Page 44 of Enchanted Shadows (The Enchanted Kingdom #6)

T hankfully, Krew sent a different carriage to deliver Calix to the docks. Kessara and I had a carriage to ourselves, along with Krew. He was insisting on delivering us to the docks himself.

The king was looking a little ragged this morning, and I wondered how hard his instincts were screaming at him not to send us off into hostile territory like this. I could admit in his shoes, I’d be the same way.

Rather than getting to know one another on the trip to Nerede, Krew and Kessara were instead swapping stories about training with me.

“So he was always this—” Kessara gestured to me with a hand, “aggressive?”

I cocked my head and considered how for that kiss yesterday, she had seemed just as eager.

Her lips twitched as if she was thinking the same, but she kept her eyes on her brother.

“Always,” Krew agreed, “but I think he is getting smoother with age. He doesn’t just pick fights for the hell of it anymore. ”

I leaned to look out the window, Nerede coming into view. “I don’t pick fights, I merely finish them.”

Krew grinned.

Kessara saw the opened wall we passed through and said, “I love Kavan Keep, of course, but I also enjoyed the two weeks I spent in Nerede.”

Krew gave her a knowing smile. “They may be from the lowest level of this kingdom, but they are some of the best people in the entire realm. I hid Warrick here for the first years of his life. There wasn’t a place in Wylan he was safer.”

She was quiet a moment. “Do you really think the dead king would’ve hurt him?”

Krew didn’t hesitate. “Yes. He was an heir out of wedlock before my Assemblage was called. So absolutely.”

She let out a sigh as more Nerede streets came into view. “How did we both come from that ?”

I remembered a saying that I learned within the last few years. “The stars incline us, they do not define us. They say that in Dra Skor.”

Silence settled as they considered that.

Kessara’s voice sounded as if it was dragging across gravel as she finally got out, “Thank you for taking care of that before I ever came to Wylan for help. For removing a father which may have tried to kill me too. So at least there was one safe harbor to come to.”

Krew dipped his chin. “I’m only sorry that’s something I had to do.

That our father couldn’t have been a better man.

And I suppose he was in his younger years, but his greed overshadowed all of that in the end.

” He paused. “Owen was there and formed the disloyal with me. And if he hadn’t shown up that morning with help, I’m not sure it would have ended the way it did that day. ”

I wasn’t sure what to do with his blatant praise. “Come on now, you would’ve found a way. ”

“It would have been impossible without you,” he told me. “All of it.”

“Krew,” I snapped, forgoing titles entirely. “I’m not going to die in Agria. Stop showering me with compliments. It makes me uncomfortable as hell.”

“Even if they’re deserved?”

“Even then,” I told him. “Wouldn’t want my head to get too big with delegate business to attend to.”

Krew didn’t laugh. “Both of you, please be safe. Return home in one piece.”

“We have to do this,” I reminded him. “So Kessara can be free of her brother.”

“I know,” he admitted as the carriage pulled up to the docks. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

The breeze was cool enough I was glad I had my jacket on. We were on the Agrian ship which had been waiting off coast for Calix. I had twelve men with me, Miles included. All of Team One, just as my queen had demanded. Amos was sitting up in the crow’s nest, watching as we set sail.

The first few minutes were tense, my men ready for battle, ready for anything.

The ship’s crew was feeling overrun, too many extra bodies in their way.

It would be tight quarters for a few days, but we’d be there in two nights.

Calix might have a few friends on board, but with as many men as I had with me, he’d be an utter fool to try anything now.

I had my arms on either side of Kessara’s on the railing, my body protecting her back as she watched the endless sea pour out before us.

“He’s going to try to talk to me again now that the king isn’t there to get involved,” she whispered .

I kissed the back of her head. “He can try.” I’d already had the same thought.

His best move now would be to try to get back into her good graces.

To convince her it was all Damek and never his own doing.

And I’d admit he was a good salesman, but every time I thought about him telling Kessara “her smart mouth got even smarter,” the condescension I heard in his tone, I wanted to kill something. Namely him.

She turned and scanned my eyes as she whispered, “If he ever finds out that we only got married?—”

I cut her off with a gentle kiss to her lips and moved to her ear to whisper back, “He won’t.”

She took a steadying breath and tucked herself into my body for a hug. Was it the topic? Had she seen Calix watching us? I had no idea.

The only thing I was sure of at all anymore was that I was miserably failing at the whole fake marriage bit. Because somewhere along the way, I yearned for it to be real. For her to want to find comfort in my touch for no other reason than it was me.

We stood like that for countless minutes. I felt her shiver and sent a trail of my power to warm her skin.

She sighed in relief.

“You can warm your own skin, Kess,” I scolded.

“I’m not as strong with my palm magic. I know how to hold people down because my mother watched Theon do it, so she knew how to explain it to me. The rest I learned by trial and error.”

“Well, if they hadn’t treated you with condescension for having it, you would’ve felt more comfortable using it.”

She sighed. “Let me guess, you’re standing there planning all the ways I need to train in our next training session to help with this?”

I laughed. “If I was a good teacher, I sure as hell would be.”

“Great,” she said, voice thick with sarcasm .

“Commander,” Miles interrupted as he walked near me.

“Yeah.”

“We’ve got a small issue, possibly a bigger issue, not exactly sure yet,” he rambled.

“What?”

He pointed in the direction we had come from where another boat was sailing. “We have company.”