To Love a Prince (Knights of Valor Book 1)

by Elizabeth Drake

  Once they reached Tamryn, he would marry Lady Daniella.

  Sadness balled in Auburn’s stomach. She hadn’t counted on falling in love with him, hadn’t planned it, but such was the gift of the Twins. A blessing and a curse.

  She would have to find her own path forward in a new and foreign country. As much as she loved him, she wanted, needed a home of her own. A family.

  And she would have it even if the man she loved couldn’t give it to her. She’d come this far for her son. She wouldn’t give him up now.

  Eli teased a kiss along the curve of her ear. “What’s troubling you? I thought you’d be happy to leave Qumaref.”

  “I am.” Her arms tightened over his.

  Leopold appeared on deck and strode over to them.

  Eli pulled Auburn closer.

  “Glad to see you two up and about.” Leopold nodded toward Auburn. “How’re you feeling?”

  “Tired and seasick.”

  Leopold frowned. “Was gonna invite you to the captain’s table for dinner. Might not be a good idea if you’re sick.”

  “I take my meals in my room,” Eli said.

  “You might, but Auburn is a lot nicer than you. People like her. Want to see her at dinner.”

  Eli scowled. “I’m sure your metamorphosis into a social director will thrill Lady Highland. She’ll be ecstatic to have you in attendance at all of her balls.”

  Leopold growled a curse.

  Auburn smiled and stroked the prince’s arm. “Whatever you wish. I want to enjoy this time together.”

  “Good thing Ndrek’s not here,” Leopold said. “You’d make him gag.”

  Auburn laughed. “How’s he doing?”

  “Likes sailing even less than you do,” Leopold said. “Threatened to throw him overboard a couple of times on the way here if he threw up on my boots.”

  A grin stole across her lips. “Poor Ndrek. I imagine it was even worse on a smaller ship.”

  Leopold nodded and regarded Eli. “Giving her the tour?”

  “She already knows the ship.”

  “Been cooped up here too long already.” Leopold squinted at the horizon. “Even on a big ship like this, boredom sets in fast.”

  “Perhaps Prince Eli could loan you one of his books.”

  “I’ll take you up on that,” Leopold said. “Just not one with all those swirls instead of letters. And I still expect you to practice with me once you get your sea legs.”

  “I look forward to it.”

  “No you don’t.”

  Auburn smiled. “I’ll get you a book.”

  Choosing each step with care, she returned to Eli’s cabin. As she walked inside, the ship rolled beneath her feet, and she caught the edge of the table to keep from falling. She waited out another bout of nausea, and Auburn hoped she wouldn’t be sick the entire time they were at sea. She wanted to enjoy her last weeks with Eli.

  The thought made her chest ache, but she composed herself and eased over to the bookshelf. Perusing the small library, she selected a book on the history of Qumaref, one on horses, and a crime novel.

  As she headed back towards the door, the motion of the ship and her own rebellious stomach had her clutching a large trunk to keep her balance. Taking a few deep breaths, she waited for the nausea to pass then pushed against the side of the trunk to stand. A hidden compartment slid open revealing a Tamarian coin.

  She lifted the coin and peered at the image of Eli etched into its surface.

  Her eyes unfocused, seeing the coin but also past it. Eli’s hair lengthened and curled on the coin. His face morphed from the hard planes she knew to rounded cheeks and puffy lips. His eyes transformed from their brilliant blue to flat black discs, cold and reptilian. Anger and greed contorted the face, then darkness engulfed it.

  Sucking in a breath, her hands shook as she studied the darkness more closely and realized thousands of snakes writhed in the shadows, their bodies twisting and coiling over and around each other as they devoured the dragon crest of Tamryn.

  She swallowed a scream, threw the coin back into the compartment, and shoved it closed.

  After several long, deep breaths, she steadied herself. Her hands still shook as she pushed herself back to her feet.

  She didn’t understand the vision.

  It wasn’t Eli. It couldn’t be Eli.

  He may marry Daniella to secure his political plans, but he wanted to save Tamryn. Protect it.

