Claimed & Seduced (16 page)

“Let me have a quick look.”

“Keira, your face.”

She touched her fingertips to her cheek. “What’s wrong with my face?”

“
Grata
.” Alarm pummeled his chest, blocked his throat. He swallowed hard. This wasn’t good. “You have a tattoo on your cheek.” The damn lump swelled to obstruct his words. Another gulp cleared the blockage. “It’s similar to the ones some of the women have here.”

She frowned. “A cat? But how—”

“It’s a crow.”

The healthy green fled her cheeks leaving her visage ashen. Her hand flew to her cheek, her fingertips tracing across the spot. “This is going to cause problems.”

An understatement. “Yeah.”

“One problem at a time. Let me look at your head.”

He stepped closer and gentle fingers probed his wound. The scent of blood wasn’t as bad now, although the
bang, clang, bang
continued playing in his head like a band out of tune.

“It’s not bleeding much now. A shallow wound. I’ll doctor you up once we get to the castle.”

“Thanks.” Jarlath winced and not because of the pain. They’d have to hide her tattoo because the locals would act first and ask questions later. This put her in danger and him by association. “You’ll have to rub some soot over your face. Yeah, that’s a bit better.”

He’d worry about the reason for the tattoo later, when they weren’t in such a hurry. Jarlath seized her hand, unsure of why he needed the contact, yet obeying instinct anyway. His feline purred and the loud rumble joined the musical band in his head. They hurried around a dry-food store, burst ration packs littering the road. Next door, a giant replicator sat half on the road and half in the store. It had been too large for the looters to move. No doubt they’d be back with reinforcements because a replicator like this was valuable.

At the end of the road, they paused to orientate themselves.

“There,” Keira said, puffing in fatigue.

Jarlath was relieved to see the castle. This was his city, by
grata
, and he wouldn’t repeat his mistake. Once they’d sorted this mess, he intended to follow through on his plan. He’d acquaint himself with the city and their people. All of his people, no matter what their station.

“This way,” he said. “We’ll go through the gardens and around the back.”

“Wait.” Keira tugged on his hand. “Someone is coming.”

Jarlath heard them too. They flattened against the wall of the nearest building, and two men ran past, both bearing weapons.

Jarlath caught his breath, tension bleeding through him and forming claws at his fingertips. The men would see them if they looked back. He had to keep Keira safe. Please don’t look.
Don’t look
.

His breath hissed between his teeth when the men rounded the corner, disappearing into one of the narrow lanes intersecting the main road.

Keira’s fingers relaxed in his. “Which way to the gardens you mentioned?”

She was a miracle. Most women of his acquaintance would have run screaming in the opposite direction. He grinned. His woman carried a knife and a blaster.

“This way.” He gripped her arm and squeezed. “Try and hide your face from Ellard. I don’t want him to see the bird. The soot isn’t sticking.”
Grata
, if his parents saw her face, they’d have a fit.

“Once we get to the castle I’ll slap a healing plaster over it and tell everyone I hurt it when we crashed. We have more important things to worry about.”

Pride filled Jarlath, and he wanted to tell her how great she was, how he’d prefer to face this situation with her rather than anyone else. He didn’t. Instead he upped his pace and led the way, only pausing to dodge opportunistic men roaming the streets. Finally, the castle gardens came into sight.

Jarlath slowed, frowned. “There should be guards on all the entrances. I can’t see a single one.”

“They can’t all be trapped inside.”

“How the devil could they let that happen?” Jarlath didn’t understand. The magical trap imprisoned Ellard too, which didn’t make sense. “Why were the guards at the castle instead of out on the streets? Ellard said rioting went throughout the night.”

“Something to find out,” Keira said.

Jarlath led the way through the gate and into the royal garden. Someone had ripped plants from the beds, tossing them left and right. The fishpond was a weird yellow color. His mother’s precious purple fish from the planet Halibut were floating on the surface, baring their bellies in a macabre display of death.

“Ugh,” Keira said. “They’re gonna honk soon.”

“Shush, the culprits might still be skulking in the vicinity.” Needing her touch again, he took Keira’s hand and tugged her down a side path into the part of the garden where he and Ellard practiced with their weapons. “This way.”

