“There. Is. Nothing. Wrong. With. Having. A. Blue. Beard.” Lia answered through her teeth. “But a princess needs tolooklike a princess, even if she’s married to a mangy, sea-drenched, hull rat.”
“Get out!” Tavia screamed, slamming the door in her face.
Lia did not wait to be told twice. She twirled around and marched a few steps in a huff. Then she paused and called over her shoulder, “A mangy,BLUE, sea drenched, hull rat!”
She turned back to continue her defiant stomping, but collided with Tyrell who happened to be running in her direction.
They tumbled to the floor in a tangled heap.
Tyrell leapt up first, and helped Lia to her feet.
“Did, um, that go as well as it sounded?” he asked, brushing himself off.
“Let’s just say,” Lia seethed. “Her days are numbered. And I’m out of a job.”
9. The Correct Answer is Brandy
“He didn’t believe me,” Tyrell explained as he followed Lia through the hallways. He had no idea where she was marching off too, and didn’t bother to ask.
“He didn’t believe that Tavia was engaged or . . .” Lia pressed.
“Oh, he believedthat,” Tyrell explained. “Aparently, they asked for his blessing shortly before we returned.”
“And he gave it?” Lia raised a skeptical brow.
“He said something like . . .” Tyrell searched his mind for the phrase the king had used. “‘She does as she pleases and if I object, she does it more.’”
What Tyrell didn’t mention to Lia, was the amused way the king listened to his complaint and how he replied with, “If you love her, Tyrell, win her. Don’t come to me with ridiculous slander about a fellow nobleman.”
Defeated, humiliated, weak . . . accused by his own king of making spiteful gossip . . . Just what kind of warrior was he? If Julian wasn’t a murderous pirate, Tyrell may have just admitted defeat. He wasn’t the kind of man a lady like her deserved.
A muffled sniff snapped him from his brooding. Lia’s head was bent, her cheeks were soaked in tears.
Alarmed, Tyrell snatched up both her hands and squeezed them. “Don’t cry, there’s hope yet for the princess.”
Lia’s face went from pink to scarlet.
“S-six generations, we’ve served . . .” she sobbed. “I-I’ve known her my whole life . . . h-how—She can’t just make me l-leave!”
She ripped her hands from Tyrell’s and buried her face in them. He regarded her, normally she always wore that . . . braid loopy thing in a circle around her head. However, it had long since come completely undone, leaving her face veiled behind tangled locks.
She was shaking violently, perhaps from grief, but probably from cold and exhaustion. What time was it anyway? Close to midnight?
That’s when it occurred to him—he had been so focused on rescuing one lady, that he failed to properly protect another. What was he thinking? Carrying her off into a storm like that? If she was sick, it was his fault. Until she was well again, he decided to make herhisresponsibility.
She gave a little startled cry when he swooped forward and picked her up.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Taking you to your room so you can dry off and go to bed.
Lia aggressively shook her head. “I can’t. It’s connected to Princess Tavia’s room. S-she won’t let me back there.”
“Then, I’m going to find a fire someplace, put you next to it, and have one of the servants prepare another guest room for you. Just for tonight . . . tomorrow . . . um . . .” His eyes brightened, as an idea occurred to him. “You can come stay with my sister until the princess comes to her senses.”
She looked up at him through puffy eyes. The smudged makeup around them reminded Tyrell of a raccoon—a kind of . . . pretty racoon. He blinked realizing he was more exhaustedthan he thought.Pretty racoon?His mind couldn’t mind . . . orthink.
“Thank you, my lord,” she mumbled.
