Bernie (Guardians In Love Book 3)

by Brianna West

  I’d received a marking between my shoulder blades to signify my being the Captain of the Spirit Warriors and the responsibility of it being a weight I’d forever carry on my back. My brother had given it to me on his first day as ruling king. It had bequeathed me complete control over our soldiers—many of them ones I’d personally trained in the last one hundred years. It was his gift to me when he came into rule, and it was the happiest day of my life.

  I hadn’t the right to ask Bernard what his marking signified, because that would be too forward of a princess. If only he was one of my recruits and I could let myself go a bit and ask whatever I pleased, since I was not the princess when I dealt with our Spirit Warriors. I was Captain Nyla. And because we were here on business and I represented my kind as Princess Nyla, I couldn’t be anything but the perfect princess my father raised me to be. I was here on behalf of my brother, and I’d die before I shamed him in any way.

  “No, we are not friends.” I avoided a hole in the stone path we walked, sidestepping it and unintentionally moving closer to the strange Guardian.

  Abruptly, the Guardian’s arm went around my shoulders. Without a thought to where we were or who might be watching, I twisted out of his touch, taking hold of the offending arm and bringing it up behind his back in a lock-hold that was accompanied by my foot pressing securely into his spine. I pulled the arm sharply, causing Bernard to yelp and fall to his knees with a loud thump.

  My stare narrowed as I caught sight of the small marking again at the base of his neck, where his shoulders met. It was located the very same place as mine.

  So, it was a responsibility he carried on his shoulders. A leadership role of some kind? It didn’t appear like a marking for a crime, considering it was hidden in a place most clothing would conceal. Criminal tattoos were always branded in the most painful of ways and often where anyone could see it. Their appearance was often grotesque and unmistakable as well.

  There was an appearance of regality to it, suggesting it was more than likely given to high level individuals, and it also appeared to depict some kind of creature that I wasn’t familiar with. I’d have to ask Anric later in private if he might know its shape when I sketched it for him.

  In my wonderment, I’d unintentionally held the man captive to pain for a little longer than I’d initially intended, hearing his voice come out in a plea.

  “I give, girlie, I give!” Bernard shouted, making a few of the passing bystanders laugh at us as though we were some kind of street-side entertainment.

  I released him, ashamed that I’d forgotten we were not in a place where such actions would be tolerated, but royalty never apologized to the help. “Next time, I will break it.”

  I was desperate to know about his marking. It intrigued me greatly enough that I’d almost asked about it. Thankfully, I reigned in my control and adjusted my shirt, which had slipped up slightly and exposed my stomach in the scuffle. My laced boots tapped lightly on the stone as I shuffled beside Anric for a moment to fix my outward composure as well as my inward one.

  My large companion and tutor watched me, blue eyes taking in every detail of my face. He probably suspected there was something I wished to ask, but knew by my face that I couldn’t engage him until we were in private. On the battlefield, we couldn’t speak directly. So, we had developed a silent way of communicating, which aided greatly when I was engaged in a fight, or we were covert and unable to speak.

  Unlucky for us Spirit Bellatorums, we were incapable of reading other creatures’ or each other’s minds. If it did happen, it was rare and limited to the one person who harbored such a gift. In my one hundred and fifty years, I’d never seen anyone with such a gift.

  Rolling back his shoulders and glancing down at a few passing women who were giggling at our group and eyeing the men with sparkling eyes, Anric lost interest in me. He, too, appeared to marvel at the world around us in silent splendor. Even though he had recently traveled to the mortal world with our warriors to help with a recent epidemic, he hadn’t spoken much about it. So, it would seem he was just as interested in taking in all the details of the mortal world while we were here as I was.

  Thank god.

  Anric very rarely showed any interest in anything that didn’t directly relate to fighting, but it was a shared interest of ours to see the mortal world. We knew of it by what the elders imparted to us, but it had been a great deal of time since any of our kind had traveled here. And it had transformed dramatically from what we were told by the elders. Even Yaniv shared an obvious interest in partaking in an excursion himself now that we had gained ties here.

