Page 22

CHAPTER 22

BOWEN

I was losing my godsdamned mind over this woman when I should be focusing on the fucking task at hand.

The storm was only getting worse, and with the amount of sand and dirt being kicked up, it was only a matter of time before magic joined the mix. Though a lot of magic had to be mined from deep inside the mountains, there were enough minuscule fragments on the surface that it could affect those who breathed it in when the weather got this out of control. Which meant the citizens of Deadwood needed to either get inside until it passed or cover up, and as of right now, Auria and her little group were part of Deadwood, whether I liked it or not.

“Are you going to give them bandanas?” Flynt asked where he stood with his back leaned up against the wall in my living room. As my advisor, he kept his hard exterior up when he wanted to, but like everything, there were cracks. His just opened a little too wide sometimes.

“He has to,” Siara voiced. “I highly doubt Auria knows anything about the weather outside of Amosite to cover her mouth and nose in the storm.”

Flynt crossed his arms, scoffing. “Her dumbass fiancé might know.”

“If you’re using dumbass in the same sentence you’re claiming he might be smart, you’re kind of contradicting yourself,” Siara pointed out. She had no true ties to me like Raiden or Flynt did, other than sticking around to constantly point out everything I was doing wrong. There weren’t many ways to do things right when I was constantly babysitting a town full of careless criminals and stir-crazy fae. But she’d been there for me when I lost someone close to me, never leaving my side even when I tried to push everyone away, so I owed her. Fuck, I owed all of them in some shape or form.

If Auria and Lander both had half a brain, they’d leave before the storm got worse. There was no telling how long it would stick around, and with their limited knowledge of the real fucking world, I didn’t need to be responsible for any of them.

Especially not when their fathers wouldn’t hesitate to pin anything on me. I couldn’t let them ruin what I’d worked so hard for.

“They need to leave,” I muttered from where I sat in the chair with my elbows braced on my knees, my back hunched.

Siara gaped at me. “I’m sorry, but if you haven’t noticed”—she threw a hand out, gesturing to the window—“there’s a dust storm currently rolling through the town.”

“Not to mention, their guards are injured,” Flynt added.

Sometimes I wished these two would leave me the fuck alone, but unfortunately, I cared about them too much to outwardly tell them to fuck off.

The door to my house opened, a gust of air whipping in as Raiden appeared. With little effort against the wind, he shut the door tight behind him, the veins in his massive arms bulging under his light brown skin.

“She left with the guy’s brother,” Raiden announced, not bothering to brush off the dust caked onto his black jacket as he crossed the room.

Siara and Flynt kept their eyes locked on me, where I sat now pinching the bridge of my nose. A headache was sure to come when the three of them were around on anything other than business. They helped me run Deadwood, kept the chaos from becoming too much, but when they expected me to handle things that weren’t mine to handle, I silently wished they’d chosen a different leader.

As if that was a choice.

Dropping my hand to dangle between my knees, I asked, “And what does that have to do with me?”

The two knew each other, and though everything about Paxon Bular rubbed me wrong, he had every right to be in communication with King Tenere’s daughter. She was to marry his brother, after all.

“He returned without her,” Raiden stated, as if that wasn’t a vital piece of information. He did that on purpose, if the look on his face was any indication.

He stood a few feet from me now, and I could smell the storm like a perfume coating his leathers. Raiden wasn’t a man of many words, so the fact he had come in here to tell me this at all meant he expected me to do something about it. The man had a steel heart that only proved to still be beating in times like this.

I straightened in the chair as Siara bounded for the window, presumably searching outside.

“How long ago did he leave with her?” I asked.

“About two hours,” Raiden reported. “Saw her following him into the desert.”

I silently cursed. If she was lost out there, the sandwalkers would snatch her up easily once night fell.

