Torin put his hand across the table and held mine.
I said, “I think I’m just really hungry and tired.”
Claray said, “Of course, definitely, let me get ye fed.” She rushed away, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief.
Max asked, “Is it possible to have pizza?”
Ryan, who looked modern and military and had close cropped hair, said, “The kitchens have the menu planned out, we won’t have pizza again for a week or more. You like it?”
“Aye, I had it at Alexandria’s house, I never had it before.”
Aenghus scowled. “I daena like tae hear of yer deprivations, Prince Max, but twill put a fire under yer arse if I tell ye, ye win yer kingdom back and ye can hae all the pizza ye want.”
Torin said, “Tis as good a reason tae fight as any.”
I sniffled, quietly thinking about my brother having grown up without ever tasting pizza, he had been meant to be a prince and instead he was just a medieval man like my husband. He was a sad case, and it made me very melancholy to think that he had given up the chance to live it over again, kind of for me, even though he was blaming it on the cousins.
I asked, “Where are the cousins?”
Aenghus said, “As we are preparin’ for battle we moved them tae the safe house, ye will meet them on the morrow, if all goes well.”
I blinked, looking around at the men, each born in a different era. My two twenty-first-century uncles, my 1600s uncle, my newfound brother born in this future kingdom but raised in the past, my husband, born and raised in the mid-sixteenth century, all standing side by side in a war camp bracing for a battle that might determine the fate of our kingdom in a twenty-second century world.
Torin’s hand patted the back of mine. He said under his breath, “As soon we eat, I will take ye tae bed. Tis morning, but we haena slept in years.”
A plate of food was placed in front of me.
I said, “Then I will eat fast, because that sounds like a promise.”
17
ALEXANDRIA
SEPTEMBER 16, 2185 - THE ENCAMPMENT PREPARING FOR BATTLE
It wasn’t really a promise though, our bedroom was not much bigger than a closet, with a door to a small bathroom, and a wide cot-like bed. It did not look fancy enough for a princess. Even an exiled one. Our room was situated in the back corner of the Barn with walls for privacy, but no ceiling. As men walked nearby through the building, their dancing shadows were cast onto the roof.
This was probably not enough privacy for fooling around.
I pressed down on the cot and it squeaked.
The mattress was thin, but the bedding was thick and it all would be comfortable enough for what I planned to doeventually, which was pass out, but not good for the sex I wanted to have first.
Torin said, “Tis disappointin’.”
“Truer words have not been spoken.”
I stripped off my outer clothes down to my underwear, and whispered, “We can hear them, can they hear us?”
Torin’s eyes wide, he said, “Aye, we will need tae be verra quiet?—”
“I don’t know if I can be that quiet, and I am exhausted.” I collapsed onto my side and pulled the bedding up to my chin. Torin stripped off his kilt and spooned behind me.
I yawned.
He said, “If ye awaken and I am nae here, I will be in the war room at the table, discussin’ the battle. I think we are leavin’ in the night.”
“Don’t let me sleep through.” Then I sighed. “I’m sorry I’ve been so weepy, it’s not lost on me that I’m dwelling on long lost relatives and personal drama while men are about to fight to the death for me. I feel shitty.”
