Arrows of Promise (Kingmakers Book 2) (36 page)

Bria jumped like a startled rabbit, took in her brother’s
expression, and pinned a winsome smile on her face. “Edvard, dear brother.”

“Don’t you ‘dear brother’ me, you…you…” he literally could
not think of an epithet strong enough.

Ashlynn stroked a hand down his arm in a soothing motion.
“Breathe, Edvard, breathe. And Bria, Prince Hendrix, I think we should take
this inside and talk about it. Calmly. Without yelling.”

Privately wishing her luck with that last part, Broden took
hold of the retainers and ushered them up to Edvard’s study, leaving Ashlynn to
gather up the rest. They got many a wild look from the staff as they passed
them. Broden kept them going at a good clip to prevent anyone from stopping the
party and asking questions and only breathed easily once they had gained
Edvard’s study.

Hendrix looked weary enough to just drop into a chair, but
he kept his feet, and his grip on Bria’s hand was strong enough that even a pry
bar would not separate the two. Edvard came to stand nearly toe-to-toe with
him, furious enough that one could practically see steam coming out of his
ears.

“Your Majesty.” Hendrix took a half step back to give him a
bow.

Broden blinked at hearing Edvard addressed this way. For all
that he was King of Estole, few actually called him that to his face.

The whole room saw Edvard close his eyes, take in a
cleansing breath, and let it out again. When he opened his eyes he was, on the
surface at least, calmer. “Your Highness. I am very, very curious as to how the
two of you came to be together. And why my sister didn’t mention a word of this
to me.”

Hendrix gave his beloved a speaking look that suggested he
was very curious about the same thing.

Bria bit her lip, eyes darting between the two men. “Edvard,
when Ashlynn and Broden found me, they said we had a problem with spies in
Estole, right? We weren’t even sure if it was safe to talk about things on the
trip back here. Hendrix’s position at court was already so unstable, I was
worried what would happen if our relationship got back to his father. And as
far as I know, the spy problem hasn’t really been solved.”

Edvard rubbed a pained hand against his forehead. “It’s been
solved, dearheart, for a good fortnight now. Mostly.”

“Well, no one told me that,” she declared, mouth pursed. “So
don’t be getting mad at me. I didn’t know it was safe to talk.”

“It’s just as well it has been solved,” Ashlynn muttered to
the room in general. “Otherwise having Prince Hendrix burst in through the
gates certainly would have made it back to his father’s ears, and then we’d be
in a fine pickle.”

Hendrix flushed and looked a little mortified for a few
seconds as he realized just what kind of an entrance he had made.

Edvard nailed the prince with his eyes. “You realize that
because of my sister’s status in Iysh, you’d never be allowed to marry her. So
why did the two of you start courting?”

Not flinching from that iron gaze, Hendrix smiled as he
responded, “She’s the princess of a foreign country. Why can’t I marry her?”

Broden snorted and then chuckled outright. He had a feeling
he was going to like Hendrix just fine.

The King of Estole tried to stay stern for five full seconds
before he gave up. Throwing his hands in the air, he demanded of his sister
plaintively, “Hang it all, Bri, what am I supposed to do about this?”

“Use it to your advantage,” she suggested in a ruthlessly
logical way.

“But he’s…” Edvard spluttered, pointing at Hendrix, “and
you’re…and it’s...it’s…arghhh.”

“I’m not much of a prince, but I’m still a prince of Iysh,”
Hendrix pointed out. Determination blazed from him so strongly it was almost
visible in the air itself. “Surely we can use that to our advantage.”

“Our advantage,” Edvard repeated in a very neutral tone.

“Our advantage,” Hendrix sustained. “We have two things in
common, Your Majesty. We don’t like Iysh and we love Bria. Surely those two
things unite us.”

The whole room held its breath as they waited for Edvard’s
response.

Broden knew that Edvard was buying every second he could to
think. But he also knew what the man was going to say before he said it.

Finally, the King of Estole gave a feral smile. “Yes. I
suppose it does.”

Everyone dared to breathe again.

“Ashlynn?”

“Yes, Edvard.”

“Call for some snacks and tea to be sent up. I think we have
much to discuss.”

 Ashlynn caught Riana and Ash right in the middle of eating a
late lunch. When her report came in, Ash dropped everything immediately and
raced for the docks, demanding answers as he went. Ash was looking wild-eyed
about the whole situation but Riana wasn’t surprised. She’d had a feeling, ever
since Bria had dropped those hints on their shopping trip, that her beau was
someone very highly ranked in Iysh’s court.

