Princess Triumvirate (Pirate Princess, # 2)

by Catherine Banks

  “Do you worry that you will miss being a Mercenary enough to want to stop being Queen?” I asked her.

  “Protector,” she corrected. “I earned the title of Protector, which is above Mercenary.”

  “My apologies,” I said mockingly.

  “I worry that I will miss it, but the way my life is, there are bound to be adventures while I’m queen to keep me busy. If not, you are welcome to ask me to join you when you have grand adventures.”

  We smiled at each other and I nodded. “Deal. You call on me and I will call on you.”

  “You ready to head back?” she asked.

  I used my power to try to locate Finn, but he was still missing or too far away for me to sense. “They’re still gone,” I told her.

  “I wonder if they went into the Pegasi lands for some reason,” she mumbled.

  “Would that make a difference?” I asked.

  “Well, it’s likely that they have a spell to block people like you from finding magic there. The Pegasi are strict about not allowing humans…” She paused and said, “Finn should not be allowed to go there. Unless…”

  “Unless what?” I asked.

  “Unless they gave him special permission because he is like me and half-god.”

  “Lucky,” I mumbled.

  “I promise to introduce you to Silvermist before you leave.”

  “What would they be doing there?” I wondered aloud.

  “Maybe they’re making our wedding rings,” she suggested. “Favian made my engagement ring there,” she added and held up her hand to inspect the beautiful ring.

  “What about their rings?” I gasped. “We don’t have rings for them!”

  “Are we supposed to get them?” she asked, suddenly frantic. “We need to ask Amadis.”

  We stood up, grabbed our bouquets and ran to the castle. As we ran inside, we stumbled into someone and I ended up falling on them. “Sorry!” I said quickly and tried to untangle myself from them.

  “Are you hurt?” a male voice asked from the body of the person I had fallen on.

  I looked up and my breath caught in my throat. He was the most handsome Elf I had seen, the most handsome male I had seen ever. “Uh…”

  Marin grabbed my arm and pulled me up. “Sorry, Balon. We were trying to find Amadis.”

  He stood up and brushed his clothes off. “Well, I’m glad that I was able to save such a beautiful creature from falling on the cold ground.” He picked my hand up and kissed the back of it while bowing to me. “I will gladly be available for such service in the future.”

  “We have to go,” Marin said and drug me away from him. We turned down a hallway and she pinched my cheeks. “You’re blushing brighter than my flowers.”

  “My flowers!” I gasped when I realized that I didn’t have them.

  She lifted up her hand where she held both of our bouquets together. “You threw yours up in the air and I caught it.”

  “I can’t believe that happened,” I whispered in embarrassment.

  “Just be glad that Finn did not witness that,” she teased me. “We would have to chain him up to keep him from murdering someone.”

  “I’m so embarrassed,” I whispered as we resumed our search for Queen Amadis.

  “Don’t be. When I turned eighteen, Balon gave me a present and I had no idea at the time that it was a courting gift, so I accepted it. Favian was livid and demanded that I give it back and was so smug the next day when I did.”

  “I didn’t know they made men as stunning as that,” I told her and laughed.

  She joined in on my laugh and then stopped next to a door.

  “What’s in here?” I asked.

  “The war room,” she said. “Sometimes they come here to talk in private.” She knocked twice and called, “Amadis, are you here?”

  The door opened and Amadis looked at us in shock. “What’s got you girls all rosy cheeked?”

  “Uh, we were worried because we realized that we don’t have rings for Favian and Finn and we weren’t sure if we were supposed to,” Marin said and smiled at Amadis.

  Amadis looked at us suspiciously a moment and then said, “I thought you had picked out their rings already?”

  We both shook our heads.

  She sighed loudly. “Come with me, girls.” We followed her obediently and I was surprised when she led us out of the castle and towards the stables.

  “Where are we going?” I asked Marin in a whisper.

  She shrugged.

  “Your bouquets look beautiful,” Amadis commented. “I will have Alex take them from you and to my drawing room for safe keeping.”

  We entered the stables and Alex rushed to greet us. “Your Highnesses,” he said and bowed low.

  “Will you please give us a cart?” she asked. “We need to travel and although I normally would not mind a horseback ride, these two are prone to trouble and I would like to keep them as close to me as possible to ensure all three of us arrive safely.”

  “Right away,” he said and rushed outside.

  “I can’t remember the last time that I rode in a cart,” Marin said.

  “Are you as strong as the males?” I asked Amadis.

  She smiled wide and leaned close to me to whisper, “When we return for dinner, ask King Cesar about the competition we had.”

  “What competition?” Marin asked. “How come I don’t know about this?”

  Amadis brushed invisible dirt off her dress and said, “Although I do not like to discuss my age, I have been alive quite a long time. There are many things that you do not know about me, Daughter.”

  “Now I wish it was dinner time and not because I’m hungry,” Marin said.

  Alex brought out a beautiful silver cart with a mare that had a mane and tail that flowed behind her as she pranced.

  “She’s gorgeous,” I whispered in awe.

  “Princess is my mother’s horse,” Marin explained.

  “Hello, Princess,” Amadis greeted her horse and ran her hand down the horse’s face.

