LITMIR.BIZ

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gotten lost. I was about to send Lieutenant Blueborough to check on you.”

      The queen rose as well and gestured to the empty seat next to Brax. Although she’d changed into a burgundy evening gown, she still wore the violet pearls around her neck. “Please join us.”

      Valoria froze, unable to step toward the lumbering brute with hog juice dripping from his chin.

      Cadence poked her finger in Valoria’s back. “Get on with it.”

      “May I escort you to the main table?” Nathaniel appeared beside her like a beacon light in a foul storm. She could not deny him.

      “Of course.” Valoria took his arm, holding on a little too tightly.

      He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “I was beginning to worry.”

      “My handmaiden needed freshening up.”

      “So kind of you to wait for her.” He smiled warmly.

      “Indeed.” If only he knew the real reason for her procrastination. Would he think any less of her?

      Valoria approached the great table and met Brax’s gaze. She bowed her head. “My apologies, my prince. My handmaiden found it difficult to remove the blood stains from her clothes.” Guilt panged inside her at her spiteful tone. Her father would not be proud of her throwing words like daggers at her future husband. She glanced at the floor.

      “You’ve endured quite a lot at the filthy hands of the raiders.” Brax’s voice turned to a growl, as if he couldn’t leave his battles from his meal. “I only wish I was able to deal them retribution. Thanks to my brother, you arrived safely.”

      He nodded to Nathaniel, and Nathaniel gave up her arm and pulled out her chair. “Thank Valoria herself. She fought just as bravely as the rest of us. Next time, the raiders will have to answer to her.”

      Brax crinkled his thick, black brow in doubt. But, pride surged in Valoria despite his disbelief. She wished she could thank Nathaniel for his vote of confidence. She certainly needed it.

      With a small smile, Nathaniel walked away, leaving her with her intended.

      “I’ve set aside a plate for you.” Brax pushed a plate of soppy ribs in front of her. “It is the juiciest part.”

      Valoria covered her mouth, stifling the urge to choke. How could she tell him she only ate vegetables and grains? What would he think of her? “Thank you. But I am not hungry this hour.”

      Dismay settled across his blunt features.

      “I mourn my lost countrymen.”

      “Ah. Of course.” He nodded as if losing men on the battlefield was something he understood deeply. He took the plate away. “I will make sure the raiders pay.”

      Valoria folded her hands in her lap lest the urge to slap him overcame her. “Wouldn’t it be more suitable to deal them a forgiving hand?”

      Brax smiled condescendingly. “Dear Valoria, you are naïve to the follies of susceptibility. We must secure this kingdom’s future for only those with noble hearts.” He spoke as if she were a milkmaid being taught to squeeze the teat of a cow for the first time.

      She bit her tongue. Did he mean to cast out half the populace? “Surely every man suffers from vagrancies at some point in his life. And these people have lost everything.”

      Brax’s hand clenched and a vein in his forehead protruded. “That is no reason to murder and pillage, and to attack innocent princesses.”

      Valoria gritted her teeth. He had a point, but she was far from the idiot adolescent he thought her. “Innocent princesses can fend for themselves.”

      He spit out a piece of bone and it clanged on the china plate. “If that were true, you wouldn’t need Ebonvale, now would you?”

      Fury broiled inside her. Talking to him was like talking to a wall. A sweaty wall. She picked up her glass hoping the cold water would smite her temper. “We need each other.”

      “So our fathers believe.” Brax bit off another chunk of meat.

      Was that resentment in his voice?

      Valoria stiffened in disbelief. All this time she hadn’t given a thought to what Brax wanted. She’d always assumed he adopted his parents’ wishes. But, it was clear he didn’t want her just as much as she didn’t want him.

      She’d finally found something they had in common.

      * * * *

      Nathaniel watched the princess stiffen from across the room. What had Brax said now? He hoped his brother hadn’t been too blunt. Valoria could fend for herself, but she also had a softer, kinder side. She hid her vulnerability from the world, but not from him. He’d glimpsed it when she’d faced Ebonvale’s people for the first time, when she’d leaned over that old, wounded music teacher, and when she’d asked about Brax.

      He longed to go to her, but she wasn’t his charge.

      “Excuse me, lieutenant, an important matter needs your attention.” Kent, the medic in training, stood beside him still wearing his bloodied apron.

      Nathaniel stood, blocking him from the ladies lest he spoil their dinner. “What does it concern?”

      Kent wrenched his hands in a ball in front of his chest. “The prisoner. The boy with the red hair.”

      Guilt spread through him. He should have interrogated the boy while he had the chance. But Nathaniel couldn’t bring himself to torture someone in such great pain. “Horred’s temple. Is he dead?”

      “Not dead, sir. He’s gone.”

      “Gone?” A wave of relief passed over him. Why he should care so much about a boy—the enemy—he had no idea. “But, he could hardly breathe.”

      “Or so he led us to believe.”

      A fork clanged on a glass, and the conversations muted around them as the king stood to speak. Nathaniel ushered Kent to the back of the hall. “Show me the last place you saw him. The gates have been closed for the night, so there’s a chance he’s still in the city.”

      “As you wish, lieutenant.” At least a little color had returned to the young man’s face.

      “Do not fret. We will make this right.” Before he left, Nathaniel glanced back at Valoria. She met his gaze with a questioning raise of her brow. Her eyes held a flicker of desperation. Could he leave her?

      He had to. She was his no more than the claim to the throne. If he were wise, he’d do his duty without any more thoughts of her. Resolve hardening inside him, Nathaniel turned from the dinner and followed Kent into the corridor beyond. He found two soldiers guarding the entryway and dispatched them to gather the others off duty and search the thoroughfares.

      “Why did you not bring this to Commander Brax’s attention?” Nathaniel whispered as they exited the temple and walked across the city square.

      “The Commander seemed busy at the moment with his intended. Besides, I know you will find a way to…soften the blow.”

      No one wanted to be the target of Brax’s fury. But, Nathaniel couldn’t keep his superior ill-informed for long. “If we find the prisoner, I may not need to.”

      A light bell chimed as they entered the apothecary’s shop. They walked past the shelves of medicines and hanging, dried herbs to the barn in the back. Most of the patients slept wrapped in white sheets and thick bandages. The older man Valoria had attended to sat propped on a pillow reading a scroll of parchment by candlelight.

      Kent led Nathaniel to the back. “We moved all of the seriously wounded patients here.” He pointed to an empty bed. The cords used to tie the boy’s arms and legs had been cut. “He laid here.”

      Nathaniel picked up the broken cord. “He must have stolen a scalpel when the medics weren’t

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