Ash ran through Estole and burst into the castle with Riana
struggling to keep up with him. The other wizard had forgotten, for once, that
he could run faster than she could and wasn’t moderating his pace at all. By
the time that Riana had caught up, Ash was already in Edvard’s study.

Ash got hold of his sister and shook her shoulders,
growling, “Bri, you should have warned us!”

“I didn’t know it was safe to talk,” she fired back,
matching him glare for glare.

“You could have said something behind closed doors, it
wasn’t like spies were infesting the castle, and, Riana, why aren’t you
surprised by any of this?” He turned to his partner with a partially betrayed
look as if she should be feeling as outraged as he was.

Riana shrugged in a very blasé way, in part to rile him up,
because it was somewhat funny seeing him in this state. “Bria gave us a hint
earlier.”

The whole room froze while Bria blushed and refused to look
up from the floor.

Ashlynn snapped her fingers as the recollection came to her.
“The third son of an official at court.”

“Sort of,” Riana tacked on, grinning.

“Wait, when was this?” Ash looked at the three of them with
growing confusion.

“Ye were no’ there, it was while we be shopping for the
coronation,” Riana filled him in.

“Ahh.”

“Be no’ harsh on the lass,” Riana chided him gently. “She
did no’ have just herself to protect, but yon prince as well. With all that has
happened, can ye blame her for being extra cautious?”

Ash deflated like an empty sack. “No. I suppose I can’t. But
it does beg the question, does anyone
else
have a hidden beau somewhere
that I need to know about?”

The rest of the family adamantly shook their heads.

“Good.” Ash flopped into a chair and tried very hard not to
pout. He still felt a little hurt by his sister’s silence. Riana slipped into
the neighboring seat and slipped her hand into his. He didn’t look at her, but
returned the grip.

“Where be Prince Hendrix?” Riana asked the room in general.

“I gave him and his two retainers a suite here so they could
freshen up from the road,” Edvard replied. “Also, a chance for the two of you
to get here. You made it here faster than I expected. In fact, you might have
set a new record.”

“Some magic might have gone into that,” Riana admitted
cheerfully.

Edvard gave his brother a sardonic look. “I have no doubt.”

Prince Hendrix returned to the study with his retainers, all
three looking much more refreshed and ready for this impromptu meeting than
they had been thirty minutes ago. They had better manners than to fall upon the
waiting tea and snacks like ravenous wolves but Riana noted that it took them
bare minutes to clear the trays of anything resembling crumbs. They had pushed
themselves hard for those two months that they were looking for Bria. The way
their clothes hung on them, no longer fitting quite right, said they’d lost a
great deal of weight in a short amount of time.

Bria ignored the frowns of both of her brothers and had
Hendrix sit with her. He didn’t look
quite
comfortable snuggling with
her in front of witnesses (glaring witnesses at that) but he wasn’t willing to
relinquish Bria either. So he stayed staunchly in place and squirmed a little
instead.

Edvard finally had pity and turned away, requesting of
Ashlynn, “Call Tierone for me. I think he needs to be in this conversation.”

Ashlynn already had a tall caller in hand and the look she
shot him said plainly,
Just what in mercy do you think it is I’m doing right
now?

Grinning, he held up a hand in silent apology.

“Tierone,” Ashlynn repeated patiently.

“Gah. Yes, I’m here, tell me it isn’t an emergency.”

“It’s not an emergency,” Ashlynn parroted obediently.

“
Right. I take it by your tone it’s an emergency. So, what’s
happened this time? Has the castle burned down?”

“Not yet. Tierone, are you sitting down?”

“I always sit down when you call me these days. It’s a
safety precaution.”

“Good plan.”

Riana bit her lip and tried not to show any humor at this
exchange. Never having had a sibling of her own, she couldn’t be sure if this
give-and-take was common in families, but it was certainly a pattern for the
Knolton family.

Ashlynn paused, phrasing her words before stating, “Bria has
a beau.”

“
Does Edvard and Ash know about this yet? Because they’re
likely to hunt the poor sap down.”

Hendrix choked and looked only slightly panicked by this.

“They found out a little while ago, and no, he’s not in any
danger. But it’s not that so much as who he is.” Taking a breath, she finally
blurted, “It’s Prince Hendrix.”

There was abrupt silence on the other end. Faintly, Tierone
requested, “
Repeat that? I think your magic caller just hiccupped or
something.”

