Chapter Five

Prince Balduin

I'd never been in the Heir's Tower before, but the increased number of guards immediately struck me. I suspected Prince Balduin made their lives very difficult with the way in which he lived his.

We climbed several flights of stairs until we reached a handsome door of polished wood with guards posted either side. Nicolo didn't even acknowledge the guards as he knocked—clearly Nicolo was above suspicion. He did, however, notice one of the guard's looking in my direction.

"She's with me."

And that was all it took.

"Who is it!" Balduin called from beyond the door.

"Nicolo."

"Come in."

We entered and Balduin gave us a cheery good morning from the copper bathtub in which he sprawled by the open fire. To either side of the tub were maids, one of whom I recognized as Elsie, the other I didn't know. Both had their sleeves rolled up to their elbows and were washing their prince, Elsie scrubbing his back while the other girl's hand was deep in the water in front of him. I chose not to look too closely at what she might have been doing.

"Good morning, my friend," smiled Balduin, who had either slept off his hangover or was still drunk.

"Your Highness," Nicolo bowed and I bobbed a curtsey but then morphed it into a bow because I wasn't sure what to do.

"A bow is fine," Nicolo whispered to me.

So, I performed the most definite of bows.

Balduin looked at me and his eyebrows reached for the ceiling as a smirk immediately alighted on his lips. "Pray tell, Nicolo, what in the bloody world is this?" His smile widened until it became a heavy chuckle. "I can't decide if it be male or female, but it's dressed for the circus."

"Charlotte is my new squire," Nicolo explained and there was something in his eyes that hinted to his irritation. As for myself, I wasn't annoyed—Balduin was right—I did appear fit for the circus. "Gauthier will need a day to make her more… suitable attire," Nicolo finished.

Balduin roared with laughter, slapping the water with his hands. "I don't know what goes on in that most complicated head of yours, my friend, but I must admit this sort of thing certainly does amuse me. Please, allow me to be present when you introduce her to the priests."

Nicolo didn't so much as crack a smile. He wore the same stern expression I was starting to believe was his standard. "I doubt they'll voice any complaints."

"I'm quite sure they won't," laughed Balduin. "They're more scared of you than their Great God. But, if it's all the same, I should like to watch their faces when you introduce this new squire of yours to see if I can spot the exact moment when their collective aneurysm pops." He flicked water into Elsie's face. "I'm as clean as I'm going to get, girl. Help me out."

As the other girl, whose name escaped me, held up a towel, Elsie assisted the prince out of the bath.

"You should have come out with me last night, Nicolo. It was a roarer!" said Balduin as the two maids vigorously toweled him dry.

"I did. If you recall," pointed out Nicolo.

Balduin grinned at him. "Ah, are you mad with me, my friend?" Then he shrugged, not appearing the least bit concerned if Nicolo was upset with him. "It's not my fault those peasants attacked."

"You were passed out in a bar when you should have been passed out in your bed."

"Oh, Nicolo, there you go again with your dramatic flair for exaggeration." He gave Nicolo a smile. "I was not passed out."

"It was a fine line."

"Consciousness is not a fine line. It's a yes or no."

Nicolo rocked his head from side to side. "You always manage to turn it into a gray area."

"No harm done."

Nicolo narrowed his eyes at the prince. "Martex is dead."

Balduin frowned. "Who?"

"One of your guards."

Balduin shrugged as though Martex's death was of no concern to him. "Well then; some harm done, I suppose. But, cheer up, Nicolo, luckily for us both, we have other guards." He addressed the maids as they finished toweling. "Patter off, both of you." As the maids started to do just that, he smacked Elsie's backside and then tugged Forgot-Her-Name in for a fierce kiss on the lips. "Next time you both may join me in the bath."

"But, yer highness, how will we all fit?" Elsie asked, a blush creeping along her cheeks.

Balduin ran his fingers across her cheeks. "I'll find a way to make it, er, us fit, my dear." The two maids giggled as Balduin chuckled. "Now, be off with you."

The girls exited, giggling all the while and I had to keep myself from making a sour face which was just as well because a moment later, Balduin turned his attention back to me, eyeing me from top to bottom.

"Large breasts," he commented as if I were a show horse he was inspecting.

Nicolo cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the comment. And that was another tell of his that pleased me to no end—possessiveness. It was exactly what I was hoping for, only I'd imagined such an emotion wouldn't have cropped up quite so soon. It appeared luck was on my side. For now, anyway.

"Wait a second," Balduin continued as he walked right up into my face and reaching down, gripped my chin and tilted it up. "It's that maid from the other night, isn't it?"

