“Your fucking boyfriend is coming,” he cringed.
“Ash is not my boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend. Lover. Indentured servant— I don’t care,” he whipped. “The fact remains that he will come in here threatening my men worse than any company of Belwarks would.” He paused and met her eyes. “Get rid of them before I have their heads put on stakes and sent back to your kingdom.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
AYDRA WAS FURIOUS.
She had the raven fly out and escort the Dreamer company through the woods so they did not get lost. She and Lex walked out some past the edge of the Forest kingdom to meet them so as to not provoke a fight.
It was the smile on Ash’s face when they arrived that made her wish she’d had her brother’s fire.
“My Queen—” Ash dismounted the horse and strode straight up to her, his arms outstretched as though he expected to be welcomed into her arms.
Smack!
Her hand seared across his cheek the moment his feet reached her. Ash stumbled backwards, obviously bewildered by her hand striking his cheek.
“What—”
“How dare you follow me into a realm not of your own with weapons and threaten these people?!” she hissed at him. “Who sent you?”
Ash straightened and rubbed his cheek, his eyes darkening down at her. “Your brother thought you’d been taken advantage of. He sent us to follow in case you found yourself beneath an ambush.”
“Well, as you can see, I am perfectly fine. Your new orders are to leave this place before you find yourselves on the wrong end of the Venari fury. And I can promise you, Captain, you’ll not see it coming before your life becomes their’s.”
Ash’s jaw clenched. One of his men leaned down from his horse, asking if they should leave. Ash held his fist up to silence them and looked over his shoulder. “Haut, take our company back to the Village,” he instructed him.
Haut frowned. “And you, Captain?”
“I’m going to make sure our Queen stays safe in this realm,” Ash replied. “I don’t trust these Venari people.”
“It does not matter who you trust,” Lex butted in then. “I am her Second. I will look after her. Take your men and leave as your Queen instructed you to.”
Ash didn’t move from the spot. “I will leave after I’ve seen these boats the King told me you’d come to find.”
Aydra stared at him. “Rhaif told you about the boats?”
Ash began taking his gloves off, one finger at a time. “He asked that I personally report back to him with the reality of the situation… if there was in fact such a situation.”
Aydra’s fists clenched at her side, and she was sure she could have broken her jaw at the weight of her clenching. “Fucking curses,” she muttered. “Fine. You stay. The rest of your men are to leave.”
Aydra was not looking forward to having to explain things to Draven.
He was standing at the edge of the clearing, his arms crossed over his chest, when the three appeared through the trees. Draven’s jaw tightened, and she could see the veins in his arms bulging.
“I thought you were taking care of this,” he said in a low voice, eyes never leaving Ash’s.
“Is that how you would treat a guest in your home?” Ash asked in a mocking tone.
Aydra grasped his arm and twisted it backwards, causing Ash to double-over. “Speak out of turn again, and I’ll make sure he feeds you to the sea serpent when we reach the reef.”
She released him with force, causing him to stumble backwards and trip over a root. He landed with a thud and cursed the air. “Here I was thinking you’d be happy to see a familiar face,” he muttered. “Didn’t realize I was meeting with the royal bitch instead of the usual—”
He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. Lex stepped forward and kicked him square in the face. Ash cried out, holding his bleeding nose as his eyes darted between them.
Aydra almost laughed. “The royal bitch…” she huffed sadistically and shook her head. “No, I am PISSED, Ash,” she finally shouted. “You come riding into the realm of your enemy as though you are welcome here, as though you are some great salvation to myself and my Second. Rhaif had no business sending you. If I treat you with hostility, it is because you are not wanted here.”
