between us, whacking him away from me. No. Thrusting me away from him. Buh-bye, balance. I fell back, grunting as I landed. And I thought Fiyero’s saddle was the crappiest thing to happen to my ass today.
“You.” Chianna’s face, vicious and leering, filled my vision. “Have you not ruined things enough since you got here? Keep your hands off him, Camellia Saxon!”
She was hauled back at once by Samsyn and one of his guards. “Stand down,” Samsyn bellowed, “or I shall force you to do so with a good sleep in Censhyr Prison.”
Chianna hissed at him. “You would not dare.”
Samsyn smirked. “Would I ever.”
“I am a member of the Distinct! One of His Majesty’s chose handmaidens, and—”
“Not anymore.”
Evrest’s growl cut her off. Chianna snapped her head up, eyes wide. “E-Evrest? Wh-what are you—”
“I wouldn’t propose to you now if both my balls depended on it.” He extended his hand, palm up. “Samsyn, remove her pendant—then give it to me.�
�
Incensed fish was a new look for Chianna. She sure worked it, jaw undulating up and down, not a word coming out even Samsyn complied with his brother’s wishes.
I watched it all with a weird feeling in my stomach. A part of me couldn’t wait for the show about to go down, as soon as Chianna found her voice again. Another part dreaded it. Deeply.
Our family owes hers some money, Majesty.
I suspected the Xandons weren’t the only ones Chianna had secrets on.
My stomach lurched harder. My senses spun wilder. A hand waved in my vision; one of Samsyn’s men was offering to help me up—but no, I needed to stay here, closer to solid ground, where the world didn’t whirl so badly. Even then, the blackness kept closing in on me. Beckoning with its perfect, cool completion…
“Miss Saxon? Are you all right?”
I managed a smile at the officer. “Yesh. I simply—need to rest—for a bit…”
The darkness was so nice. So peaceful. Only thing that would make it better was Evrest in here with me. Oh, now wouldn’t that be awesome. Not restful anymore, but awesome. I almost giggled. Black. It goes better with a Cimarron.
Maybe I’d even go looking for him…
Hey! That nice, nice guard was helping me, too!
“King Evrest! Come quick! Miss Saxon—she’s—”
“Camellia? Camellia!”
There he was. Just in time.
“Camellia? Sevette? Fuck!”
He smelled so nice. His arms were so strong. Yes. This is nice. Think I’ll stay.
“Samsyn! Hail the medical team, now. I am losing her. I am—fuck!”
No. I’m not lost. Right here, Ev. Right…here…
Why couldn’t he hear? Why did he keep up that rapid-fire Arcadian, interjected by only one line of English that chilled me to my core?
“If she dies, Chianna, you’ll pay for her life with your own.”
Chapter Twenty-One
‡
His words pounded at my consciousness, forcing my eyes back open—once. He wasn’t going to have blood on his hands because of me, even if it was Chianna’s. I couldn’t deal with that. I wouldn’t. That’s not the way we do things in the modern world, King Evrest…
But now he was gone. So was the ridge. I was falling but cushioned. There was warmth and softness. Light then shadows. Voices and faces…
“She’s fine…just a concussion… dehydration…” Harry, looking like a bus had hit him.
“Send all of the bitch’s belongings back…not allowed in Sancti again…” Evrest, looking like a train had hit him.
Blackness again. Feeling so good. Then another burst of the dream.
“Of course…call you with another update soon, Tan…” Harry again, upgrading the bus to a sixteen-wheeler. Talking to Dad?
“Better now…vitals good…merderim, Kerrie; I shall do so…” Evrest again, exchanging the train for a damn ocean liner. Talking to Mom?
What the hell was happening? This was such a strange dream. Why was I walking around in San Jose again—in shorts? Was I still fourteen, on summer break? Had the last ten years just been a product of my subconscious, or was I having that crazy life flashback again, on the cliff with Fiyero? My favorite song of that summer echoed through my mind. Green Day. Fuck, yeah. She’s an extraordinary girl, in an ordinary world…
The song transformed, becoming another. A tune I didn’t recognize. So beautiful. A voice humming it in my ear, a musical magic spell. Whispering my name like a prayer. Telling me to go back to sleep.
Okay…
No. No. I had to open my eyes. People needed me. I needed them to need me. It was time to go back to work. To make a movie and change the world.
“Mmmpph.”
I pushed harder through the cloud, shoving back the mist. Have to…open your…eyes…
A frown took over as soon as my vision focused. Where was I?
Dim lights. Gentle wind. Shooshing waves. A tent? Near the ocean?
Shit. Evrest’s tent. His “backup palais” at Asuman. I wasn’t just in it again. I was in it—as in, tucked in his bed.
And turned to behold his perfect face, watching me from inches away. A fantasy come true…
“Gah!”
A boundary we couldn’t break.
I shoved up. Groaned. No wonder I’d been dreaming of buses, trucks, and ocean liners. They’d all really hit me. Oh, hell. Everything hurt.
“Welcome back.” Evrest smiled as if I’d just gone to the damn kitchen to fetch a glass of water. Which reminded me…I was really thirsty. And hungry.
