Chapter 31

31

R hi

Stone twists his face towards me and grins.

“Barone is going to be so pissed off.”

“Renzo?” I say. “Why?”

“Are you kidding me, Rhi? All he’s been talking about is sharing you and watching you. It’s all he can fucking think about too!”

I let Azlan snuggle the blanket up over the three of us.

“You could try to look a little less happy about the fact he’ll be upset,” I tell Stone.

He shakes his head.

“Why do you dislike him so much?” He snorts and I give him one of my don’t-mess-with-me looks.

“What do I dislike about him?!” he repeats with sarcasm.

“You mean apart from the contract killings and psychopathic tendencies,” Azlan says.

“I think all of you are a little psychopathic if you ask me,” I mumble, then narrow my eyes at Stone. “What is the deal between the two of you?”

“There’s no deal.”

“Bullshit, you clearly know each other.”

The grin falls from Stone’s face. “Not really.”

“So you do?”

“Did.”

“When?”

Stone rolls over onto his back and stares up at the ceiling.

I peer over my shoulder at Azlan. “Do you know?” He shakes his head, which kind of surprises me. I thought these two shared everything. Including me!

“Phoenix?” I ask.

He sighs, then tilts his head to meet my gaze.

“You know I was a foster kid, right? After my mom got …” he clears his throat, “taken away.”

“Yes, I know,” I say softly, reaching out to stroke my knuckles down his cheek.

He captures that hand in his and kisses each of my fingers. Not meeting my eyes as he says, “Not all the foster parents were exactly suited to their role. Not exactly caring in nature.”

“I’m sorry, Phoenix.”

He shakes his head. “It is what it is.” He squeezes my hand. “This one time I couldn’t stand it any more, couldn’t stand what the fucked-up dude was doing to me so I ran away. For a bit, I was out on the streets. I wasn’t the only one. There were a few of us. Safety in numbers and all that.” He pauses. “Barone was there too. He was younger than me. Pretty skinny and small. Pretty insane even back then.”

“And what happened between you? ”

“Nothing. Nothing at all. I think he rather looked up to me. Used to follow me around a lot. I couldn’t get rid of the dude. Then I got picked up by the authorities and sent to this older man. One who loved learning, loved books. Made me love them too.”

“And that’s how you ended up a professor,” I say, smiling at him.

“It was the start.” He’s quiet for a moment. “I was lucky, Rhi. I got picked up by the authorities and not Lowsky Senior. Barone wasn’t that lucky and sometimes that fucks with my head. Sometimes it makes me feel a hell of a lot of guilt.”

“You were just kids. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Yeah, but I could have helped him out. Could have been kinder to him.”

“You could be now.”

He closes his eyes. “He reminds me of things I’d rather forget. But you’re right. I could be.” He opens his eyes again. “I’ll try to be.”

“Thank you,” I say, kissing his cheek.

I’m the first awake the next morning, woken by cramps in my lower belly. Looks like my period is on its way. I’ve never been so relieved.

I squeeze out from between Azlan and Stone, trying my best not to wake them. After I’ve yanked Azlan’s shirt over my head – I’m becoming addicted to wearing my mates’ clothes and drowning myself in their various scents – and used the bathroom, I step out into the main room to find the young woman from yesterday busy at work, setting up the breakfast things. I’m surprised to see her here so early. I wonder what kind of crazy shifts she must work.

“Charmaine, right?” I ask, yawning and stretching my arms over my head. Then, remembering I’m not wearing any panties and could well be flashing the poor woman, drop my arms abruptly.

She stops what she’s doing, stands up straight and bows her head.

“Your Royal Highness. I’m sorry if I disturbed you.”

I snort. “I’m not your Royal Highness.”

Her gaze sneaks up to meet mine. “You are the Black Prince’s daughter. His heir.”

I snort a second time. Pip emerges from under the table where I bet he was snuffling for crumbs and snorts along with me.

“I don’t know about that. I’ve spent most of my life on the run, hiding or dodging the punches of others. I’ve certainly never felt like a princess.”

