Flames of Auriel (A Caeles Adventure Book 1) (5 page)

She smiled at him in return, “Oh, did you? I must have dozed off while waiting for you. See you’ve been gone quite a long time and one does get tired of waiting.”

He led her on to the dance floor at his mother’s persistent beckoning and dragged Zoe flush against him, “Since when do you care about where I am?”

Zoe allowed herself to be led across the dance floor, “Do you think since I have a mind of my own it means I don’t pay attention to the whereabouts of others?” He pulled her around so her back was against his front and crossed her arms in front of her body.

“Your father, Alice, maybe even your guards, but me? Not likely.” Asher turned her back to face him, “Did you wear that color just to spite me? Not very mature of you.”

He tensed at her mocking laugh, “You think very highly of yourself, don’t you? Like you could ever affect my wardrobe?” He dipped her once, bringing her back up to be a hair’s breadth from his face, “It would kill you to give a compliment wouldn’t it? Don’t think I didn’t notice your lingering eyes on my person.” She let herself be dipped again and gave him a nasty smile when she came back up. “Or are those only reserved for your blonde whores?”

The prince’s eyes widened and he righted them at once. He grabbed her hand in a vice-like grip and pulled her to a private nook off to the side of the ballroom. He narrowed his eyes at her, “What would you know about that?”

“I saw you the other day.” The fake smile she had been wearing since she entered the ballroom changed into a snarl. She poked him in the chest, “I will not tolerate unfaithfulness
when
we are wed.”

Asher grabbed her offending hand and backed her up further into the darkness of the alcove. He was surprised he had been seen with Melody. He was usually more discreet, but then again he always seemed to lose his head when it came to the Aurelian princess.

For instance, right there in the dark of the ballroom he was torn between killing her and wanting to beg for her forgiveness. Both would probably end with him on his knees and he knew she was expecting as much from him. So instead of fighting back he tried to do something that surprised even himself.

The prince pressed himself against her, pushing her hand above her head. She shuddered at his breath on her face as he whispered, “Are you jealous that I wasn’t doing those things with you?” Her breath caught when his other hand slid up to her breast, “Because that could be arranged.”

Her heart beat jumped into her throat as his mouth moved down to hers. She slid her hands from his and placed them on his shoulders as if she were coming up to meet him, but instead jammed her knee upward. She smiled at the satisfying grunt that came from him.

She shoved the writhing prince away from her, “You disgust me.” She bent her head down to his hunched form, “Isn’t it ironic how something that so easily gives you pleasure can just as easily cause you pain? You would do well to remember that.” With one last smile at her handy work she turned back to the ballroom.

Asher still recovering watched her retreating figure and became angrier by the second. His eyes were blinded by the image of wrapping his hands around her skinny little neck in an effort to quiet that sharp tongue of hers. Though, with his luck, the stubborn mule would come back just to haunt him and then he would never be free of her.

Bryce had seen his friend about to lose his cool and hurried to his side. He shoved another cup of wine into the prince’s hands and clamped him on the shoulder. “Don’t lose your head now, Ash. Don’t you think that’s what she wants?”

Asher grimaced as he righted himself, “She knows about Melody.”

“So that’s what has made her so quiet this week. I swear she was a viper in a past life. Had to watch myself around that one, afraid she would strike out at any moment. It’s never a good sign when they go quiet on you.” He looked to his prince when he let out a laugh in response. “It wasn’t funny. Had to walk on eggshells the entire time. You owe me by the way.”

The prince still laughing patted his friend on the back, “I’m not laughing at you Bryce. Just remembering something amusing.”

His friend’s words had him envisioning his betrothed killing him while he slept and it was not a pretty picture. He could not stop himself from letting out a laugh at how close to the truth his friend had been.

“Well, we’d better be on our toes the rest of this summer if either of us wishes to survive.” Bryce clinked cups with his friend and sent an amused look toward his prince’s betrothal. He wondered how long it would be before she was the one being caught in the prince’s sheets.

Alice pitied the Princess of Aurelius. She knew it could not be easy on the girl to know her betrothed was not faithful. In an unusual fit of anger, Alice cursed Queen Marie for not banning the old ways as Aurelius had. A noble man could bed whoever he wished, while the women had to remain chaste until marriage. She didn’t understand how her king would allow his only daughter to be subjected to such a ridiculous tradition, but knowing how protective the king was over his daughter it was probably his own idea to keep Zoella his little girl a bit longer.

She glared down at the wood of the desk before her and pondered over how a female ruler could allow such a barbaric practice to still stand. It was simply not fair for men to be given so many liberties, while the women had close to none. She thanked Auriel every day that she was born under such a rational king.

Though King Brom was a kind and giving ruler, he knew the harshness of the world and how unrealistic some of the old ways could be. The women of Aurelius were already given more freedom than other kingdoms, so it was not much of a change to remove the laws. Not only could their women smoke, drink, and even wield a blade, but they were allowed every liberty a man was, even own their own land. She knew King Brom had been thinking about his young daughter when he removed the laws, but in the end it benefited everyone.