  She stared at the books in her hand and the ones still arranged by title and subject on the shelves. They told of a man with wide and varied interests. An intelligent man and a driven one. A man who loved his country and his people. Who had spent much of his life in service to them.

  He was not hiding in the shadows waiting to strike. Waiting to kill. Waiting to take what was not his and destroy Tamryn.

  She knew him better than that.

  So what did the vision mean?

  Her visions warned her, helped protect her. Guided her.

  Auburn rubbed a hand over her belly. The fatigue. The sickness. Had she been with the sultan, they’d be rejoicing at the news. But Prince Eli had been adamant about not being permitted to give her a child.

  She wasn’t sure what he’d do if he discovered her secret. If she ruined plans he’d spent his whole life crafting.

  Her fists balled at her side, and she straightened her spine. She would not lose her son, not even to the man she loved. She had plotted just as long as Eli had. Maybe longer. She would not back down now.

  Auburn swallowed hard as she regarded the trunk.

  Steadying her thoughts, she considered the vision again. The shifting face. The snakes. The dragon crest. The vision was a warning, but she didn’t know what it meant.

  Not yet.

  She clutched the books and returned to Eli and Leopold. She then handed the volumes to the Knight.

  “Thanks.” Leopold peered down at the titles and raised a steel-colored brow. “Interesting choices.”

  “I thought you’d like them. You can learn a lot about a man by what he reads.”

  “Some truth in that, I suppose.” Leopold turned from Auburn to Eli. “You let her get lots of rest. Sleep’ll help. Time’ll help more. Reading’ll make it worse. I’ll have a couple chairs brought out. She gets bad, have her sit in one and watch the horizon.”

  “Thank you, Sir Leopold.” Auburn studied the Knight. Perhaps she could tell him the vision, see what he thought of it. But then she’d have to confess her condition, and she wasn’t ready to do that.

  “Keeping Ndrek away from you for now. One of you gets sick, you’ll set off the other.”

  “I’m taking her back to rest.” Eli touched his lips to her temple. “I’ll read to her and practice my Elven.”

  A smile curved her lips and emotion bloomed in her chest. “I’d like that.”

  Eli nodded to Leopold and helped Auburn back to their cabin. Once he had her tucked into bed beside him, he selected a book written in Elven, and he was still reading to her when she fell asleep.

  Chapter 41

  Auburn slept half the day away, but snakes, the man who resembled Eli, and a temple illuminated by a gold dragon haunted her dreams.

  Was the vision showing her that there was safety in the temple of the gold dragon? If so, from whom was she running?

  She thought again of the man with the reptilian eyes and shivered.

  “Bad dream?” Eli held her, warming her with his closeness.

  She nodded then stroked a finger along his smooth jaw. One of the first things he’d done when they’d set sail was shave his beard. “Have you ever worn your hair curly?”

  Eli frowned. “Once, when I wasn’t much more than a boy.”

  “But you haven’t recently.”

  He caught her fingers and brought them to his lips. “It didn’t suit me. It’s fashionable in Tamryn for men to wear their hair longer than I do, to curl it even, but I have no use for such foolishness.”

  “Odd the style has
remained popular when the prince doesn’t wear it.”

  Eli shrugged. “Lots of wealthy noblemen do.”

  “It’s a way to distinguish wealth and privilege,” Auburn said.

  “There are far better ways to use that wealth and privilege than to look like a fop.”

  A whisper of relief curved Auburn’s lips as she speared her fingers through his dark locks. “And you wouldn’t look as imposing.”

  He kissed her temple. “There is that.”

  The man from her vision wasn’t Eli. His father, perhaps? His uncle? Maybe his cousin? Perhaps the vision would become clearer the closer they got to Tamryn.

  She leaned against the prince and let his presence chase away the nightmare.

  Eli stroked her cheek and wrapped a strand of her copper-colored hair around his finger. “While I don’t understand your questions, you asked them after a nightmare. I realize I haven’t told you much about my family.”

  “I figured you aren’t close to them. You haven’t mentioned them much, and you tend to refer to your father as King Garrett.”