Nicolo smiled. "If you remembered facts the way you remember a pretty girl, Master Thom's job would have been easier."

Balduin shrugged. "And if Master Thom had looked like your new squire, I might have paid better attention."

" She is the maid from the other night, yes," Nicolo answered and sounded uncomfortable.

"And now she's your squire?" Balduin continued as he continued to stare down.

"Now, she's my squire."

Balduin leaned in then and closing his eyes, inhaled deeply. "She still smells like spring."

"I haven't… noticed," Nicolo lied.

Balduin threw back his head then and laughed. "You haven't noticed?" He dropped my face then but continued to smirk at me. "So, returning to the topic at hand, Nicolo, I suppose you've come with your large-breasted and—" he paused to take a gaze at my ass. "Blessed rumped little squire to tell me off for having a good time?" As he spoke, Balduin dropped the towel so he was standing there as naked as the day he was born. I immediately looked down at the floor as the prince chuckled at my reaction and then strolled to the window, opening both window panes wide.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't take unnecessary chances," Nicolo replied.

"What a beautiful day," Balduin responded as he made a show of breathing in the fresh air outside the window. Then he turned to face us both again, seemingly completely unconcerned with the fact that he wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing.

"Balduin," Nicolo started but the prince held up a hand to silence him.

"If people are coming for me, then they're coming for me." Balduin shook his head as he held his friend's stare. "I'm not going to change my life to accommodate a bunch of revolting peasants."

He strolled towards us and moved his gaze, once again, to me. "And, really Nicolo, this conversation is such a bore. I would much rather discuss this new squire of yours."

"She's an excellent fighter," said Nicolo, as though feeling the need to defend his choice.

Balduin chuckled. "Are we not supposed to punish women for that exact offense, my friend?" he asked as he ran a finger down my cheek before looking back up at Nicolo, who towered over him by at least a foot or more. " Not promote them," shrugged Balduin as he made a slow circuit around me, looking me up and down with an appraising eye. "But I suppose you know what you're doing."

"There is value in having an asset that no one else knows about," explained Nicolo.

Balduin paused his pacing and stood directly behind me. "And what an asset it is."

I bit my lip as Balduin grabbed my backside and pulling me into him, squeezed my left cheek. "Mmm, tight and round."

Nicolo cleared his throat and Balduin chuckled, resuming his circle around me. When he reached my front, he paused again. Then reaching down, he placed a finger beneath my chin and lifted my head so I was forced to stare him in the face.

"Hmm, quite the beauty, aren't you?" I didn't respond. Neither did Nicolo. "Well," Balduin continued as he withdrew his finger and strode towards his bed where, I was relieved to note, his clothes were laid out, "if she's no use to you as a squire, I'm damn sure you can find another job for her... or I can." He pulled his shirt over his head and frowned at me as though just realizing something.

He continued dressing and Nicolo took a step closer. "Balduin, I came here to—f"

"Yes, yes, I'm well aware, Nicolo, but you're wasting your breath."

Nicolo didn't appear to appreciate being interrupted but patiently waited for the prince to finish his comment before he responded. "Reprimanding you isn't why I came," he corrected Balduin.

"Ah, you've realized that's a lost cause by now, haven't you?" the prince laughed.

Nicolo nodded. "I came to inform you that I don't think those were peasants last night."

"Call them what you like," dismissed Balduin as he threw his linen tunic over his narrow shoulders and then busied himself with the drawstring at the top. "Common people, citizens, sweaty malcontents. It's all the same."

"They were trained," said Nicolo.

Balduin pointedly looked at me then. "Anyone can learn to fight."

"Not like this."

Balduin shook his head. "You worry about everything, my friend."

"And you worry about nothing."

"Yet see how much happier I am," pointed out Balduin. "I tire of this conversation." Once he'd pulled his boots on, he faced Nicolo with a large smile. "Come on. Let's go for a turn-about the battlements before lunch."

***

A ‘turn-about the battlements' ended up meaning a race around the Great Castle's skirting wall, which still stood although it had ceased to have any real purpose as the Great Castle was surrounded on all sides by more castle.

Nicolo and the prince stripped off their shirts and jerkins, and removed their boots so they stood barefoot, clad only in their hose.

Nicolo looked at me. "Keep up."

"On your marks, get set… Go!" Balduin called out.

They both sprang forward, holding nothing back, running hell-for-leather along the narrow walkway that surrounded the skirting wall. I was right behind them.

