“Thank you.” Isahn flashed her a cheeky grin.
“Georgie, as your oldest friend, I demand you knock it off.”
The princess’s husky laugh rippled through the room, warming his chest.
“Well then, what’s your story, Wynnie? How’d George help you?”
Wynnie sighed, her lips pulled into a tight smile. She sat up beside Hildy, putting an inch of space between them. “When we were around seven, Georgie and I became best friends. I was at the palace with my father when I was accosted by a lecherous old viceroy, De Palma. Long dead now, thank the goddess. He’d done it once before. I got away and told Georgie. We were becoming friends then, but we didn’t know each other too well. The next visit the same godsdamn thing happened, but George was there.”
His heart clenched, and he regretted asking for the story. All abuse was inexcusable, and that type was particularly horrific. His palm, splayed across George’s back, tensed involuntarily, and she patted his thigh, leaving her fingers there reassuringly.
“George hid beneath thelectus,and when the man tried to touch me agai—” Wynnie’s voice faltered.
Georgie picked up the story, “I popped out, braver than I had any right to be, and kicked him right in his balls.” She flashed Wynnie a quick grin, and winked, earning a smile in return.
When Hildy placed a palm on Wynnie’s shoulder, she leaned into it with a sigh.
“We started learning to weaponize our sight magic straight away. And we’ve been friends ever since.”
George nodded and turned her cheek against his chest.
He stroked her hair, offering to everyone, “I’m sorry I brought it up.”
“Don’t be,” Wynnie said. “It’s my past, and it’sinthe past. I’m safe now—or safe enough for here.”
“We’ll all be safe soon,” George said.
Clearing her throat with a cough that sounded almost childlike, Wynnie said, “Isahn, I owe you an apology.”
He glanced up and found her dark eyes already on him.
“I overstepped and didn’t realize how serious you two were. I’m sorry for what I did. You know...” She waved a slender hand vaguely in the air.
He did know. Those were insane visions she sent him when they first met. Isahn accepted her apology with a dip of his chin while George practically growled at his side.
Not long later, the women departed. Hildy was meeting a fellow former legionary in the gymnasium, and Wynnie needed to get to her home in Hepikoru. Many guests were arriving for the Great Assembly, and unless one was required to stay inside the palace, it was best to be gone by nightfall.
Thenextevening,Isahnlazed on the sofa in George’s sitting room with the princess wrapped tightly in his arms.
“I’m not in the mood for this year’s assembly.”
“Are you ever?” he murmured into her hair.
“No.” George tipped her head up.
Leaning over her shoulder, he captured her mouth in a scalding kiss, sucking gently on her lower lip as her nose rubbed against his chin.
George moaned, and his hands slid up the soft curves of her waist to cup her heavy breasts.
A distant pounding interrupted them, and she swore, pulling away.
“What is it?”
“I’m not expecting anyone. And that sounded like the main door. Wait here,” she ordered, standing from the sofa and sashaying out into her dining room.
Isahn popped up immediately to tuck himself against the wall near the door, ensuring he couldn’t be seen from beyond.
“Gianis, Marinos, Eanraig,” George greeted her visitors loudly.