  “Would you like me to drive?” Alex asked.

  “No, thank you. I will drive,” Amadis said.

  “You’re driving?” Marin asked in shock. “You should let Alex drive.”

  “I am perfectly capable of driving this cart. Now, climb in ladies and we will be on our way,” Amadis said and climbed up into the driver’s seat.

  “Your Highness, I would feel more comfortable if…” Alex began, but the Queen gave him a look and he bowed and backed away.

  “Let the King know we will return for dinner,” she ordered.

  We climbed up into the cart and Amadis clucked her tongue. Princess began trotting and we headed deeper into the Elves’ territory.

  “Do you know their ring sizes?” Amadis asked us.

  “No,” we admitted.

  “When we get to the shop, you will need to take two sizers, teleport to the men, size their fingers, and then teleport back to us,” Amadis informed me.

  “Okay.”

  “What if they’re still on their secret mission?” Marin asked. “What if they’re in the Pegasi lands and she teleports there?”

  “If that happens, I will personally give her a pardon and speak to the Pegasi regarding the incident,” she assured us.

  “How far is this place?” Marin asked her.

  “Not too far. I don’t think you’ve been there since you were very young,” Amadis said. “Why haven’t you returned to visit the villages?”

  “I did once,” Marin admitted. “They weren’t very accommodating.”

  “What happened?” Amadis asked.

  “It’s old news,” Marin said.

  “Marin,” Amadis ordered.

  “I ran into a few of the female Elves who liked Favian. They started insulting me and tried to threaten me to stay away from him, so that they could court him. There were five of them and I had come alone. I was trying to avoid fighting them and then one of them hit me in the back of the head with a log. I was bl
eeding and I really wanted to tear them apart, but I didn’t want them to lie and accuse me of starting it and risk you getting upset at me, so I just came home.”

  “That was the night Favian burned down the tree house,” Amadis replied with shock.

  “What tree house?” Marin asked.

  “Those girls had a tree house that they used as a secret club. Favian burned it down and didn’t even deny it when we asked him. He had made certain that the girls watched him do it and was very proud of himself when we talked to him about it. He wouldn’t say why, but now it make sense,” Amadis explained and then chuckled. “Those girls cried for a week straight. Had I known what had happened, I would have dealt a harsher punishment out to them and not punished Favian.”

  “I didn’t know that he had done that,” Marin whispered.

  “You guys are so cute,” I said with a wide smile.

  “We always knew that they would marry,” Amadis said.

  “What!” Marin gasped.

  “Please, Marin. We aren’t blind, and even if you didn’t want to admit it to each other, we could see that you were both in love. You forget that I’m well over five hundred.”

  “Five hundred!” I gasped. I looked at Marin. “Does that mean that we’re all going to live to be over five hundred?”

  She smiled. “Oh, we didn’t tell you how old Elves lived for?”

  “You said a couple hundred years,” I accused her.

  She shrugged with a wide smile.

  “I wonder if we will run into those girls,” Marin pondered.

  “Well, now there are two of us, so I think we can take them,” I said with a devilish grin.

  “You two will behave,” Amadis ordered us.

  “She is such a downer,” I teased.

  “If one of those twits says anything, I will handle it,” she said.

  “Am I the only one hoping something happens?” I asked Marin in a whisper.

  She shook her head.

  We stayed quiet the rest of the ride and I found myself staring wide-eyed as we entered a village made up entirely of Elves. There were businesses and houses and Elves of varying ages and appearances walking around.

  Amadis stopped in front of a shop and turned around with a wide smile. “We have arrived. Follow me into the shop.”

  We obeyed, climbed down from the cart, and followed as she walked into the shop with an elegance that I envied. A bell jingled as we entered and a short, rotund Elf with silver hair down to his belt walked out of the back to greet us. “Welcome to…” he paused when he noticed who was in the shop and then bowed low. “Your Majesty. I had no idea that you were coming.”

  “This was an unexpected trip and an emergency at that,” Amadis informed him.

  He straightened and asked, “How may I help you?”

  “We need two wedding bands. One for Prince Favian and one for Prince Finn of the humans of Crilan,” Amadis explained. “Their wedding is in two days and the Princesses forgot to purchase the bands.”

  “That’s no problem,” he said. “As long as you know their measurements.”

  “We will take care of that as soon as you give us the sizing tool,” she said with a smile.

  He looked perplexed, but opened a drawer behind the counter and handed Amadis a silver ring with several smaller rings. “Here is the sizing tool.”

  “We will be right back,” she informed him. She turned and faced Marin. “Stay here and do not cause trouble. You may look for a ring while we are gone.”

  “Yes, Mother,” she replied grumpily.

  “When you are ready,” Amadis said to me.

  I set my hand on her shoulder and focused on Finn’s magic signature. Once I locked on to it, I teleported us to him. When we arrived, I was shocked to discover him standing with Favian and King Cesar in the center of a field surrounded by Pegasi and beside his father, Aquinn.”

  “Tilia!” Finn said in shock.

  “She can’t be here!” Favian gasped.

