Chapter 16
To my surprise and utter horror, my prince found out what happened to me and visited me in Prince Lawrence's room...as he was trying to get me in bed.
"Please? It only hurts the first time! How could a girl like you even be a virgin?" He was saying as Aiden walked in. My prince took one look at the situation and closed the door firmly behind him.
"Prince Aiden! What are you doing here?" I gasped moving even farther away from Prince Lawrence.
"I heard you got hurt from Linessa. Show me," he commanded and I turned around, lifting the back of my shirt. He seized me roughly and pushed my hand out of the way. Pulling it up to my shoulder, he traced the lashes with a gossamer touch and then practically ripped the shirt in pulling it back down.
"Lawrence, there are two ways we can play this," he said looking up at the other prince and I realized that his playful act was gone. Both men appeared furious at the princess and I grabbed my prince's arm.
"Don't ruin your chances at getting peace between the two countries! Your father worked hard for this chance. We both knew that marrying her would have side effects. Nothing she did was worse than how you first found me so don't worry about it," I begged him but that just appeared to anger him more as he remembered how he first found me.
"How did you find her?" the other prince's tone was level but the blankness in his face was a warning not to tell him.
"Slavers raided her town and took her. They beat and raped her when they got to the slave trading city. When she glared at me, they whipped her on the stand in front of everyone," he looked straight at the prince just as blank. The look I saw on Prince Lawrence's face after that was something I never wanted to see on his face again. The animosity on his features was frightening and I reached out with my tattoo. They touched his hands gently and he glanced down to see them entwining in his fingers. He laced them through his fingers and looked up at my face. Concern tore apart the vehemence and he walked over to me and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe away the bloody tears. Linessa burst in on the scene and ignored what was going on completely.
"The princess is going to try to kill Prince Aiden and Naomi tonight," she briefed us and we stared at her in shock.
Prince Lawrence was the first to get over it the quickest.
"How did you find out?" he asked and an evil smile appeared on her face. It matched the one on mine perfectly. I loved a good fight.
"I just happened to be under her bed setting a trap for when she fell asleep tonight when she came in and started yelling at Rucio for his idiocy of not getting your full cooperation on your torture. He was the one that made the brilliant suggestion that we should all go to hell to keep her from...ah...hurting him. She got excited at his thoughtfulness and brought in everyone from the castle. They plan on moving tonight and there won't be anyone to defend us if they have as many people as I think they do," she informed us.
"How many?" I asked and she shivered.
"Five hundred most of them are soldiers but...we have a problem," she said reluctantly and the smile faded from my face.
"What is it?" my prince asked impatiently.
"Yarrow Feldman is in the assassination group," she muttered and I laughed. I laughed so hard that tears starting falling out of my eyes. The three of them just looked at me while I had my moment but even then I didn't even try to stop until after a few minutes.
"What's so funny?" Linessa ventured as soon as I started calming down and I grinned wolfishly at her.
"I want to take him," I announced and they gapped at me.
"He's one of the few Selenium on the guard! You'd kill one of your own?" Linessa gapped shocked.
"He's after my prince and your prince. Wouldn't you?" I retorted and she nodded with a small mutter under her breath.
"You should know what you're up against," she stated and I waved for her to go on. "The man's brutal. He doesn't dance like a Selenium except to kill and even then he seems to relish it more than anyone else I know. I've tried to go up against him and would've gotten killed if my master hadn't gotten in the way. You need to be careful around him. He's been dancing the sword dance for years and you've only had a couple of months. I don't even think it's a good idea for you to even be moving after you've been lashed but I wouldn't be able to take on that many people. Even a full blown Selenium would so I need you to help me and..." Her trailing off was due to me raising an eyebrow at her plea.
"You do understand that I would love to dance with all of those people right? If it's for my prince and country than I do it, if not there's no use for fighting. I'd just as soon go and kill myself in the name of my prince. It'd be that useless. So calm down, just tell me what time it is that you need to meet me," I told her and she nodded taking a deep breath.
"They attack after sunset. It'll be an hour after to make sure they have everyone and are up to speed on what to do. We can meet in Prince Lawrence's room at sunset," she decided and I nodded. My prince and Linessa left discussing details and I was left with Prince Lawrence.
"Your highness," I began and he held up his hand.
"Lawrence or Law. You're fighting for me and Aiden. I don't need someone who is willing to fight so readily for this and still call me 'your highness'," he said bluntly and I nodded.
"Law, you understand that I can't have both of us go out there and get killed right?" I replied just as blunt and he bit back sigh.
"I had a feeling but are you sure about this?" he questioned hopefully.
"Dead sure," I smiled and he smiled wistfully back.
"Can I get you into bed before you die?" he offered and I started laughing.
"In your dreams," I replied and he rolled his eyes.
"My dreams are something you can't handle," he retorted and I shrugged.
"My dreams are something that you'd never be able to comprehend," I shot back and started getting ready for tonight.
"You were such a pain in the ass back then," Lawrence observed and I hit him lightly on the arm.
"I was a pain? You were still the one trying to get me in bed at every move!" I replied and he waggled his eyebrows at me.
"You were so beautiful..." he started and I glared at him. "That I want you to finish."
Author's note: Thanks for the support! Don't forget to vote and comment!
