CHAPTER 34

URBAN

Once we returned to the Throne Room to report the events of the morning, I didn’t have to say a word; Soren detailed it all to the king with emphasis on everything he was sure I’d fucked up.

“I don’t trust him,” he accused, pointing at me. “I’ve ~never~ trusted him. He needs to be punished for this.”

I snorted, folding my arms over my chest. “For not catching the dark magic on the first try? Are you fucking kidding me? I got us closer to him than we’d ever been before.”

“What’s all the commotion about in here?” Yasmin asked, sailing into the room. “Don’t leave us girls out of all the good stuff.” A winded Vienne hurried in after her.

I stared openly at Vienne until she discreetly glanced my way. Once we made eye contact, however, her eyes flared open wide before she quickly and guiltily glanced away again. I narrowed my stare, wishing I could drag her from the room in that very moment and get my answers right then, but I had to go through this hoopla of a circus first.

As Caulder explained to the queen what had happened, Yasmin blinked rapidly, seemingly shocked. “You mean, you were honestly that close to catching the dark magic and you let him get away?” Her accusative stare fell on me. “Caulder, you can’t honestly approve of such sloppy work, can you? He ~must~ be punished.”

“Punished?” Vienne gasped, arching her sister an incredulous glance. “You can’t punish him for not being able to do something ~no one else~ has been able to do either.”

“That’s a good point,” Caulder murmured, rubbing his chin as he studied me.

“Well, no one else was ~assigned~ with the task of finding the dark magic,” Soren argued. “I say he needs ~incentive~ to try harder next time. Twenty lashes’ worth.”

“That’s just preposterous!” Vienne cried. “No. I won’t let you whip him again. He’s done absolutely nothing wrong.”

“Aww, how sweet,” Yasmin cooed. “Defending your one true love.”

As Soren growled out his contempt, Vienne muttered, “I’m defending an absolutely innocent man. That is all.” She whirled to Caulder. “Why, you might as well tie me up next to him and whip me too if you agree to any kind of punishment. Because I didn’t catch the bearer of dark magic today either. ~Shame~ on me.”

“No one touches Vienne,” I barked. “I’d rather accept twice the required punishment than let a single lash touch her.”

Caulder sighed and buried his forehead in his hand. “~No one’s~ touching anyone, because no one will be punished this day. Now, will everyone stop arguing about the tiresome topic already? I’d rather get back to the subject of ~catching~ this traitorous magical intruder, if you please.”

I nodded, adding, “I have a few more leads to follow up on, and hopefully I’ll have more information for you soon.”

“Then, ~go~.” Caulder waved me away. “Every second that evil remains in my castle, ~all~ of us remain unsafe.”

I nodded and marched from the room.

I could feel it the moment Vienne started after me, so I slowed my pace, allowing her to catch up; then I veered into the Red Chambers, the smallest, most private room on the castle’s ground floor.

As soon as I stormed into the room, I ran my hands through my hair and cursed liberally. She entered behind me, breathing heavily. When I heard the door close, I finally whirled to face her, grasping her shoulders and hissing, “What the hell? What the hell? ~What the hell~, Vienne?”

But she merely drew in a deep breath and smiled up at me warmly. “I knew you knew it was me out there.”

“Fuck, yes, I knew it was you,” I snapped, letting go of her so I could run my hands through my hair some more and grab hold of the locks, pulling taut. “Now could you tell me what I ~don’t~ know, like what the fuck were you thinking stealing out of the castle in that disguise and going to talk to a ~Lowden~ woman when you know good and well there’s dark magic lurking about?”

Relief showed in her eyes. “So you know ~I’m~ not the source of the dark magic? Good. Thank God.”

“Of course, I know that!” I spat incredulously, though I hadn’t known at all. I had ~hoped~ she wasn’t. I had adamantly denied to myself that she could be. But I hadn’t ~known~, not until this very moment, where I could look into her eyes and see the relief that she experienced, realizing I still believed in her. That was all the reassurance I needed.

“But none of the others would’ve been so easily convinced if you’d been caught,” I went on, railing, because learning she had no dark magic in her really didn’t help the situation at all. “Hell, your own ~husband~ probably would’ve had you hanged within the hour, insisting you possessed some kind of evil sorcery in you.”

“I know,” she murmured with a concerned frown as she rubbed at her neck. “Kind of a troubling prospect, if you ask me.”

“So, do you care to ~enlighten~ me as to what the hell you were doing out there today?”

She lifted her eyes to mine. “You’re mad,” she said with some surprise.

“~Yes~, I’m mad!” I cried. “I don’t recall being this fucking mad in a long fucking time.”

Blinking, she merely studied my face before calmly saying, “You were terribly upset the morning after you felt my orgasm.”

~What~? I shook my head, confused. “Yes. So?”

“So,” she said. “Your anger’s not as frightening as I thought it would be. You cut such an intimidating figure with your sword and that dashing scar at the corner of your lip, like a man not to be trifled with. But I’ve never felt scared of you. Not at all. How incredible.”

Huh? How the hell had the topic moved to this?