She was awfully shy yesterday, barely able to look at me, let alone talk to me. This morning, her curiosity gets the better of her and she can’t help asking me, in a voice so hushed I barely hear: “You lived in the East?”

“Yes.”

“What is it like?”

I tilt my head, filled with a curiosity of my own. “What have they told you it is like?”

“A place filled with darkness and pain.”

I laugh. I can’t help it. “Well, some of the time I guess it is. Just as I’m sure here is also filled with darkness and pain sometimes.” Although from what I’ve seen so far, a lot less often than it is back home. Her eyes widen in horror like I’ve spoken some heinous blasphemy. “That’s what they told us the West was like too,” I explain .

I can see this takes her a few moments to compute and then she nods.

“Although,” I add, “things in here certainly look more beautiful, better run, fairer.”

The girl stares at me with her pale eyes but doesn’t say anything.

I smile, ignoring the way Pip is licking at my ankles. The girl’s gaze drops back down to my pig and then back up to me. I keep on smiling. I bet she thinks I’m mad.

“The pig is yours?” she asks a little unsure.

“Yep, Pip.”

“We have a stable in the palace grounds where livestock are kept.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay. Pip stays with me.” I reach down and pick him up, careful this time not to flash the girl, and Pip licks at my face.

“The pig?”

“Yes, he’s kind of my best friend.”

The girl stares at me unblinking. “You have five fated ones?”

“I do.”

“And you also need a pig friend?”

I frown and decide to change the subject. I take a step closer to her, ignoring the way that seems to alarm her. She probably does think I am mad after all and now I have pig slobber all over my cheek.

“Charmaine, actually, I was hoping you might be able to help me.”

She bows her head in response.

“I’m about to get my, erm, period, and I don’t have any pads or–”

Her pale cheeks redden. “Of course, I’m so sorry we didn’t provide you with this already. How thoughtless of us. ”

“Oh, stars, don’t worry about that. But do you think you could get me some?” Everything has happened so quickly the last few days. I didn’t exactly have time to pack a bag, certainly no time to stock up on toiletries.

“Right away,” she says, bowing her head and dashing away.

She returns about fifteen minutes later just when things are getting on the urgent side and my mates are circling the breakfast table. Her arms are full with a box and she gestures towards the bathroom.

“Your Royal Highness,” she murmurs.

“Please, just call me Rhi,” I say following her.

“What’s all that?” Spencer says, pointing towards the box.

“Sanitary stuff for my period,” I say loudly, giving certain other mates some pointed looks.

In the bathroom, I shut the door and Charmaine places the box on the vanity counter next to the sink. She pulls back the lid of the box.

“I wasn’t sure what you needed exactly,” she says, “so I brought you a selection. There’s also chocolate and a hot water bottle inside.”

“Oh my goodness, you are a lifesaver,” I say, diving straight for the nearest bar of chocolate. I unwrap the heavenly stuff and break a corner off, shoving it straight into my mouth and groaning. Charmaine gives me another of those worried looks and I remind myself she has enough reasons to think I’m coo-coo. I break off another chunk and offer it to her. “Want some? It’s amazing. Divine. Possibly better than sex.”

“I couldn’t possibly …” she says, gaze falling to the three squares of chocolate in a longing manner .

“Of course you can.” I shake my hand at her. “Here, take it.”

A little skittishly, like this action is one of the most forbidden in the kingdom, she reaches out and takes the chocolate from my hand, then brings it to her lips and nibbles. Her eyes fall shut.

“See, told you it was good.” I peer back inside the box. There are plenty of other bars and I pluck one out and offer that to her next. “Take a whole bar. There are plenty here.”

She shakes her head adamantly. “I really can’t. Chocolate is in short supply.”

“Chocolate?” I say, shocked. “In short supply? But there are plenty of bars in the box.”

“Yes, we have given you the palace’s supply.”

“All of it?”

She nods.

“Why?”

“You are the princess,” she explains.

“Oh,” I say, my cheeks heating. “Well, I’d like you to take a bar anyway.”

“Please, no,” she mumbles, “it could cause me problems.”

“Problems?”