  “Observant.”

  Auburn smiled as Eli helped her change into a gown for dinner. He paused in doing up her laces to trail a finger along the smooth skin of her neck and nibble the top of her spine.

  Shivering, she sucked in a breath, and the rich masculine scent of him filled her senses. “You were going to tell me about the Dracasans.”

  He slipped an arm around her. “My father and I haven’t been close since my mother’s death.”

  “Hard to lose your mother and your father.”

  Eli lifted his shoulders. “My father is a busy man. Ruling Tamryn consumes most of his time, but he made sure I attended to my studies and my duties.”

  “So you’d be fit to be king.”

  “I have an aunt on my mother’s side, but she never lived in Aerius so I saw her very little. She wanted me to come out and stay with her after my mother died, but my father wouldn’t allow it. I needed to stay in Aerius for my studies.”

  “A cold decision for a father. He should’ve given you time to grieve, time to heal. Any child that loses their mother needs that. Deserves that.”

  “Royalty doesn’t get such luxuries.”

  Auburn touched the hard lines of his jaw, and he clenched it under her fingers. “It’s not a luxury.”

  Eli caught her fingers and kissed them.

  She stared up into his deep blue eyes. “You look like your father?”

  Eli nodded. “So does my Uncle Rexnord. He lives as his country estate, and it’s been years since I’ve seen him. His wife died when I was young, and he left the capital city. However his son, Fredrick, is popular in Aerius.”

  Fredrick. The name sent a shiver down her spine.

  “Proper response to him.” Eli held her closer.

  “Did you ever figure out why he bribed Rolland to get you home quickly?”

  Eli shook his head. “I don’t know Fredrick as well as I should. I haven’t decided if confronting him or playing dumb will serve me best.”

  “What does he look like?”

  Eli paused. “He’s fashionable. The gods gave him the looks of an angel, complete with curling blond hair.”

  Auburn pondered his words, a frown pinching her forehead.

  “I’ll figure out his game, but in the meantime, I promised to escort you to dinner.”

  Eli slid her arm through his, then accompanied her to the dining area. Most of the attachés and other liaisons were already there, including Rolland.

  Rolland’s eyes fixed on her as Eli pulled out her chair. Once Auburn sat, the prince took the spot beside her and glanced over at his attaché.

  Rolland turned away.

  “You already know Captain Fields, Sir Leopold, and Ndrek,” Eli said. He then introduced her to the handful of his attachés also at the captain’s table.

  There were polite nods and smiles all around, but conversation lagged. Few had ever dined informally with Prince Eli.

  Auburn did her best to ease the awkwardness, drawing the others into conversation then encouraging them to keep talking by giving them her undivided attention. By the time the second course was served, there was a steady flow of chatter and the occasional laugh.

  When dessert arrived, Auburn’s rebellious stomach clenched, and her face turned green.

  Pausing mid-sentence, Eli touched her hand. “It’s been a long evening. Perhaps we should return to our cabin.”

  “You were discussing the finer points of the treaty.”

  “It can wait until tomorrow.”

  “I’ll see her to her room.” Leopold pushed away from the table. “Gives me a reason to escape all this treaty talk.”

  “No need,” Eli said.

  Auburn smiled as she touched the prince’s shoulder. “Please finish explaining. Best to get this sorted before we arrive in Tamryn, and I promise I won’t fall overboard. Sir Leopold will see to that.”

  He stilled under her hand. “Not even close to the railing.”

  She smiled, his concern warming her. “Promise.”

  Eli nodded, jaw set, but he let her leave with Leopold.

  The Knight led her up to the deck and paused beside her as she took a couple of deep breaths and rubbed her stomach.

  Leopold rocked back on his heels and surveyed the horizon. “When you gonna tell him?”

  “Tell who what?”

  “Tell Eli. And you know what.”

  Auburn paled. “I-I don’t know what you mean.”

  “You haven’t lied to me before now. Don’t start.”

  She followed his eyes to the horizon and swallowed hard. “Never.”