  I foresaw him coming in the future, which was, perhaps, the very reason he was so eager to let me go. Maybe he hoped I could further establish some sort of claim in this world.

  Yaniv wasn’t particularly gifted in social situations. While we shared that somewhat, I knew when to speak and when not to. I was able to gauge a social situation better than he was, and I was infinitely more patient when dealing with others as unbelievable as that may sound.

  Yaniv, at his best, lost interest in conversations that didn’t amuse him. If he found someone ‘frightfully boring,’ as he often liked to put it, he would slip away before said person had even a chance to see that he had gone. Never one to speak more than necessary, I knew how much he cared for me because of the simple fact that Yaniv never gave me the slip. Nor did he ever appear bored whilst conversing with me. It gave me a superior feeling, especially since Big Brother hardly gave the time of day to any of our other brothers, aside from Vlad.

  If I were being honest, I enjoyed speaking to new people. I wanted to know more about every creature I came in contact with, but I wasn’t allowed to show my interest. So sometimes, that could adversely affect how much I came to know about them. Not to mention, it was difficult to trust anyone that knew I was the princess.

  Almost everyone I’d met to date—save Anric and Big Brother and some of the other sprite royalty I’d come to know—had motives and uses for me that I figured out well before they could properly enact them. However, it had made trusting others increasingly hard to do.

  Bernard jumped to his feet with renewed vigor, a smile beaming down at me as he shook out his arm and whistled lightly to himself. He watched my hands as I pulled the shirt I wore and flicked my hair back over my shoulder, taking a small moment to compose the drumming of my pulse. I didn’t quite understand what made my pulse throb when I touched Bernard, only that it did.

  It was shameful.

  “You’re strong for such a tiny thing.” My hand was immediately on the handle of my sword. “A compliment, miss! I only meant I found it impressive with you being such a delicate little darling!”

  Aw, he was such a sweetie.

  “An odd way to praise a woman of my fortitude, to be sure,” I mused, walking ahead of him and peering around us.

  The path forked, buildings erected in any available space where the pathways traveled. The streets were crowded with humans as they went about their routines and business, ignoring us as they passed from our left and right. It was a great feeling to know I wouldn’t have to greet every single person who passed. Actually, very few of them cared about us at all, not even offering our group a glance as they navigated through and around us.

  Bernard cooed, tipping his hat at a few women that started to pass by him, then bowed in a way that made several of them smile and laugh. “Howdy!” he greeted, placing his hat over his chest, “Are you sweet darlings alone today?”

  Anric scoffed beside me, drawing my eyes away from Bernard and instead to my companion’s figure as it loomed with a very different feeling from the jubilant, overly friendly Guardian. “I had initially believed these Guardians would be more focused on the runaway prince rather than their own personal pleasures.”

  Aw, he was totally jealous.

  “He does seem to take his responsibilities rather lightly,” I remarked, readjusting my blade before nodding my head forward, “We are losing day
light. Where to next?”

  “There is a Promiscus Guardians headquarters in the middle of the city, so we’ll go there first,” Carl replied quickly, coming around us to pull his brother by the shirt and tug him away from the giggling women as though he were a mere oversized child. “Focus, you imbecile.”

  “But look at them! They totally want to ride this cowboy,” Bernard fussed as the women escaped. “Aw, you let the girlies get away.”

  Ride a cowboy? Was that some sort of mystical creature that existed here?

  But Bernard seemed to really love women, which was pleasant to see on a man. It was a genuine appreciation rather than a wish to gain something from them. But then again, it was easier to have women in this realm than that of ours.

  “I’d rather not be saturated with whatever drink they will likely throw our direction when your mouth gets you in trouble again,” Carl responded bitterly. “You’re already in hot water for your ridiculous antics the other day. Victor will be angry, and you’ll take me down with you.”