“Bria is being courted by Prince Hendrix. He, ah, is here
now.”

Out of all of the siblings, Tierone was the one that could
take surprises the best. Or at least, he reacted to a moment of crisis better
than most of them did. He stayed stuck on this for a full second before
offering, “
Good afternoon, Your Highness.”

“Good afternoon, Lord Tierone,” Hendrix responded, pitching
his voice a little louder to carry.

“
If you don’t mind my asking, just how long have you and
Bria been together?”

“Roughly nine months, my lord.”

“
Bria,
” Tierone’s voice had a note of dark promise in
it, “
we’ll speak about this later. Alone. When there are no witnesses.”

“I
said
that no one told me it was safe to talk about
matters,” she retorted, almost petulant. “I didn’t know that Troi had gone on a
spy-hunt after the ceremony had happened and gotten them all out of Estole! How
was I supposed to know that Hendrix would find me this fast, anyway? I thought
I had time to tell people.”

“Nevertheless and notwithstanding, sister dearest, we
will have words on this subject. Now, Prince Hendrix, I must ask what your
intentions are by walking into the enemy encampment like this.”

“Enemy encampment? Odd, I thought I was here to speak to
allies.”

There was an audible perk in Tierone’s voice. “
Oh?”

“We did discuss a little before calling you,” Edvard leaned
toward Ashlynn so Tierone could hear him better as he filled him in. “He’s
against Iysh, for Bria, and thereby Estole, and would like to join in with us.
How
is still the question as we stopped and got you into this meeting at that
point.”

“Glad you did, I don’t want to miss this. Prince Hendrix,
does your decision to abandon Iysh have anything to do with the new Binding
that your father put into place?”

Hendrix snorted. “Please. I was basically disinherited years
ago when he sent me out of the court. He called it ‘experience building’ but it
was basically exile and we all knew it. This Binding of his just makes it clear
by law, it didn’t change anything.”

Riana didn’t hear a trace of bitterness or see any anger in
Hendrix’s face. Whatever he felt about his father’s attitude, he had come to
terms with it. It spoke well of him that he didn’t wallow in this parental
rejection but instead chose to overcome it and make his own path.

“The only worry I have at the moment is how Estole is going
to deal with my brothers. I don’t expect much out of Savir, he’s more inclined
to go along with our oldest brother than anything, but Maddox is likely to
bring an army to your doors. What I saw coming in doesn’t incline me to believe
that you have what it takes to stand against an army.”

Edvard grimaced. “We’re working on a plan to thwart him so
it doesn’t come to an open battle. Political maneuvering at its finest. I do
admit it would go much smoother if I had your help in that. Even a disinherited
prince will have more influence than I would.”

Hendrix tilted a hand back and forth in a seesaw motion.
“Depending on the parties we’re talking about, you might or might not be right.
King Edvard. What do you want from me? I will aid you in whatever ways I can.”

Sitting back, Edvard regarded him for several seconds
without trying to say a word. The room held its breath, waiting for him to
speak, feeling that the next thing he said would change things. This was not
Bria’s brother that Hendrix was asking the question of. A prince of Iysh had
formally asked the King of Estole what services he could render.

“I don’t think that’s the right question.”

“
I don’t think so either,”
Tierone agreed. “
Rather,
the question should be, Prince Hendrix: What is your limit?”

Edvard nodded in support of this even as he asked, “How far
are you willing to go to make sure that Estole is safe?”

Hendrix didn’t rattle out a reply. He paused, thinking, his
free hand reaching over to grab Bria’s in a stronger grip. She was watching him
anxiously but not speaking, as if she knew that he had to answer this on his
own and without her input.

Raising his head, Hendrix looked straight at Edvard as he
replied, “I have no loyalty left to Iysh. I ask only two things of you. Don’t
hurt the people and don’t hurt my mother.”

Edvard stood and crossed the four feet separating them,
holding out a hand. Hendrix rose to meet him although he didn’t take the
proffered hand. “We’re going to incite a rebellion within Iysh so that it
doesn’t have the power to wage war against us. I want you to spearhead that
movement.”

A feral smile stretched slowly over Hendrix’s face as he
clasped Edvard’s hand in a strong grip. “I will.”

Bria squealed in delight and bounced once on the couch
before clamping a hand over her mouth. It made the rest of the room smile, even
Hendrix’s retainers.

Edvard squeezed the hand a little tighter as he said warmly,
“Welcome to Estole.”