“Can you hear that low whine?” Keira whispered.

“Yeah. It seems to come from the castle. That’s the entrance now. I’ll com Ellard and tell him to meet us.” He pushed a button. “We’re almost at the entrance.”

“Be there in a few.” Ellard disconnected the call.

Stress weaved through Ellard’s voice, and Jarlath frowned. Ellard was always calm and faced everything lobbed his way without flinching. Fear slithered in Jarlath’s belly and his feline snarled, echoing his uneasy instincts.

“If the Cawdor leader is responsible, I don’t know how he managed to get such a powerful spell. This is the work of more than one wizard. If he’s responsible, he’s been planning this attack for some time.”

“I know. We should have noticed.” Jarlath halted in front of an unobtrusive door. This was magical, and he’d been wrong to suspect Keira of duplicity when she hadn’t put a foot wrong. They should have recruited their own wizards instead of running them all off Viros during the magical purges. “Do you know about the magical purges? No? Before I was born, those with magical powers were forced to leave Viros. The ruling felines at the time worried the wizards were becoming too powerful. There was a lot of posturing and speculation. They feared civil unrest and made a preemptive strike. My father has left the law standing, although there are a few businesses that sell charms now. I’m thinking they made a big mistake and should have come up with a different solution. Hindsight.” He shrugged. “This is it.”

If their attackers didn’t come from the House of Cawdor… He couldn’t think of anyone else… No. It had to be from Gramite because of the crow shape in the sky.

Jarlath caught Keira’s worried expression and winced at the sight of her new crow tattoo.

“The Cawdor leaders have always been sneaky.”

“You don’t like them.” Keira’s thoughts shadowed his.

“I told you before. Besides I heard what Ellard said. If Xavier is gone, then Razvan would grasp the opportunity to step into his place. I could see him attacking in this manner. He’s sneaky and clever with it. Never trust his word.
Never
.” She frowned at the door and couldn’t see a barrier. “There must be some way through.”

Jarlath grasped her wrist. “Don’t touch it. Not until Ellard is able to tell us more.”

“It’s calling to me,” Keira said, and she stretched out her hand.

“Don’t touch,” Ellard shouted. “Two of our soldiers have died after contact with the barrier. It stops the heart.”

“At least we can hear him.” Keira cocked her head. “Really, I need to touch.”

“No,” Jarlath snapped, but she reached out and made contact before he could snatch her hand away.

The instant her fingers connected the invisible barrier turned solid. The door came into sight and Keira twisted the knob. It opened and she stepped through.

Jarlath jumped through after her, and the door clicked shut and vanished.

“How did you do that? What the fukk?” Ellard’s weapon cleared his holster and jabbed her in the chest seconds later. “Move away from the prince.”

Jarlath shoved the weapon away and stepped in front of Keira. He snarled at Ellard, his canines bursting into prominence. “Don’t pull your weapon on Keira. Step away.”

Ellard ignored the order. “She wears the mark of the crow,” he spat. “She’s part of this plan to take over Viros.”

“Keira is a Virosian citizen and has lived here since her marriage. She hasn’t done anything wrong,” Jarlath said.

“She’s dazzled you, put you under a spell.”

Jarlath knocked Ellard’s weapon out of the way again. “Are you listening to yourself? Keira opened the barrier. You can get out now, plan a counter attack or at least stop the violence in the lower city. Why are the soldiers locked inside the castle? You can’t tell me they were all required here. Why weren’t they out in the city?”

Ellard stiffened, his expression going hard. “My father ordered the soldiers to protect the king and queen. You too. You’re the royal family and must be protected.” He didn’t take his focus off Keira.

A laugh of disbelief burst from Jarlath. “One or two soldiers would suffice to protect my parents. The entire squad was unnecessary.”

“It is not my duty to question—”

Keira darted around him and snapped her fingers in front of Ellard’s stubborn face. He blinked at her in shock. “Confess. It was a bad decision and you know it.”

Jarlath bit back his laugh and drew her against his side. He kissed her right on top her tattooed cheek.

“You slept with her,” Ellard said, his tone accusatory.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I intend to share her bed tonight and every other night in the foreseeable future.”