  I perked up, slightly ashamed of eavesdropping, but my curiosity inevitably won out over royal breeding. “Who is this Victor you speak of?”

  “Our angel boss, miss,” Bernard answered, making his way once more to my side and winking, “He’s got a nasty temper when we do something out of line.”

  “When you do something out of line, you mean,” Carl corrected, returning to Anric’s side.

  “An angel?” I asked, barely able to contain the elation I felt at the mere idea of meeting one.

  I never thought I’d meet an angel. They were legendary. Their power and ability far exceeded any other being in existence, or so I was told.

  Bernard’s eyes glinted as he walked a little closer, peering over my head at Anric for a moment before smiling suggestively at me. “Curious, girlie?”

  He called me girlie! He was too charming, seriously.

  “Nyla,” I corrected, regaining the space lost with a step towards Anric as we made our way forward into town.

  I gazed at the passing sheets of what appeared to be a reflective surface similar to a mirror, which had me irrevocably intrigued by the worlds that lived inside of them. Before Bernard could say anything else, I pointed to one, forgiving myself the momentary break in formality so I could ask the plaguing question inside.

  “Are these seeing mirrors to other worlds? Humans can portal without magic?” I asked, clearly mystified, “Or have they discovered the means of employing magical folk?”

  Bernard’s shoulders were shaking, stopping in the middle of our forward progression towards the Guardian’s main building as the amber-eyed man covered his mouth and shook his head.

  “Oh, princess, you’re just too darn stinkin’ cute!” he finally shouted when I’d grown seriously worried that he was under some sort of attack, making me very close to drawing my sword and seeking the offender out.

  Bernard threw his arms out, and before anyone had the time or ability to stop him, he wrapped them around my shoulders and squeezed me into his body without my consent. My hands pressed against his shirt, my body stiff for seconds as I slid down and threw my leg out. I then took out his legs with a swift, round kick that had the heavy weight of his muscled form colliding with the stone pathway in the seconds it took him to drop to the floor. It was instinctual, realizing in the small moment in between rising to my feet and watching Carl help his brother to his that I’d yet again lost control of myself.

  Bernard laughed, surprising me as I stepped forward with the intention to apologize for my overreaction. “Take no prisoners! I’m definitely in love!”

  Carl shook his head, shoving his brother off as Bernard threw an arm around the better dressed of the two. “You’re hopeless, and I don’t know why I bother with you anymore.”

  “That’s ‘cause you love me,” Bernard replied, a confident smile gleaming on his handsome face.

  How continuously peculiar and enchanting this man was. I was practically besotted when I shouldn’t be as a result of his undeterred jubilance.

  “As delusional as ever, I see,” Carl said with a small grunt, but his smile gave him away.

  These two were too adorable, really. It reminded me of my relationship with Yaniv. Pretty sure that Brother was very close to giving up on me sometimes with my persistence and affinity for fighting. He was the only other person, Anric being the first, that knew about this internal side to me that I was desperate never to show.

  Carl straightened, suddenly realizing we were still watching them. “This way. Leave Bernie here. It’ll be faster that way.” He walked ahead, to which Anric eyed me with a slightly amused smirk before he was following the other Guardian.

  I glanced back as Bernard retrieved his hat from the ground, finding that my feet were already bringing me closer to him. “What is this hat of yours? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  My bloody mouth had run away again.

  “This?” he asked, lifting the hat before smiling.

  He brushed it off and then stepped forward, leaning over slightly and putting it on top of my head. My hand went up to attack him with a swift hand chop to the neck, but Bernard caught my wrist in a surprisingly swift movement. Amber eyes fixed to me as he released my captured wrist only a second later with another short laugh.

  “It’s my cowboy hat, princess. My father’s first and last gift to me,” Bernard said shortly, the smile on his face lacking the usual brightness I’d come to expect from him.