I stare down at the half-eaten chocolate bar in one hand and the unwrapped bar in the other. I don’t understand how chocolate could cause her problems but I remember how the chickens would turn on one another when we gave them rare treats like blackberries. I place both bars back in the box, the chocolate in my mouth tasting a little more bitter now.

“Maybe this place isn’t so wonderful after all if you have to be a princess to land your hands on chocolate,” I joke.

Charmaine looks at me blankl y

“Would you like me to run a bath for you, Your Royal Highness?” she asks, pointing to the marble tub with its golden taps.

“No, jeez, no, I can run one myself!” I shake my head, feeling embarrassed. I’m used to people treating me like dirt. This sudden turnaround is making my head spin.

“Would you like me to tell your father that you are indisposed this morning?”

“Would you?” I say, rubbing at my belly. “I just want to float in a hot bath for about an hour until the cramps are over.”

“They are the worst,” Charmaine says, a sympathy on her face.

“Yep,” I confirm. “Why is there no spell to help with those?”

“Oh, I know of one that helps a little,” her gaze falls away, “I can’t perform it for you myself. My magic is a little low right now. But yours … yours is fine?”

“Yes, I used an awful lot of it up yesterday, but it’s regenerated again now.”

“Regenerated?” she repeats slowly, examining my face.

“Erm, yes,” I reply, confused. “Will you teach me the spell?” I sit down on one of the padded bathroom stools, grimacing as another cramp rips through my stomach.

“Okay,” she says, “my mom taught me this one. It’s a family specialty.” She smiles slightly. “Rest your hand against your belly and let your magic sink below the skin. Then utter these words.” She whispers some words in the language of the West – a language I don’t know. However, I manage to repeat the words closely enough that a warmth radiates from my hand and into my belly, soothing the cramps.

“Oh, stars, that feels good. Thank you so much. ”

“It is my honor to be of service,” she tells me, bowing. It makes me even more uncomfortable. It doesn’t seem right that a woman just like me should be bowing and calling me Your Highness.

The door opens a crack and Pip comes scuttling in, trotting up to me and looking up with his I-need-some-love eyes. I scoop him up, landing a kiss on the crown of his head and place him on my lap.

“We used to raise pigs back home,” Charmaine says. “I never saw one so small before.”

“He’s a runt.”

“My father used to drown the runts.” Pip growls and a little light sparks in the girl’s eyes. “I always thought they were cute.”

“Pip can be cute when he wants to be.” I lean a little towards her. “I once dressed him up in a halo and angel’s wings. He hated it but he looked adorable.” Charmaine actually smiles. “He also loves having his ears tickled.”

She hesitates and then slowly reaches out a hand and strokes her fingers down Pip’s velvety ears.

“Does your family have a farm?” I ask her.

Her hand freezes. “They did.” Pip butts his nose against her hand and she tickles under his chin. “I had a pet cat then. He liked to have his chin tickled like this. It used to make him dribble.” She smiles again.

“Pip has been known to dribble on occasion – usually when you rub his tummy. Or he’s watching you eat.” Pip snorts as if protesting such an accusation and she giggles. “Does your family live here in the capital with you?”

“No, it is just me now.”

“I’m sorry.” I know what it’s like to be alone. I hope she has friends at least. Meeting Winnie and Trent and my five mates has changed my life for the better in a way I can’t even describe.

“Thank you for helping him,” I say. “You really should be resting with your magic so weak.”

“My master asked me to help you,” she says simply.

“Is he a bit of a hard taskmaster?” I ask, attempting to make the question sound innocent but failing miserably.

Her eyes shift up to mine with suspicion.

“I have to go now,” she says. Pip snorts and licks her hand again.

“Of course,” I say. “I hope we might talk again.”

She bows her head and walks towards the door on unstable legs and I can feel how weak her magic remains.

“Your magic is still weak. You should really rest.”

“Of course,” she says, gaze not meeting mine. It’s clear she has no intention of heeding my words.

“Maybe I could accompany you back to your home. I’d love to see–”

“No,” she says. “I’m sorry, but I have work to do.”

“You shouldn’t be working,” I call after her, but she’s already scurrying out of the room.