“Wh-where’d I go? What am I doing here?” It smelled like nighttime, smoky and misty. The darkness beyond the canvas bore out that fact, too. “Shit. What time is it? Did I miss anything?”
“Sevette.” His tone firmed. “Calm down. All is well.”
“All is well?” I retorted. “I’m in your tent, in the middle of the night,”—another moan spilled when I looked down—“dressed in nothing but your shirt, and—and—”
I sputtered into silence. Couldn’t go on about how many ways we were laughing in karma’s face with this. And damn, that bitch had a long memory.
“The medical team did not want to risk transporting you to hospital. I refused to let them put you anywhere else. After you blacked out up on the ridge—”
“After I what?”
He sat up, as well. No help whatsoever for the mush of my thoughts, now draining their way to the gutter with the searing-hot sight of him. Though he was on top of the covers and I was underneath, all he wore was another pair of workout pants, sending my imagination into overdrive. Thank God my aches and pains inventory didn’t include my tongue—or a few other key body parts.
“Do you remember anything about what happened yesterday?”
“Yesterday?” Plummeted jaw. Attempting to do the math on that while keeping a decent distance from him…my head really hurt now. I pushed fingertips to my temple and rubbed. “I blacked out? Why?” Zap. Comprehension. Heads up, Seven-Up. “Wait. Up on the ridge. Ohmigod. The ridge. Oh, shit! Fiyero! Is he all right? Did they find him?”
Evrest shook his head, chuffing and smiling at the same time. The blend, ridiculous on anyone else, just made him hotter. “You’re worried about the horse that nearly carried you to your death?”
I snorted. “It wasn’t his fault. Merlyn and Chianna slipped him the trail ride roofie.”
“So you do remember.”
“It’s coming back in weird pieces.” I sighed. My heart ached for the horse, an innocent pawn in yesterday’s fuckery. “And yes, I’m worried about Fiyero. He must’ve been more terrified than I was when that crap wore off. And ohhhh, shit—Ev, it got worse. I think a scorpion stung him, too.”
His lips parted on a wider smile. His gaze softened to the texture of sea foam. “He is fine, sevette,” he soothed. “Samsyn sent out a team of his men. They found him on the far side of the cliff, closer to Minos Beach, and took him for treatment there.” He pulled my fingers into his. “You are still troubled. Why?”
With reluctance—a lot of it—I untangled our hands. “Not troubled. Just thinking I need to get out of here.”
“At four o’clock in the morning? After two days without food, and surviving a concussion?”
The man had surely practiced the glare on his face, concerned intensity mixed with his mussed hair, nearly unraveling my resolve. Nearly. “You really never did sneak out of a girl’s room at university, did you?” I sighed when he remained intractable. “I need to go back to my tent. I’ve been laying in here nearly twenty-four hours, without bathing or—” I looked down, examining things again, taking a tentative whiff. “Hold on. I smell good. I smell…like you.”
I gaped.
He grunted. Then lifted one brow. “Even kings wash their own balls, Camellia. I know how to use a sponge and some soap. Now close your mouth.”
I actually obliged—before deeper horror set in. The kind brought on by humiliation. “Ohhhh, shit. What
else have you seen?”
A smirk traced his lips. “Nothing I have not tasted before.”
“Not what I meant.” I went ahead and groaned. “I talked in my sleep, didn’t I? And drooled on the pillow?” One glance at his face confirmed everything. “Lovely.” Head-in-the-hands time again. “We’re swimming along nicely on this whole hands-off thing, aren’t we? Sponge baths, sharing pillows…annnd, I just called you ‘Ev’.”
He yanked my hand back into his. “That was the part I liked the best.”
For one more second, he took my breath away. Just a week ago, in a ballroom full of candles and people, our hands had meshed like this…and every moment was threaded by hidden meanings, things we were thinking and didn’t dare speak. No more double messages now. No more polished, PR-perfect king. No more King Evrest. Just tangled, unshaved, half-naked, Ev. Smiling at me like that. Staring at me like that.
Dropping his wolf’s gaze to my lips, as if he knew exactly what he wanted to do to them.
And God, how I wanted to let him do it. And more…
I pushed against him—before it was too late. “It’s so time for me to leave.”
“Camellia—”
“No. Please—Evrest—”
“Ev.”
“No.” It escaped as a soft whine instead of the order I intended. Damn him for letting me get the shove in, only to retaliate with a steady grip at the back of my neck. He fingered the tiny hairs there, already knowing the electric shocks that would jolt through my body. “Hell.” I gasped. “No…”
“Why does that ‘no’ sound a great deal like ‘stop and you die’?”
“If you don’t stop, we’re both dead.” I wasn’t sure I used the term as simple symbolism. “We can’t ignore repercussions anymore. All the chaos Chianna caused yesterday…and she only inferred things—”
“Chaos only scratches the surface.” He didn’t stun me with the growl. But the viciousness beneath it? In an instant, all the heat from his touch was canceled by a stunned chill. “Camellia…when you did not wake up for me…” His jaw turned to granite. “I have never known such fear in my life.”