“I wager your parents don’t know,” Ellard shot back.

Anger unfurled in Jarlath, propelled by his spitting feline. He had his hands at Ellard’s throat and was shaking him and baring his teeth in fury before the thought formed.

“Jarlath, release him.” Keira’s soft voice pierced the red mist fogging his mind. Her touch on his shoulder eased his fury. “Let him go.”

Jarlath thrust Ellard away, pushing so hard his friend fell on his butt. Ellard’s weapon clattered to the floor. “Apologize.”

Ellard scrambled for his weapon, his glare on Keira the entire time.

“Apologize,” Jarlath gritted out and took two warning steps toward his friend.

“Sorry.” Ellard’s tone and expression said the opposite, but Keira grabbed Jarlath and halted his attack.

“Leave it,” she said. “We have more important things to deal with right now.”

Jarlath forced himself to relax. His teeth clicked into hiding, but his claws remained prominent. He sucked in a deep breath then another. She was right. “We’ll see if we can help the soldiers to exit the castle. Do you mind helping, Keira?”

“I’ll help if I can.”

Jarlath placed his hands on her shoulders and tipped up her chin. “Thank you.” He smoothed his thumb over the tattoo of the black crow on her cheek. It was cute, but he knew the Cawdor mark would cause suspicion. “Cover this up before anyone else sees it and jumps to conclusions.”

Ellard snorted but wisely remained silent.

“We’ll try the main entrance,” Jarlath said. “I’d like to keep this exit private in case we need an escape route at a later date. Has anyone missed me?”

“No. They think you’ve remained in your suite.”

“Cowered,” Jarlath said in disgust. None of them knew him, and the idea they thought him capable of hiding in safety while others were in danger rankled.

Keira squeezed his arm. “Put a cover on my cheek, and we’ll get started.”

He and Keira followed Ellard through the narrow passages until they reached the servants’ quarters and the two kitchens. Last time he’d walked this way, they’d needed to dodge servants and the clang of pots and voices filled the air, but now the hall echoed with their rapid footsteps. They found a medical box, covered her tattoo and tended the worst of his wounds before hurrying onward. Not a voice sounded as they hurried past the kitchens, but when they neared the main hall, he started to hear evidence of the residents.

“My father suggested everyone stay at a central point for safety,” Ellard said. “The servants are in there and the soldiers, the senior officials, those of high-ranking families and your parents are in the main hall.”

“Yet they left me in my suite,” Jarlath said.

“I told them you were safe there, and it wasn’t a good idea for the king and the heir to shelter in the same room.”

“Good thinking,” Jarlath said, even though the statement irritated him afresh. He wasn’t a coward, although it might appear this way to the people of Viros. To them he was the dutiful prince who attended social functions and hid in the castle at the first sign of trouble.

The chatter in the main hall fell silent when they entered. The scent of kafe and breakfast pastries told him his parents were treating this like a summer camp—a mere inconvenience and something to laugh about later once things returned to normal.

He watched his mother, his father until the silence alerted them to his arrival. He bowed stiffly, the gesture one of reflex.

“Jarlath, I thought Ellard said it was safer for you to—what on Viros are you wearing?” his mother demanded. “You look like a commoner. Go and change right now. I won’t have you dressed like a low-class male while in my presence.”

Jarlath stood his ground. The city was under siege and his parents worried about appearances?

“Who is this woman?” his mother asked.

Jarlath drew Keira against his side, felt the tremor that sped through her limbs, but she didn’t recoil. Pride suffused him as she stood tall.

“Keira Cloud, my mother Queen Bryna and my father King Hazan.”

“Cloud? The woman accused of murder?” Queen Bryna asked.

Keira’s chin lifted, and Jarlath couldn’t have been prouder. Neither did she try to defend herself, despite the accusation and the flurry of whispers at the queen’s words.

“What are you doing with the prince?” His father’s gaze went from him to Keira and back. It was obvious from his expression he came up with a conclusion, and while it was right, his parents’ attitude irked him.

Ellard stepped into the fray. “We’ve found a way out of the castle.” He directed his words to his father and studied the mass of soldiers. “We need soldiers out on the street to stop the rioting and looting. We’ll need all of you. Meet me at the front entrance.”