Though Auria was none of our business, my commander, my advisor, and my friend all felt it necessary to keep an eye on her for some fucking reason. From the second she’d set foot in Deadwood, they monitored her from afar. Many pretended to be blind to the fact that King Tenere kept his daughter locked in that castle day in and day out, never letting her step foot outside the walls, but we knew. With my brief stay in Amosite, I found the only time she was allowed outside the castle walls was to see a girl in the gardens, who I assumed was her only friend.

With the knowledge of Auria’s past, Siara obviously felt remorse for her, and with the limited friendly female population in Deadwood, I was sure she thought she might make a friend out of her. But her and her group’s presence in this town was temporary, and I didn’t need my friends growing attached. I especially didn’t need her father putting a target on us.

“Do you think he killed her?” Siara asked, her breath fogging up the window.

Raiden’s jaw ticked, his instincts to find a threat and diminish it fighting to take charge.

“Being a king’s sheltered son, he seemed far too casual to have just killed a woman, let alone King Tenere’s daughter,” Raiden said. I was sure he’d watched every movement Paxon made when he returned alone, too.

With King Tenere keeping Auria locked up the entirety of her life, it was no secret there had to be a better reason for that choice than to simply keep her safe from the world. Raiden, Flynt, and Siara didn’t seem to have a clue as to why, but I had an idea.

“What should we do?” Flynt questioned.

“It’s not up to us what he does with her,” I answered, though it was clearly a lie. Questions bounded around my mind like a stampede of horses through the meadows. Where was she? And why hadn’t she returned with him?

Siara’s head whipped toward me, her long hair catching on her shoulder. “So you’re fine with her being out in this storm, possibly hurt?”

I didn’t mention that she was hurt to begin with.

My teeth ground together as I stared at her. “They were careless enough to go out in the storm in the first place. I warned them to stay sheltered, and they refused to listen. After that, it’s not up to me what happens.”

Flynt sighed, shaking his head as he eyed his boots.

“Got something on your mind, Flynt?” I asked. Disappointment rolled off the three of them like salt off the ocean breeze, and I nearly hated it. The problem was that I did care about what happened to Auria, I just didn’t have the right to show it. She wasn’t mine to protect, let alone worry about. I had people to look out for.

He confidently met my gaze from across the room. “Just curious why you don’t give a shit.”

Oh, if only they knew.

Raiden was back to being quiet as usual, watching as the tension escalated. He informed me of things I needed to know, and it typically ended with that. He was the leader of Deadwood’s army, and he took his role seriously.

I slowly got to my feet, keeping my gaze pinned on Flynt. “I do not protect Amosite or Torbernite. I look out for Deadwood, and Deadwood only.”

“Because you care,” Siara said from where she’d returned to staring out the window.

“Because it’s my job,” I corrected. If I got distracted with what everyone else was doing in their grand castles, we’d never stay on the objective.

Flynt pushed off the wall. “You can do your job and still have a heart, Bowen.”

I shook my head only to alleviate the ache settling into my jaw with how tightly it was clenched. He was wrong. I’d lost that organ a long time ago.

“There she is!” Siara whisper-shouted, pointing out the window.

Flynt gave me one last glance before coming up beside Siara, following her finger. I wanted to look, to make sure Auria was okay, but I kept myself grounded.

No distractions.

Even Raiden sidled up beside them, which just pushed the point home. I was being an ass.

“I’m going to talk to her,” Siara said, pushing away from the window to grab her coat off the hook beside the door.

“Siara,” I said gruffly.

She looked at me as she untucked her hair from the jacket and tugged her hood on. “What?”

I wanted to say more, possibly even offer to go with. But instead, I said, “Make sure they’re all at dinner. We have things to discuss.”

She reached for the door, barely giving a nod before wrenching it open and disappearing outside. I was left in the quiet room, the silence ringing loud as Flynt and Raiden both stared at me.

I had to do what was necessary, whether I agreed with it or not. It wasn’t just for everyone’s safety, but also mine. If for some reason a kingdom found me a threat, everything we’d worked so hard for would be ruined.

Distractions of any form had to be kept at bay.

We were too close.