Page 20 of The Forgotten Throne

Just as I was about to speak, Dayson emerged from one of the tents, scratching and yawning loudly. He caught sight of us and froze as if he wasn’t sure what to do now that he spotted us. “Ah… I’m gonna go back to bed… yeah, that’s what I’m gonna do…”

“Day,” I called, shifting so I was once again sitting with my back to Izel’s chest. “It’s fine, come join us. The water is boiling.”

Izel pressed a lingering kiss to my neck and let his fingers play along my ribs before he removed them and lifted me up so he could stand. He took a moment to adjust things before he stepped out from behind me. “I have tea leaves with me and thought I would make a pot. You want some, Dayson?”

“Of the tea or…” he asked, his eyes flicking to me then back to Izel with a knowing smirk.

“I cannot speak for others, but I can offer you tea at the moment,” Izel answered, not at all playing into Dayson’s suggestion.

The large man let out a sigh. “Then tea will have to do, but I’m going to claim your spot since you got up.”

Not catching on to what he meant, I let out a yelp as Dayson scooped me up as he settled on the ground with me perched in his lap now. Too stunned at the turn of events, I lost my chance to get up without causing a fuss, as the blanket was tucked in around us.

“Man, no wonder why you two were so snuggled up. This is the warmest I’ve been in days. These mountains are fucking cold,” Dayson grumbled, and he buried his face into the crook of my neck.

Once again, I squeaked as his freezing face touched my skin, making my body shiver in response to the abruptness in temperature change. “You’re freezing!”

“Why do you think I’m huddling for warmth, Cassy-bear? A man could lose his nose in weather like this if left cold for too long. I had to find someplace warm to hide it,” he answered, his words muffled by my skin.

“I’ll bet that’s not the only thing of yours that wants to find a warm place to hide,” Paxton said as he poked his head out of the tent Dayson just left.

Izel was grabbing Paxton by the hair and yanking him out of the tent by it before I could even understand the true meaning of Paxton’s words. “You dare to speak about your queen in such a manner? Being her guardian means you protect her from anything that could harm her body and mind. Cassarah is an honorable woman and will be treated as such. Do you hear me?”

It was moments like these that I was reminded that my guardians were more than meets the eye. Izel was quiet and observant, but I knew he was lethal with any blade he could get his hands on. Paxton was still alive at this moment because Izel wished to keep him that way, and that made me oddly trust him even more. While Paxton and Cole were more rash with their emotions, Izel was beyond controlled. You didn’t know what he was thinking or feeling unless he decided to show it.

“What the hell, man?” Paxton spluttered as he kicked out, hitting the back of one of Izel’s knees. Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough and Izel dropped and swiveled to put Paxton into a headlock with his other leg resting on his throat. The more Paxton fought, the more he would just cut off his own air supply.

“You aren’t the master of your own life anymore. Once that mark showed up on your arm, Cassarah became your master. It is better to curb this attitude of yours now than to have it cause problems for us later when her life might be in danger,” Dayson spoke up, after he lifted his head to see what was going on.

Paxton tapped furiously at Izel’s leg, trying to get him off by showing he was giving in to the takedown. When Izel stood, freeing Paxton’s airway, Paxton gasped and rolled onto his side, coughing as he sucked air back into his lungs. Finally back to breathing normal, he pushed himself up and glared at the two men. “How dare you assume to know a damn thing about me or what I think. Yeah, I might not have been thrilled to have the mark show up on my arm and be dragged back into this mess, but it’s because of people like you assholes. Since when did all of you become so uptight? Doesn’t anyone know how to take a joke anymore? Or is it just because I said it?”

He had a point. Dayson had also been making suggestive comments before Paxton appeared out of the tent. Hearing what was happening might have made him feel more comfortable to make such jokes, thinking I was alright with it.

“Paxton, what do you know about me?” I asked, drawing all their attention.

“Ah, well...” Paxton started running his hand through his hair. “Not a whole lot. Just that you are paired with the black dragon and didn’t grow up in the clans.”

“If I didn’t grow up in the clans, where might you guess that I was raised?” I questioned, curious as to what his thought process was.

He looked at me with his pale blue eyes like I was asking him to tell me what the weather was in Sheca. “In Norden somewhere, maybe a farmer or someone in the Royal City. I don’t know what this has to do with anything?”

“It has everything to do with everything, Pax,” I announced, getting a raised brow from him. “I was raised as a noble woman, and I’d just been presented at court to the king and queen when the dragon eggs started to hatch. Cole had to come and steal me out of my own home because my parents refused to give me up since the crown had shown interest in me. My value has always been in my virtue and who I marry, along with having a boy to secure the lineage of whomever I was married off to.”

Paxton gaped at me then looked at the other two men. “You’ve got to be shitting me! A noble woman turned queen of the mercenaries… how the fuck does that even happen?”

“You said it yourself. The black dragon chose me, the first in centuries to appear at that. My parents refused to believe the pair-bond with Vasin was real and locked me away in hopes the whole thing would be forgotten. Well, that is until Queen Mary thought it would be a good idea to make me a potential bride to one of her sons.”

As if on cue, Gavin appeared, having refused to leave with the rest of his family and taking the long way with us. “Isn’t it interesting that the first time I met you was the day you came to rescue Vasin from Lord Barrett? I should have known then that being around you would never be boring. Seeing as I’m now one of your consorts, things worked out the other way around, didn’t it?”

“Hold up. The Crown Prince is a consort to our Queen?” Paxton blurted. “I seriously shouldn’t have run off to Errit. I’m behind on everything.”

“See, I’m not the crown prince anymore. I gave that up to my brother so I could be the ambassador between our two kingdoms,” Gavin explained. “I never wanted to be king, so this turned out for the best.”

Paxton rubbed his hands over his face as he tried to wrap his brain around all of this. “Okay, so Cassarah was raised as a noble woman then was brought to the clans… How did that go?”

“Not at all how I thought. I was given a year to learn everything you all spent your childhood training for. I was to go on a job to prove I could be one of the people. Getting kidnapped by the Lost King put a bit of a wrench in that plan but it led us to discover his presence. When I blew up his camp and saved Gavin, I found out the clans had moved to the mountains. From there I think you know the rest with the alliance and then the battle we lost,” I answered.

By now the rest of my guardians had awoken and joined us as Izel passed out cups of tea to everyone. They seemed to catch on to what we were talking about and were content to listen in as Paxton came to terms with everything I told him.