Page 17 of Quest for her Knights (The Lost Souls of Dyconia #5)

Chapter fifteen

Draven

T he road to Ravenbrook is extremely bumpy in the carriage, so it’s no surprise when Ranger keeps his word and lets her ride on a horse instead. I just didn’t expect it to be my horse. I was sure it would be Blaze, or maybe Arrow, hell, even himself, but me? Why would he choose me to ride with her?

Having her sit between my legs, with barely any space between my chest and her back, is driving me insane.

It’s all I can do to keep myself from growing hard and poking her in the ass.

I don’t understand my reaction to her. She looks just like her—the cruel Princess of the North.

I should hate her. But her personality couldn’t be more different, something that’s becoming more obvious every day.

I’ve been trying to keep my distance from her, to avoid getting caught up in conversation like the others have, but Ranger is really testing my limits by having me ride with her today.

She was fine in the carriage yesterday, since the roads were much smoother closer to the Carmichael estate.

But out here, there isn’t much around, and the road is full of dips and holes.

“Oh, sorry,” Elora whispers when her back bumps into my chest, and she pulls herself forward so there’s an inch of space between us.

She’s been doing this all day, and it’s driving me nuts.

It must be hard for her to hold herself upright for so long, so I decide to take pity on her and gently slide my hand around to her stomach, pulling her back against me so there’s no space left between us.

“You can lean against me, Princess. I don’t bite,” I say quietly into her ear.

I hear her sharp intake of breath before she whispers, so softly I can barely hear her over the sound of my horse’s hooves, “That’s too bad.”

“What was that?” I ask, sure I misheard her.

“I said, thank you.”

“Hmm,” I hum, deciding not to push her. She clearly didn’t want me hearing that. But what did she mean? She wants me to bite her? I glance at the exposed skin of her neck and shoulder and wonder what she would do if I did bite her there.

What the fuck?

Where did that thought come from? I can admit she’s beautiful, but she’s completely off limits. My hand might be on her right now, but that’s as far as I can go. She’s royalty, and I’m a knight. Not only that, if she knew the truth about me, I doubt she'd be so relaxed right now.

“Draven, we’ll be stopping for the night soon. You okay?” Blaze asks quietly as he pulls his horse up beside mine.

“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” I ask, glancing over at him.

He tries to hold in his smile, dipping his head toward Elora. “I wasn’t sure you’d be okay with the Princess sleeping on you again.”

“She’s asleep?” I ask in surprise, trying to lean forward to glimpse her face.

“Yep. I guess she feels comfortable with you.”

I grunt in reply, not wanting to admit how much that actually means to me. But the truth is, it warms something in my cold heart to know she trusts me like this, that I can bring her the same comfort as Blaze and Arrow do at night.

It doesn’t take us much longer to find an area to stop for the evening.

When I pull my horse, Coal, to a stop, I watch Blaze dismount and Ranger and Arrow climb down from the front of the carriage.

Unsure what to do with the sleeping woman on me, I watch them make camp until they finally notice I’m still on my horse.

“Need some help there?” Arrow asks with a smile.

“Yeah, can you take her?”

“My pleasure,” he says, his eyes heating as he takes her in. It won’t do him any good to get close to her, but he knows the arrangement, we’re all here to keep her safe while she finds husbands from the approved suitors.

He reaches up and I help shift her into his arms. He smiles down at her sleeping face and carries her to where Blaze is setting out blankets, laying her down gently. I jump off Coal and get him settled for the night.

Together, we set up camp and quickly get a fresh kill cooking on the fire, thanks to Arrow. As we sit around it, a whimper from a sleeping Elora makes us all glance her way. I wait with bated breath for her to move again, and she does. Her arms flail, and she cries out, “No!”

Arrow and Blaze rush to her side and gently wake her.

“Elora, sweetheart, wake up. You’re having a nightmare,” Arrow says softly, gently shaking her shoulder. Her eyes snap open, and she sits up, panting.

“Are you okay?” Blaze asks, his hand on her upper back as she takes deep breaths.

“Yeah... I had a nightmare.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks gently.

“Not really. It was mostly a memory of the night at the inn.”

My fists clench at her words. That night was enough to give me nightmares, and I wasn’t even the one that was attacked. Is this poor girl suffering from those memories every time she closes her eyes ?

I pull out a cloth and my dagger and start polishing it to distract myself. My weapons are already in perfect condition, I clean them every night, but it helps soothe me when I’m upset.

It’s only her soft voice that pulls me from my trance.

“Draven?”

I look up to see her standing in front of me, holding out a piece of cooked meat in offering. “Would you like some dinner?” she asks, moving it closer to me. I put my dagger away and reach out to take it from her.

I say nothing, but she doesn’t seem to mind as she smiles, then plops down beside me. “Can I ask you something?” she asks, making me grunt in response.

“Why do you clean your weapons every night if you haven’t used them?”

I consider ignoring her, but knowing she wants to know a little more about me has me wanting to answer her. “I like to make sure they’re always in pristine condition, you never know when you’re going to need them. And cleaning them soothes me, it helps to ground me in the present.”

“I can see that, you look like you’re almost in a meditative state when you do it. Do you think I could try?”

My eyebrows pinch together as I turn to look down at her. “Do you even know how to handle a weapon?”

“Yeah, you hold the handle and aim the pointy end at the bad guys. ”

Arrow lets out a laugh, and when I look up at him, he shrugs. “She’s not wrong.”

