Chapter 3 Plans of Kings

• The plans of the old kings had worked. Roger Pyre was now my best friend. Had been for years. Securing a friendship between the kingdoms. One I never expected to end.
• Archer Gray was my cousin, but he’d been raised with me as a brother when his own parents had passed away at a young age.
• Archer was next in line to inherit the Eternus Crown were anything to happen to me. But that had never interfered in how close we were.
• We do nearly everything together.
• There was really only one thing that seemed to be fostering animosity between us.
• Archer held a deep infatuation with Roger’s little sister.
• Something everyone seemed oblivious to, but me.
• And I felt very protective of her.
• Is that the only reason? A little voice in my head whispered before I banished it.
• But to every time Archer tried to sneak off with her. I goaded her until she as after me. Whether throwing clumps of mud or grass or chasing me around the stables. Unable to catch me with her far shorter legs.
• She was all fire though.
• Easy to stir.
• And we’d gotten old enough now that I found myself watching her differently. Noticing how she never wore her hair up as a princess should. It was always down. As wild around her shoulders, as she was.
• I was strolling down the hall from my chamber when I glimpsed her in the Solar with her mother.
• She looked pretty today. Her skin was tanner than it should be because she was forever outside following us. She wore a lovely shimmering green gown. Her small mouth pursed in aggravation. Her green eyes were snapping with frustration as they did every time her mother tried to get her to sit down and learn to weave.
• “You should figure that out, Baby Girl.” I entered the room to taunt. “You’ll need to know how to do that one day when you’re some poor sot’s submissive wife.”
• She hated that word.
• I knew it.
• She’s afraid that will be expected of her when she’s wed.
• And she hated it when I called her ‘Baby Girl.’
• I didn’t know why. But the fact that it made her feisty, made me enjoy doing it, twice as much. Now I did it more to annoy her than because it was what her brother called her.
• She stood up so fast, she toppled the table her mother had the patterns laid out on. She caught a fistful of cloth patterns and hurled them at me.
• They made it about halfway before floating harmlessly to the floor.
• She stomped a foot and huffed.
• “You are rather similar to those wild bulls.” I pointed out. “They huff like that, right before they-”
• She leapt over the narrow table and tossed aside the weaving plates, with surprising agility.
• Laughing loudly I jogged just out of her reach.
• “Jackson!” She shouted. Swiping at the back of my shirt again.
• I slowed down enough to stay just out of reach as we rushed down a corridor. “If you didn’t have stubby little troll arms, you might have gotten ahold of me!”
• She hissed in fury. Letting out a sound that reminded me of a mare choking.
• Was that her mad sound?
• I only laughed harder. I felt fingers tearing my shirt and realized I better up the pace a bit.
• “Don’t be mad, Baby Girl. Girls are supposed to be slow.”
• She shrieked an epithet and ran faster.
• I was laughing as I hopped down the stairs two at a time. Knowing they’d slow her down a lot. I leapt over the railing of the second level and landed agilely at the bottom.
• Something a human can’t do.
• I gave her a wave before I was out the door. Whistling as I crossed the courtyard.
• “You appear in a good mood.” Archer remarked.
• “Which means he’s been torturing my sister again.” Roger remarked. Falling into step with them.
• True.
• It was irresistible.
• She was still shrieking from inside and there was a thump behind us as she finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Tossing open the heavy front door with surprising strength. “Jackson Gray!”
• I ducked my head into my shoulders. Snickering so hard I was nearly sputtering.
• Roger turned stunned eyes to me. “What did you do?”
• I shrugged lifting my hand in a helpless gesture. “Merely trying to be encouraging.”
• “A submissive wife!” She railed storming down the steps with her green skirts fisted.
• “Did you say that?” Archer blinked at me in horror.
• I shrugged. “I don’t recall.”
• “The hell you don’t.” Roger said dryly. “Come on.”
• He caught my sleeve and began pulling. “We better get you down to the river before she catches up.”
• “She has tiny legs. I’m not worried about it.”
• “Yeah?” Archer drawled. “Cause those ‘tiny legs’ are paddling fast. She’s right behind you.”
• I was gone in a flash. Far from her reach as I headed out the bailey gate and out into the fields beyond. Still hearing her shouting in the distance.
• ***
• It was an amusing day.
• I didn’t regret a word of it.
• But the last thing in the world I expected was the banging on my chamber door that night. A determined thudding that was like to wake everyone in the corridor.
• I tossed it open, expecting to be told that the castle was afire.
• Instead, I dropped my eyes to her slim frame.
• She was tall for a female, I supposed.
• At least a human one.
• But to me, she still seemed tiny. So slender she was barely a stripe in the hallway. But as of late she’d begun to develop some curves along her hips and chest.
• Those I found myself particularly interested in. Appreciating the fine form of any woman but finding Fiere’s particularly intriguing. Especially because she generally wore loose dresses that didn’t cling to much form. Though slim ankles often peeped from the bottom when she ran after me.
• Another reason I enjoyed looking back at her pursuing me, so much.
• And right now, those curves were prettily silhouetted by the candle burning behind her, which made her thin chemise entirely sheer.
• Not that I mind…
• “Yes?” I lifted a brow.