King Brom had loved his wife so much that he was never able to bring himself to be with anyone else. Since the old law said only a male could rule, it had been only fitting for him to abolish them in wake of a new age. He laid all hope for their kingdom’s future on his daughter’s ability to rule like he did, fair and just.

Alice agreed with the king’s decision, but she feared that his molding of his daughter into a strong warrior queen was hurting her chances with Aldabel’s prince. Her princess needed to remember what it meant to be a woman and not just the weight of a sword in her hand.

She looked over the letter she had been writing to her king. None of this would have happened if he had been here instead of babysitting his brother. Alice understood the threat in the south was important, but the threat to their princess’s heart was important too.

The past few weeks following the queen’s ball had been filled with nothing but tension between the two royals, each looking for a way to torture the other. The prince had spent that time flaunting his conquests in front of Zoe as often as possible. He was always taking off to do his ‘royal’ duties, but would end up coming back with tousled hair and clothes with a satisfied grin on his face. The prince’s actions only left the princess seething and searching for ways to plot her revenge. If they did not find something to distract the princess soon they were going to have another Celestial War right there in the drawing room.

Alice finished penning her note to King Brom and turned to her waiting messenger. “This is for the king’s eyes only. Understand?”

“Yes, madam.”

“Good, then be quick about it.” As the door closed behind him, she let out a plea to Auriel, begging him to urge the king to grant her request.

***

Zoe pulled the brush through her hair with a jerk of her hand and grimaced when it caught on a tangle. Since the ball she had been in a perpetual bad mood and today’s events had done nothing to soothe it. Asher and she had gotten into it again.

It started with her catching him cheating at cards and ended with a crude offer from him to personally pull the stick out of her ass, which then landed him with her handprint decorating his face. The shocked expression on his face had almost made up for him stomping out of the drawing room, declaring he would be back in a few days. Zoe, fuming from the fight, had been surprised when Bryce stood up to follow his prince. He had paused at the door and pleaded to her to find someone else to take her frustrations out on before she did not have a prince to marry.

Zoe threw her brush down at the thought. She climbed into her bed for the night and gesturing for the maids to put out the lights in the room. She knew she was being unreasonable, but she could not seem to get a grip on her anger when they were in the same room. When she saw him all she could see was the sweat trickling down his back and the forceful movements of his hips; it caused her to feel an odd heat in the bottom of her stomach and ended with her lashing out at him.

She had only been lying in bed for a few minutes when she heard the door to her room creak open. She grabbed the dagger she kept under her pillow and slipped out of the bed. Zoe had just crept around her room to sneak up behind the intruder when a distinct male voice cried out and crashed to the floor. She pounced on the intruder, pressing the dagger to his throat.

“Wait! Wait! Zoe, it’s me, Garrett!” Zoe loosened her grip on him and squinted her eyes to see the trespasser in the dim moonlight coming through the window. Her eyes brightened as she made out her blonde childhood friend lying beneath her. The princess threw the dagger away and launched herself onto him in renewed vigor.

“Zo, I can’t breathe!”

She stood up from the floor laughing and helped him to stand. Garrett Fairemane had been her playmate, dueling partner and, as they grew older and more curious, kissing partner. She had not seen him since his father, the Marquee of Aurelius, had sent him to be his older brother’s squire a few years earlier.

“What are you doing here?” She took a seat on the sofa and lit a candle revealing the overturned table Garrett had tripped over.

Garrett took a seat next to her, his blue eyes taking in the form of his friend. “Well, from what I can tell your nurse wrote to your father, saying you needed a little back up,” He paused eyeing his friend’s face, “and maybe a little bit of a distraction?”

She quirked her eyebrow at his words, “Distraction, huh? I don’t think fighting in the mud with you is what Alice had in mind.”

“That was completely your fault. I didn’t make you lose your footing.”

Zoe laughed, “But it was your fault for pushing me back in. My ears are still burning from the lecture Alice gave me.”

They both chuckled at the memory. Garrett threw a muscular arm around her shoulders and twirled one of her curls in his fingers. Zoe looked down at his hand and back to his face, confused.

“You know, you’ve really become quite a looker since I saw you last.” He leaned his mouth down to hers and she let him kiss her, too shocked to move.

She pushed him back, “Garrett, what are you doing?”

He clasped her hand in his and tilted his head in confusion, “Alice hasn’t talked to you yet?”

“Talked to me about what?”

He slid closer to her, his hands around her waist, “I’m your new bodyguard.”

“Bodyguard? You can’t be my bodyguard.”

The term bodyguard in Aurelius was just the nobles’ ruse which allowed their daughters to have a consort, but still kept their parents in control with whom their daughters were matched. Overall, the arrangement was going well, the daughters were sexually satisfied and their parents got the alliances with little to no scandals. But with Zoe’s pending nuptials, her virtue was necessary to seal the alliance and that meant all thoughts of her getting a bodyguard had been promptly squashed.

“Well, technically I’m only a partial bodyguard. We have to leave your virtue intact, but your father and Alice agreed that after recent events you are in dire need of release.” The blonde’s eyes darkened as he said the last word.