A pair of guards threw themselves to one side, saluting as their social betters charged past. The prince and his closest friend bounced off walls as they took the corners, barged past guards and scrambled over obstacles, each trying to get the better of the other, though they remained remarkably even-paced. I was able to keep pace with them, most likely because they wasted inordinate time in useless feats and I simply caught up with them each time.

In places the walkway climbed and the two men rattled up steps, their bare feet slapping on the stone as I kept the pace behind them. Sometimes a tower got in the way and the race continued through it, and I could hear cries of surprise and the occasional crash of overturned furniture from within.

I paused in one such room and found myself standing beside a pair of guards.

"Do they do this often?" I asked them.

But the guards didn't even look at me, their eyes never leaving their charge. Perhaps they were confused and thought I'd escaped the circus, as Balduin had noted. I supposed I couldn't blame them; their lives depended on keeping Balduin safe and, thus, all other distractions were ignored.

As to my reason for being here—namely to murder Nicolo—I felt I'd learned more about him in the few hours that I'd been his squire than I had in all my nocturnal spying missions. Currently, I was learning he was extremely competitive with the man he treated almost as a brother (a brother who could have him killed with a word, but a brother none the less). Though, I would say Nicolo took up the part of ‘older and much more discerning brother' than did Balduin. Regardless, they jostled on the narrower sections of the walkway, they pushed each other good naturedly and even tried to trip one another. But it was all done with smiles on their faces—smiles and beleaguered breathing—well on the part of Balduin, anyway. For Nicolo's part, he didn't even appear as if he'd done more than walk. Something I found quite perplexing because even I was tired and I hadn't taken nearly as much exercise as they had.

As they reached the final straight, they were neck and neck, and both giving whatever they had left in that final sprint. It looked as if Nicolo was the more comfortable of the two, but at the last moment, Balduin edged ahead and it was the prince who claimed the prize of winner.

The two bent over double, gasping to get their breath back (something I believed was an act on Nicolo's part because as soon as he stood up, he seemed completely unwinded). For all the ease and indulgence of their lives, I had to admit they were both well-made men. I'd already admired Nicolo's handsomely muscled torso, but it was nice to see those muscles in action, and Balduin's body was almost a match to that of his friend, though Balduin was smaller and shorter in stature. I suspected that neither would have achieved or maintained such physiques without the other to compete with.

Balduin straightened and held out his hand to one of the guards who handed him a towel and did the same for Nicolo.

"Has the bell chimed for lunch?" asked Balduin.

"I didn't hear it," replied Nicolo. "Charlotte?"

"No, Master" I confirmed.

Balduin beamed. "Excellent. What say we hit the ring?" He faced me then. "I should like your squire to also attend."

Nicolo nodded. "Charlotte. Bring our clothes."

Back through the castle we went, bodyguards in tow, this time heading for the Court Gardens. It was nice to enter through the gate, rather than scaling the wall. Not to mention, the gardens were utterly beautiful on a bright day like this.

Dotted about were a few members of the court; elderly matrons out for a stroll with a cloud of white dogs yapping at their feet and a spattering of anxious maids hovering behind; proud young men practicing their sword skills and apparently keen that everyone see them do so; overweight, middle-aged nobles looking for a bit of peace from the wife and children; courting couples, half-hidden by blossoming trees, carrying out clandestine meetings, lost in each other's arms. The Court Gardens were big enough to accommodate all these and more without anyone disturbing anyone else.

Nicolo and Balduin chatted amiably as we walked.

"So, you'll speak to Wylder?" asked Nicolo.

Balduin sighed. "What does the old fool want now?"

"He's not happy."

"He's never happy and it's not my job to make him happy."

"But it will be your job eventually, Balduin," pointed out Nicolo. "Wylder wants a better relationship with his future monarch."

"No, he damned well doesn't," snorted Balduin. "He wants his future monarch to be someone other than me, or he wants me to behave more like the monarch he wants. Well... damn the man! I am who I am and I'm not going to change when they put a crown on my head. He can stick his talk of ‘regal dignity' up his droopy, old, pimpled ass."

I laughed, I couldn't help it. Balduin glanced back at me and smiled even more broadly before turning back to face Nicolo. "Your squire has a good sense of humor, it seems."

"Charlotte!" Nicolo faced me with an angry expression and I immediately lost the smile on my face.

"Oh, don't reprimand her, Nicolo."

"Back to Wylder," said Nicolo, dryly.

"Can't we set him up with a nice young woman and get his thoughts off me?"

"He's married."

"A nice young mistress then," shrugged Balduin. "If he were mounting someone attractive and doing so more often, he might spend less time complaining about me."