  “Don’t work like that. Not with royal blood. Though it shouldn’t ever be like that.”

  She swallowed hard and straightened her spine as she turned and met Leopold’s too-knowing gaze. “I will not give up my son, and I won’t suffer a lifetime of Prince Eli’s hatred because I upset his plans.”

  “What’re you gonna do? Try to disappear when we get to Tamryn?”

  She lifted her shoulders. “I got out of Qumaref. I’ll find a way.”

  “Course you would, but I can’t let you.”

  Her fists clenched at her sides as she fought the urge to cry. “I thought I could trust you.”

  “You can, but the child’s father deserves a chance to do right.”

  “Why no royal... why can no children can be born out of wedlock to the royal family?”

  “Dracor’s will,” Leopold said. “He trusted the royal family with a drop of His blood. Church’s job to oversee it.”

  “After so many generations of men, how can you be sure no children were born out of wedlock?”

  Leopold chuckled. “Easier than you’d think. That drop of blood makes it damn hard for them to have children. If they do, it’s only with someone the Dragon God finds worthy.”

  She studied the horizon. “What’s the royal family like?”

  “Most are serious to a fault. King Garrett’s a good man. Strong. Principled. Always has Tamryn’s best interest at heart. Don’t know if he was a good husband, but he was a crummy father. Especially after Queen Gwendolyn was assassinated.”

  “Assassinated?”

  “Eli didn’t tell you that?”

  “He said she died.”

  “That she did. He was eight maybe nine. Skipped lessons one afternoon and went to find her in the gardens. Was Gwyn’s favorite spot. He got there just in time to see the assassin kill her.”

  Auburn tightened her hold on Leopold’s arm. “He would’ve blamed himself for not being able to save her.”

  “Of course he did. He’s a Dracasan. Wouldn’t listen to reason.”

  “That’s when he started training with Sligo.”

  “Whole thing changed him. Church was certain Dracor would bless him early, and we were gonna prep him for the throne. But Eli hasn’t set foot in the Dragon Church since we buried Gwyn.”

  “Of course it changed hi
m. He loved her.”

  “That he did,” Leopold said.

  “Something like that would challenge anyone’s faith.”

  “Hoping he’ll find his way back to the Light. Might. Might not. So now we prepare for the next generation. Dragon God will hopefully bless one of Eli’s children.”

  Auburn rubbed her stomach. “What about Eli’s cousin, Fredrick?”

  “Fredrick’s a snake. Don’t know why he bribed Rolland, but I will. Rashalee corrupted that branch of the family tree, so Dracor will let it wither and die.”

  Images of snakes flickered through her mind. “What did Fredrick do that makes you think Rashalee corrupted him?”

  “I won’t say because I can’t prove it. If I could, I’d oversee Fredrick’s execution myself.”

  The hard note in Leopold’s voice made Auburn shiver.

  He patted her shoulder. “C’mon. I promised Eli I’d get you to your cabin, and I want to check on that wound and make sure it’s healing. Still amazed Dracor let me channel His power to heal another.”

  “I saw you heal yourself.”

  “Yeah, but I’ve never been able to use it on anyone else. Some Knights can, but not me.”

  Auburn considered that as she followed Leopold back to Eli’s cabin.

  On his way back to his rooms, Eli saw Leopold on deck.

  “How is she?” Eli said.

  “Sleeping.”

  “You checked the wound? Is she going to be all right?”

  Leopold nodded. “Doing fine as far as I can tell, but I’d have a High Priestess of Thalia examine her when we get to Tamryn. Amazing what they can do for the sick and injured.”

  Eli stood in silence several long moments, his gaze focused on the waves. “Auburn asked me about my family today. I expected her to be curious, but her questions were specific.”

  “Think she had another vision?”

  “Yes, and it scared her.”

  Leopold took a long, slow breath. “I’m betting it was about Fredrick.”

  “Someone in Tamryn wants me dead and has the means and motive to act on it.”

  The Knight let his hand drift to his sword hilt.

  Eli glanced up at the bright moon. “He killed his mother and sold mine out to the assassins.”