  “Calm yourselves,” Amadis ordered them. “I needed her to teleport me to the boys and it is my fault that she appeared in these lands. We had no way of knowing where you were. Now, Favian, find your ring size and tell me what it is and then Finn, you do the same.”

  The boys obeyed, while everyone stared at me with disbelief and fear.

  “If she didn’t come here intentionally, will she still be punished?” Finn asked softly.

  “No,” Amadis answered before Cesar could say what he had wanted to. “I pardon her and take the blame for this. We will be on our way as soon as Finn is done.”

  “I will speak with you later tonight,” Aquinn told me.

  I bowed. “Very well.”

  “We have the measurements, so we will be on our way. Be home for dinner,” Amadis said and then nodded once at me.

  I teleported us back to the shop and Marin and exhaled loudly, her shoulders relaxing at the sight of us.

  “That was not fun,” I commented.

  “What happened?” Marin inquired.

  “Nothing, I handled it,” Amadis assured her.

  “What were they all doing there together?” I pondered.

  “Who?” Marin asked.

  “Favian, King Cesar, Finn, Finn’s father, and a herd of pegasi,” I told her.

  “That is rather suspicious,” she whispered and looked off into the corner of the room as she thought about it.

  “Here are the sizes and your sizing tool,” Amadis told the shop owner.

  “These rings are nice,” Marin said, pointing to some in a case near her. I walked to her and looked them over.

  One caught my eye and I pointed to it. “That one.”

  “That one is nice,” Marin commented.

  “May I see it?” I asked the shop owner.

  He hurried over and pulled the ring out for me to examine. “Of course. That one is made of the strongest material in existence, nothing can break it or bend it.”

  “How is it made then?” I asked as I held the light ring in my fingers and marveled over the dark material that shined and sparkled.

  “Magic,” he replied as though I should have known that.

  “What about this one?” Marin asked and pointed at a silver ring.

  “You two have excellent taste,” he commented. “This is made from a fallen meteorite.”

  “A fallen star?” I asked in shock.

  “Yes.”

  “Yours is better,” I whispered to Marin.

  “Yours is great too,” she commented. “He wouldn’t have to worry about it getting ruined in battle.”

  “Let me see if that one is the correct size,” the shop owner said and took the ring from my hand.

  “How much is it?” I asked nervously. Something so exquisite was likely very pricey.

  “It’s the right size,” he said happily and then took the one Marin had to check the size without answering me. “This is Prince Favian’s size.”

  “Prices?” I asked again.

  “A gift from me to the new couples,” he replied with a wide smile. “Consider it my wedding gift.”

  “This is too much,” I said in surprise.

  “It’s not every day that the Prince is married. And besides, many will ask where the ring was obtained, so it’s good for me too.”

  “Are you certain?” Amadis asked.

  He nodded and then put the rings into two boxes and held them out to us. “May your lives be long and filled with joy and your union the same.”

  “Thank you,” I said with heartfelt sincerity.

  “Thank you,” Marin said.

  Amadis led us out and then pointed towards a bakery across the street. “Let’s stop in there and then the store next to it which has amazing chocolates.”

  “Sounds like a perfect plan to me,” Marin said with a wide smile.

  “Me too,” I agreed.

  We skipped across the street, arm in arm, and laughed the whole way. As we opened the door, a group of female Elves exited and ran i
nto us.

  “Sorry,” Marin and I said at the same time.

  “Perhaps you should watch where you are going,” one of the females said with disdain.

  They looked us over and one asked, “Did you find a friend finally, Marin? I always assumed you would have to turn to a human.”

  They giggled and another asked, “Did you find her under a rock or does she just naturally smell this horrid?”

  My fists were clenched and ready to hit the horrid females, when Amadis cleared her throat from behind us. We stepped aside and the females paled instantly. “In my long life, I have rarely experienced such hatred and outright disgusting attitudes towards females you do not know. The fact that you act this way towards your Princess, and soon to be Queen, astonishes and disappoints me. You will apologize this instant and in three days meet me at the castle where I will educate you on the proper ways to act in public.”

  The females whispered apologies and then hurried away with ashamed looks on their faces.

  “Are you certain I can’t hit just one of them?” Marin asked her.

  “You were amazing,” I told Amadis.

  “You can order them around in the future and give them awful tasks once you are queen,” Amadis told Marin.

  “She’s so devious and I love it,” I said with a wide smile. “I see where you get it from.”

  Amadis laughed and entered the shop.

  Hours past as we ate and talked and laughed and before we knew it, it was dinner time. We hurried back to the stables where Alex took care of putting away the horse and cart. We raced into the dining room to find it empty.

  “Where are those boys?” Amadis asked aloud. “I’m going to check the war room. You two sit.”

  We obeyed and snuck a bite of chocolate while she was gone.

  “Can you believe that we are going to be married women very shortly?” Marin asked me.

  “No, it is very hard to believe,” I agreed.

  “Part of me is very excited and part of me is very terrified. Please tell me that you feel the same,” she whispered.

  “Exactly the same,” I whispered back.

  “Good evening ladies,” Sebastian greeted us and sat down next to Marin.

  “Where have you been?” Marin asked him.