"Balduin—"

"It's all jealousy anyway," Balduin continued, shaking his head. "And if we get the right woman for him—someone young and quite active, in good shape, perhaps she could ride him into a heart attack."

"He's only forty-five."

"I can think of a couple of maids who'd fit the bill."

"That's not the—"

"Getting a handsome maid onto her back might get him off mine, Nicolo, and that is the point."

"You need to speak to him," Nicolo pressed.

"Can't you do it in my stead?"

"He'll interpret that as an insult."

"Good."

The conversation appeared to be over when we reached a quiet spot on one of the lawns where a circle had been painted onto the grass.

"Will your squire referee?" suggested Balduin.

"Hardly fair on her first day to make her judge between her master and her prince."

"Whatever you think best," shrugged Balduin. "But the girl's getting a free show."

Twenty minutes later and I had to assess that Balduin wasn't wrong about that.

Wrestling was taught at the Assassins' Guild—although you were unlikely ever to assassinate someone by wrestling, you never knew when the skill might come in useful. It had never been one of my favorite sports, a bit too close and sweaty and grapply.

But watching Balduin and Nicolo, I was getting a new appreciation for it as a spectator. The two men lunged for one another, each trying to secure the superior hold, their muscles straining and popping along their toned limbs. Nicolo managed to loop a leg around that of the prince and I watched his corded calf muscles standing out as he flexed and dragged Balduin to the ground.

"That's one," Nicolo growled.

"Lucky throw."

"We'll see."

They clashed again, their glistening bodies locked, tense and taut, battling for supremacy. This time, it was Balduin who found it, lurching forwards and pushing his friend out of the ring with surprising ease.

"One all," Balduin said.

"You caught me off guard."

Balduin rolled his eyes. "Excuses, excuses."

This time, when they impacted, the force was enough to take Nicolo onto his back, with Balduin on top of him. But the master wouldn't be pinned, instead he twisted like an eel, his body as sinuous and flexible as it was strong and large. Their limbs twined and strained and then Nicolo pressed up off the ground, flipping them both so he was now on top and able to pinion his friend.

It was a fascinating spectacle, and one that made odd feelings stir deep inside my core, not unlike the feelings I had after all our discussion on seduction and sex and male erections and what they could do with them.

Keep your cool, Charlotte, I told myself. Remember rule number one: never fall prey to emotion.

"Damn it!" Balduin smacked the ground petulantly with his fist.

The two men clashed again, and I wondered how quickly I'd be executed if I were to whisper the word ‘ homoerotic '. Yet, that's exactly what this was—the two men almost appeared to be involved in something sexual with all their grunting, sweating and manipulating of one another's bodies.

I had to admit… I quite liked it.

This was the toughest fight yet, dragging from one side of the ring to the other, the two men grappling for the better hold but neither able to find it, until, finally, Balduin somehow managed to free himself from Nicolo's grip and knocked the larger man down.

"Yes! Two all. Decider," Balduin called out, a smile of victory on his face.

They were both slicked with sweat, dirt and grass stains, red in the face, both bearing bruises, grazes and scrapes. Their strength might have been ebbing, but the will to win wasn't and both continued to fight with a sort of desperation—clearly winning was everything.

Though, of course I couldn't show it, I was rooting firmly for Nicolo (as to why that was I couldn't tell you), and it was disappointing when Balduin swept out his friend's leg and bore him to the ground.

"The victor and still the champion!" Balduin yelled, leaving Nicolo lying there. Balduin, unconcerned, bounced up to his toes. "I could eat a horse," he pronounced as he turned to face me. "You—what's your name?"

"Charlotte, Your Highness."

"Right. Go fetch us lunch and bring it back here post haste. And no scrawny portions, either! I'm a hungry man!"

"Yes, Your Highness."

I cast a glance in Nicolo's direction where he lay on the ground, beaten but smiling.

"Mistress Rosana…" I started, wondering how I was going to explain my current getup and the fact that I hadn't done anything I was supposed to all day.

"I sent a message informing her of your promotion," Nicolo answered the unasked question.

The prince had already removed his hose and was wading into the river to wash the grime of the fight from his naked body, his guards edging closer to the water, ready to dive in at the first sign of danger. Unless there were man-eating goldfish, though, I wasn't certain what sort of threats they were awaiting.

I hurried away, but at the edge of the lawn, I couldn't stop myself from looking back. Nicolo too had stripped off to wash in the river. And I found I couldn't pull my attention away from his rippling muscles nor the sheen of sweat that glistened on them. He was truly stunning to behold. The most beautiful man I'd ever seen by far. Not that that mattered because soon, very soon, he'd be dead.