The New Rangers

Chapter Ten

Dinner. Not only dinner, but dinner with Princess Cassandra. Logan sat back in his chair, this wasn't anything he ever expected to happen in his life. He swallowed hard. His eyes slid shut and he took a couple of steadying breaths.

Holly nudged him with an elbow. "Hey, you okay?"

His eyes popped open and he smiled at her. "Yeah, I'm good. Though, I'm not sure I'm ready for dinner with the Princess."

Holly laughed. "You'll be fine. Aunt Cassandra is a normal person who just happens to be a princess as well."

"She's not a normal person. She's the Crown Princess of Araluen."

She gave his arm a pat. "I'm serious, don't worry about it."

He nodded and took another steadying breath. "All right, I'll try not to worry. Much."

"Good. Let's go then because I'm starving."

With a little chuckle, he stood and crossed Holly's room and pulled open the door. They'd been talking and relaxing a bit before dinner. He paused before following her from the room. "Is Mitchell going to be there?"

She nodded. "Yes, his mother wants to spend some time with him before she must head back. It's too hard for them to spend any time together with him confined to the barracks with Griffin. The jerk is watching every move Mitchell makes very closely."

After Logan had been invited to dine with them this evening Holly explained things to him so he understood how important it was to keep Mitchell's identity a secret. He, in turn, informed her he had already suspected who Mitchell was and it was nice to finally have it confirmed.

He shook his head and walked beside her down the corridor. "I wish Sir Rodney would listen to us about Griffin."

"I agree. All we can do is try and keep an eye on him and his friends and keep them away from Mitchell as much as we can." She shrugged.

Together they stepped into the private dining room set aside for the baron, his family and guests. As soon as the others arrived the doors were closed and the servants began serving the meal.

Cassandra was seated at the head of the table, Mitchell was seated to his mother's right and they were talking quietly. Both were smiling quite a bit. Mitchell looked as if he might still be in a little pain from the blows Griffin and his friends managed to land. Though Logan was certain Mitchell had come off much better than Griffin had.

To Cassandra's left, Holly and Deva sat side by side and as he watched, Deva's eyes darted around the room, watching the servants as they filled everyone's plates. Her eyes seemed to be fixed on one particular young man who was holding a tray of meat. Logan's watched the man. Early twenties, dark hair, and he was actively avoiding Deva's gaze. Well now, wasn't that interesting? Did the two have some sort of history? He allowed himself a little smile.

The man stayed put until Halt indicated he wanted another serving. Deva's eyes narrowed as she watched the man serve the Ranger, carefully picking which piece of meat to place on the Ranger's plate. The elder Ranger wasn't paying attention to the servant or Deva, he was carrying on a conversation with Will who was seated beside him.

Moving in a lightning quick blur, Deva leaned across the table and snatched the piece of meat from Halt's plate before he could turn back and begin eating it. With a quick shift, her arm came up and she whipped the piece of meat over her shoulder, where it flew through the air to land with a slap on the floor behind her some meters.

"Be gone Loki there is no space for your mischief here!" she shouted.

Logan blinked in disbelief. What the heck just happened?