Brotherhood

Chapter 3

Standing in the shadows of the palace, Geric watched the princess closely. She seemed shaken but otherwise unharmed. It had been pure chance that he had been here when Tonraq had accosted the princess, he had been making a delivery of a sword to the guard house when he had seen the two of them on the balcony just overhead. The princess was usually surrounded by guards and he wondered how Tonraq had managed to slip inside when security was so tight around the royal family. Pushing back from his position, he waited until he could see his quarry, but Tonraq hadn't seen Geric before he lunged out of the shadows, pinning the other wolf to the ground.

"What are you doing here, Tonraq?" he snarled, holding the blade of his dagger to Tonraq's throat. It wouldn't kill him, not in this form, but it would hurt a lot which Geric hoped would be enough of a deterrent to keep him from attacking.

"Delivering a message," Tonraq replied, giving Geric a sly smile. "A warning if you will. But the little princess didn't seem to take me too seriously now, did she?"

Geric didn't respond right away, his mind churning with possibilities. He wanted to prevent the attack before it could happen. The princess had nothing to do with her father's stance against the wolves or the wolves' hatred of the royal family. She was as innocent a bystander as there could be. "Who is after her?"

"Now why would I tell you that?" Tonraq replied with a malevolent grin. Geric pressed the blade a little harder into Tonraq's throat until drops of blood appeared.

"Because last time we fought, I nearly killed you," he hissed, a deadly undercurrent in his voice. "You don't want to go through all that again, do you?"

A flicker of fear whipped through Tonraq's eyes as he stared at Geric, hostility evident in every line of his face. "I don't know. I was paid twenty gold pieces to threaten her. Someone left a note and told me that if I delivered the message, the payment would be doubled."

Geric raised his eyebrows, sensing that Tonraq was telling the truth. He had no reason to lie. The question was, if Tonraq himself had no interest in harming the princess, then who did?

"Go," Geric snarled, letting Tonraq up. "If you ever set foot near the palace again, you'll have me to answer to."

Tonraq didn't need telling twice, the hem of his cloak whipping out of sight as he beat a hasty retreat toward the forest. Geric watched him go, his mouth pulling in a thin line. Was whoever had sent Tonraq just trying to frighten the princess or was there something more sinister going on here?

He watched the guests who were still filtering into the palace, unsure why he felt so protective of the princess. He didn't know her, not really. All he knew of her was what the rest of the kingdom knew—she was the crown princess, heir to the throne, a princess who no one seemed to know much about except for the polished exterior she presented in public. Maybe that was it. He knew how it felt to have to be who everyone expected him to be.

He glanced around the courtyard at the nobles entering the palace—this particular ball was a masquerade. Maybe, just maybe...

Without giving himself much time to consider what he was doing, he quickly scooped up a plain black mask that had been dropped in the middle of the courtyard, tying it over his face. Luckily it was dark enough out here that he knew no one would be able to see his eyes which would make getting into the palace a lot easier. He bumped into a woman in an overly frilly dress, muttering a hasty apology as he pocketed the invitation he had managed to steal right out of her hand. The guards at the door barely gave him a second glance as he presented the gilded invitation and hastily stepped inside. It wasn't hard to locate the princess, she was in the middle of the dance floor, her hair piled on top of her head in an elaborate twist, a tiara set with precious stones set back in her dark curls. She wore a blue gown with a matching blue mask held in her right hand and, judging from the exasperated look on her face, she wasn't enjoying the dance she shared with her extremely ungainly partner.