“They aren’t toys, you have to be very careful not to hurt yourself,” I say, turning back to her.

Her eyes brighten with excitement as she replies, “I promise to be super careful!”

Sighing, I pull out an extra cloth and one of my small throwing daggers, passing both to her. “Careful now, yes that’s it. Now let me show you how to do it.”

I pull out my own dagger and cloth and show her how to clean it without cutting herself. She’s quiet and listens carefully, repeating my exact motions. I’m glad to see she takes it seriously, and soon the two of us work through all my daggers.

“What’s the difference between all these blades?” she eventually asks.

“The small ones are throwing daggers, some are used for fighting if I can’t get to my sword, some are better for stabbing versus slicing.”

“Oh, wow. You like to get a little stabby, huh?” she asks. I glance at her face, expecting to see disgust there, but instead I see bright eyes and a smile. She’s teasing me.

“Sometimes the situation calls for it.”

“I think I’d be more of a thrower. Can you show me how to throw them?” she asks eagerly .

I glance up and see we have a little bit of daylight left. “Alright, let's do it over there.” I point to the back part of the clearing, where it’s free of men and horses.

“Yes!” she jumps up and claps her hands excitedly, making me shake my head at her dramatics.

“Okay, you’re aiming for this tree,” I say, placing my palm on a trunk and then directing her to a spot twenty feet away.

“This is how you hold the dagger,” I say, showing her the grip.

“You pull your arm back like this and then when your arm gets here, you let go.” I show her the movement in slow motion before passing her a small dagger so she can practice the movement.

I correct her form and when I’m satisfied she has it down.

I show her at full speed twice before letting my dagger fly, it hits the tree and sticks straight into the trunk.

“My turn?” she asks excitedly.

“Yes, do two practice throws at half speed, then you can let go on the third one. She lifts her hand and I watch as her tongue pokes out of her mouth in concentration. When she lets it go, it heads straight for the tree, but the handle hits the trunk before it drops to the grass below.

“Oh, boo!” she pouts as I move to grab both our daggers.

“That’s alright, try again.” I say, passing her. “I was terrible when I started to learn, I missed the target completely.”

“Really?” she asks hopefully.

I nod my head in reply. “It took me years to master the technique. ”

“It’s impressive you stuck with it if you were so bad. Why not give up and try another weapon?”

“I was practicing with all weapons, but there’s something about holding a dagger that soothes me. I can’t really explain it. I don’t feel at ease unless I have them on me somewhere.”

“What was your childhood like?” she asks, surprising me.

“My childhood?” I ask, turning towards her. I feel my blood racing through my veins at the thought of my early years. Why would she ask me that?

“Yes, from my understanding, you are likely an only child? Did you grow up with your parents, what were they like?”

“I, umm. No, I didn’t grow up with them.

They abandoned me when I was five. I was friends with Arrow, and when he found out my parents moved away and left me on the streets, he told Ranger, who brought me back to their home.

Their fathers welcomed me in, so I stayed with them until I turned twenty and joined the royal guard.

” I can’t believe I just told her all of that, even the other knights, outside of these three, don’t know I was abandoned.

“That’s terrible, I can’t believe they’d just abandon you.

I’m glad you had your friends to help you through that,” she says with a soft smile in my direction.

I nod my head and turn back to the target tree.

It was kind of her to care, but she might not if I told her the reason they abandoned me.

Of course, that was something I could never reveal.

Besides my parents, Ranger, Arrow and Blaze are the only people in the kingdom who know, and that’s only because I told them when I was five, too young to realize that I needed to keep it a secret.

When my parents told me why they were leaving me, I knew I could never tell another soul.

“Draven?” Elora asks, bringing my attention back to her. “Are you going to throw that?” she says, motioning to the dagger I’m apparently holding suspended over my shoulder.

“Right,” I say before throwing it at the target.

It hits the trunk dead center again and I hear her whisper, “Fuck.”

I glance at her. Instead of staring at the target, she’s staring at me with such intensity it makes my body heat. “What?” I ask, confused by the look she’s giving me.

“Umm sorry,” she says, her cheeks turning red as she shakes her head and turns to the target. “It’s just that you look hot when you’re wielding a weapon. Okay, my turn.” She quickly grabs the dagger from my hand and turns back to the target.

Did she really just say that?

Before I can question it, she pulls her hand up over her shoulder so quickly that she loses her grip on the dagger as it goes flying behind her, falling to the grass ten feet behind us.

“No more dagger throwing,” Ranger barks, and we turn to see the three of them watching us. Arrow is trying not to laugh, Blaze is looking at her like she hangs the moon, and Ranger is glaring.

“Oh, boo, why not? ”

“If you can’t throw it in the right direction, then I think it’s time to quit. Besides, it’s not a skill you’ll need. You have us to protect you.”

“I won’t always have you, though.”

“What do you mean?” Arrow asks with concern.

“After we’ve finished this trip, and I find my husbands ,” she says almost bitterly, “then they will protect me, right?”

“No, you’ll always need a royal guard. I suppose it might not be us though,” Blaze says with a frown.

I didn’t think about what would happen at the end of this trip. Would we become her permanent guard? And have to watch her live her life with her husbands? That sounded like torture. But the feeling of not being around her made my chest ache.

Placing my palm over my heart, I frown at the strange sensation. That was new .