“Because you never have to fear ~anything~ from me,” I fumed. “Now, can we get back to how pissed I am? You could’ve gotten caught…and ~hurt~. Not to mention, you left your daughter alone in the castle while there’s ~dark~ magic—”

“She’s not alone. I left her with two maids and three guards.”

“But she’d basically become an orphan if anything ever happened to you,” I went on, feeling the need to rant. “We already know how Soren treats his motherless children. Do you ~want~ that fate for Anniston, too? Because whatever you were doing out there today could’ve put you in the direct line of fire with the bearer of dark magic and gotten you ~killed~. How do you think that would affect your child? How it would affect ~me~?”

She studied me a moment longer as if looking deep inside my soul. Then she murmured, “What if I ~had~ been the bearer of dark magic? What would you have done then? Would you have turned me in, like you should? Or would you have protected me?”

Running my hand through my hair yet again, I turned away, unable to face her. “I don’t fucking know,” I confessed moodily. “Don’t ask, okay.” Then I whirled to her. “I would’ve gotten you help. I would’ve done whatever it took to get that shit out of you. I would’ve ~saved~ you.”

She just stared at me, her eyes wide, without replying.

Growling out a curse, I wiped my hand over my mouth and muttered, “Are you going to tell me what you were doing out there or not?”

“Yes,” she whispered, slowly nodding her head up and down. “Yes. You almost took a lashing to protect me. You made yourself look incompetent in order to let me escape. You kept my secret. I know I can trust you with anything.”

I heaved out a sigh and threw my hands into the air. “About fucking time.”

“The truth is I was doing the same thing you were doing,” she said with a rueful shrug. “Trying to find the bearer of dark magic. That house… The woman I was going to meet…”

“Yes?” I nodded, listening.

“She was my nanny from childhood. Nanny Wynter. She came here years ago from Lowden to escape the Graykey family’s terror. They were murdering anyone with magic in them so they could steal their powers. She’s a good person. I trust her, so I was going to meet with her this morning to ask if she would sneak back into the castle with me and help trace the darkness here. Because you said yourself it takes magic to ~find~ magic, right? So…”

I lifted an eyebrow, fascinated. “So you were going to find the dark magic,” I deduced. “And you didn’t care that Caulder had ~forbidden~ more magic people from entering the castle? Even the good kind?”

She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Caulder’s being a damn fool about that. The fear from his own parents’ death has blinded him to the point it could put us all in danger. Honestly, I don’t know what he’s so afraid of, but bearers of ~good~ magic wouldn’t hurt us; they could only ~help~.”

Nodding, I grinned at her. “Agreed. I’m just impressed you were willing to break the rules to do it.”

She sent me an irritated glance. “I’m surprised you hadn’t done it yet yourself, Prince.”

My smile turned to pure naughtiness. “That’s only because I don’t know anyone nearby with magical powers I could trust, and I certainly didn’t know how to sneak anyone with such abilities back into the castle without getting caught. But now that I know about your old nanny and that nifty little tunnel you have…”

Vienne winced. “You saw the secret entrance, then, did you?”

“No,” I admitted, shaking my head. “But I know ~you~ know where it is, and that’s all I need. Your old nanny escaped, by the way.”

Her lips flickered with a small smile. “I don’t doubt it, what with the way you were hollering and carrying on outside her cottage.”

I chuckled. “You don’t seem all that worried that we could’ve caught her for questioning. Are you that certain she wouldn’t have ratted you out as her secret contact from the castle?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. She might have, but I knew you wouldn’t have caught her in the first place, so… it didn’t matter.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “So confident of her ability to escape my men, huh?”

Vienne rolled her eyes. “She ~does~ have magic powers.”

“Truth.” With a sigh, I shook my head. “Do you know how to find her ~now~? If we’re going to sneak her into the castle to sniff out this dark magic bastard, then we need to—”

“Wait!” Her eyes widened with shock. “You’re going to ~help~ me with my plan?”

I frowned, surprised she could even be surprised about this. “Of course. You’re the one who said we have the same mission.”

“Oh, Urban!” Lunging at me, she hugged me hard around the neck and slapped a happy kiss to my cheek. “Thank you.” She began to pull away, but I pressed my hand to her back, keeping her breasts smashed against me and her hair in my face a bit longer, filling me with her scent and softness. “Thank you, thank you, thank y—Urban? Are you going to let me go?”

“Maybe,” I said in a raspy voice, pausing to breathe her in deeply and closing my eyes to remember this moment for all eternity. Then I groaned. “Or maybe not.”

“~Urban~,” she scolded, slapping my arm and backing away with just enough force to break free of my hold. “There’s no time for that. We have a castle to save. Heck, an entire ~kingdom~ to protect.”

I rather thought there was ~always~ time for such contact, but I sighed and cracked my neck from one side to the other. “Okay, fine. So you know where to find the magic nanny, right?”

She bit her lip and winced. “Maybe. I think. It’s the only place she might possibly go at a time like this, anyway.”

“Great.” I rubbed my hands together. “Where?”

But Vienne only winced again. “Um…actually, I can’t tell you. You might have too hard of a time believing me.”

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. “Why’s that?”

She didn’t have an answer. All she did was cringe even more. “I’ll just have to show you.”