Astonished by the new information, Zoe warred with herself. Part of her wanted to give herself to Garrett, but the other part of her felt weird about being with anyone other than her betrothed. Their encounter at the ball had brought a rush of emotions that she had yet to put a name to and instead of facing her, Asher had disappeared to Auriel knows where.

Asher’s recent disappearing act brought on a sudden urge to get back at him. How dare he accost her in a dark corner, touch her, make her feel…things and then hide away like some kind of coward. Though, now that Garrett had shown up, Zoe had her own source of entertainment to distract her. Her betrothed would never know and it would be satisfying to have something to use against him.

“What are you thinking, Zo?”

Unsure of how to respond to that question, Zoe placed a hand behind his head to bring his mouth down to hers. It had been years since they had last kissed each other in one of their childish games of ‘practice,’ but kissing Garrett now was nothing like kissing him back then. His skilled tongue brought a surprised moan from her. She pulled back from him to catch her breath and leaned her face against his.

“Auriel help me, where did you learn to do that?”

Garrett smiled that confident smile that only men knew how to do when they knew they were good at something. He stroked his thumb over her bottom lip before he nipped at it playfully.

“I think we have a lot of catching up to do.”

***

Zoe gasped for breath and then groaned as her nurse pulled the last strings of her corset closed. She never understood how women could mutilate themselves all in the name of beauty. It seemed to be a complete waste of time. She glared at the mirror, willing the blasted thing to burst into flames.

“Auriel’s flames on the man who invented corsets!” Zoe snarled and glared at Alice through the mirror, “Why do I have to wear this again? Father has never required it at home.”

Alice grabbed the princess’s gown off the bed and held it open for her to step into. She settled a stern look on her charge as she waited. “This is not your father’s court, Zoella. The ladies here dress for their station as should you. Get used to it now, you’ll soon be wed to dear Asher and this will be your home as well.”

Zoe scoffed at her, “Dear? I would not call that arrogant prick dear.” Her scoff turned to a grimace as she remembered the last time she had seen her ‘dear’ prince.

She had been coming in from a ride with Garrett when she heard a giggle coming from the servant’s stairs to the left of her room. Curious by nature, she followed the sound and soon became physically ill at the sight before her.

Her betrothed had cornered the same blonde chambermaid in the stairway and was in the process of charming his way into her skirts. By the smile spread across her face and her hand on his thigh, he had been succeeding. As Zoe thought back to it, she should not have been surprised by the scene after what she had witnessed earlier that summer, but nonetheless she had not been able to hold back her shock.

Zoe’s gasp disrupted their secret rendezvous and caused the maid to blush at being caught in such a position. The prince raised his grey eyes at Zoe’s stiff figure. Asher’s face at first showed surprise, but then he let his lips curl up into a hesitant smile.

Her surprise morphed into disgust. The ever simmering fire in her belly flared to life at his grin. She stepped toward him with a smile that never reached her eyes, which caused Asher to pull back from his companion.

“I’m so delighted that you have someone to occupy your time with when I am gone,
my love
. We wouldn’t want you to become rusty and forget how to perform on our wedding night.”

Anger sparked in Asher’s eyes as he pulled the maid closer. He lowered his lips to her shoulder his eyes never leaving Zoe. “Are you sure you don’t see something you like,
my love
?” Asher returned her endearment. “Maybe Melody here could give you some pointers on how you could please me come our wedding night.”

“I really should be going your highness.” The little maid piped in, she seemed uncomfortable with his touch now that they had an audience.

Zoe opened her mouth to give a rude reply when Garrett appeared in the doorway.

“Your highness, the queen would like you to meet her for tea now.” Garrett then turned to the prince and bowed. “Your highness.”

Zoe wound her arm through Garrett’s and beamed up at him. “What would I do without you Garrett? You take such good care of me.” She gave Asher a cold look, “It was lovely as always, Asher. I’ll see you at dinner.”

“Zoe, wait.” Asher called out grabbing her arm.

“What?” She seethed, her eyes trained on the maid’s back, who had chosen that moment to scurry down the servant’s stairs. “Your entertainment is getting away.”

Asher did not even cast a glance behind him, his eyes focused on Zoe’s face. “Never mind her. I would like a moment with my betrothed.” He addressed her bodyguard.

Garrett hesitated, but a nod from Zoe and he turned to go, “I’ll wait for you out here.” He pointed out into the hallway.

“Alright.” Zoe crossed her arms over her chest. “Say your peace so I can go. I don’t want to leave your mother waiting.”

The prince sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “Nothing ever seems to go the way I want with you.”

“And what exactly is it that you want?”

“Dederic’s head on a platter?” Asher tried to crack a joke, but when Zoe did not smile he frowned. He stepped closer to her, picking her hands up in his. “Look, Melody approached me, not the other way around. I swear on the Dark One it’s true.”

Pride hurt and not quite sure how to deal with this new reasonable Asher, Zoe did the only thing she knew how and lashed out. “Then perhaps you should work on being less approachable.” Zoe turned on her heel and stomped down the hall.