  In a brief moment, there was true emotion there that he’d never shown before. I watched him with a curiosity that nearly forced me to pry into affairs I had no business prying into. But thankfully, I regained control and nodded curtly at him.

  “Your brother intends to leave you should you meander about too long,” I said simply, removing the hat and offering it back to him. Then, I turned on my heel and headed off after the other two without another glance at Bernard.

  My heart was beating inside of my chest so quickly that I placed a hand over it in hopes of calming the uneven pace. Something about his expression made me desperate to know more about him. I wasn’t sure what interested me so much about the man-beast whose smile lit up the very room or place he stood, but I found it harder to keep my questions inside the longer we were together—something in which bothered me greatly enough to decide that it was best to keep my distance from Bernard from here on out.

  I needed to find my brother, convince him what he did and continued to do was wrong, and then return back to my realm without a reason to wish I didn’t have to go.

  Chapter Four

  ~***~

  “An honor to meet you, Princess Nyla of the Spiritum Bellatorum,” the immensely large man said in welcome, who stood with such a tremendous command that it seemed to permeate inside the very room as if it carried actual density. His golden hair and warm, blue-green eyes were a gorgeous sight to behold as they glimmered in the low light and carried a luminescence that was unrivaled by any I’d met to date.

  An angel! Oh my god…oh my god!

  Nothing about him initially suggested that he was an angel. His kindly smile that he wore with a nonchalance that would rival that of a king and his overall welcoming attitude didn’t exactly embody what I initially believed of angels, but it wasn’t dissimilar from what I knew. He just appeared very human to me, though the intelligent glint in his eyes that I perceived the moment we stood before him was one that no human, or really any creature I’d ever come in contact with, harbored inside their eyes.

  My hand was taken into his as the angel pressed a small kiss to my knuckles and smiled in greeting at Anric and the others next to me. “My name is Simon, the Chief of the Promiscus Guardians. I was told you seek a person of equal interest, is that not correct?”

  My brain caught up as I nodded once. “My brother, Vlad. It is my hope to bring him home to see to his crimes. I was given a fortnight to accomplish the task.”

  “Only a fortnight?” Simon mused, holding his chin
in a light, contemplative hold, “That would give us very little time.”

  Anric stepped forward, going to a knee and striking his chest over his heart in a respectful greeting. “Chief Simon of the Promiscus Guardians, what my Princess means to say is that we were given a fortnight in our realm, which I am to understand is a great deal longer here.”

  The angel watched Anric, glimmering eyes trailing over to me for a second before he spoke again. “Ah, yes, then that comforts me some. You see, we are unable to locate him at this time. I have my best Guardians seeking his location at the moment, but I fear we have no information as of yet.”

  Bloody Vlad.

  “I may be able to find him with the assistance of my own abilities,” I started, but the angel shook his head before I could go on further.

  “As simple as that may have been in your realm, I fear it is not so simply done here. You see, you are already being sought by the Dark,” Simon stated coolly, causing Anric to grow rigid beside me, “I’m not quite sure how it was discovered, but it would seem there are quite a few already in search of your whereabouts. Anything you might try here could give your location away. I have already spoken with Bernard and Carl and we would like to extend our protection to you beyond guidance while you stay within this realm.”

  I turned to look at Anric, unsure of what he may say. His face was grim, but there was a telltale sign in his expression that suggested he had already been aware this may happen. I stared at him a moment longer before he was speaking to the angel with a voice that imparted the seriousness of the situation.

  “We were prepared for such an alliance. It was King Yaniv’s wish to allow his sister this one favor and opportunity to convince her brother of his wrongdoing. We will do whatever we must to ensure she has her chance to speak with him.”

  “Aww, what a sweet older brother you have,” Bernard said, hands clasped together and pressed into his cheek, “Makes this cowboy jealous. My Carl has never been very sweet or kind or loving to me at all. He’s just a sourpuss.”