Page 49 of Quest for her Knights (The Lost Souls of Dyconia #5)

Chapter thirty-four

Draven

M y fingers tighten on the reins as we ride through the gates of Silverthorn Castle. It’s taken us weeks to get back here, and they’ve been the best days of my life.

Traveling with Elora and the men I now refer to as my brothers has been so different from the beginning of our trip. She took turns riding with each of us, and each night we rotated sleeping beside her just as we rotated who stood guard.

We got lucky, no assassination attempts, no near-death experiences. No, the past few weeks have been enjoyable. So much so that I’ve been dreading coming back.

We’ve all talked about how we want to be with her and have agreed to take whatever that means, happily. If we’re dismissed from the guard, we each have enough savings and skills to take care of her, away from here. But the unknown of how the kings and Queen will handle it is rather terrifying.

I tighten my arm around Elora’s waist as we pull into the courtyard, a huge knot in my gut telling me everything’s about to change.

A few knights come out to greet us, offering to take the horses to the stables as we dismount. Arrow and Blaze greet their friends, as they’re much more sociable than Ranger or me, while we wait to the side, my hand resting on Elora’s shoulder for comfort.

I watch the doors, surprised when none of the royal family comes out.

“I think they’re in a meeting,” Harris, one of the knights, says when he sees me watching. I nod in thanks as our horses are led away, leaving the five of us standing there, staring at the doors.

“Let’s get this over with,” Arrow grumbles, leading the way.

Inside, we’re greeted by Edric, one of the house managers. “Princess Elora, you’ve returned!”

She gives him a small smile and nods politely as he tries to steer her away from us and up the stairs. “Let’s get you to your room so you can freshen up.”

“Oh, I’d like to speak with my parents first, please.”

“I think you’d be more comfortable after you’ve cleaned up,” he replies, glancing down at her. She doesn’t look dirty to me, and judging by the frown on her face, she doesn’t think so either .

She glances over her shoulder at Ranger, who answers for her. “I think the princess looks perfectly fine to speak with her parents. Can you let them know we’ll be in the west wing parlor? And please arrange for some refreshments.”

“Enough for all of us,” she adds.

Edric’s eyebrows scrunch in confusion as he looks between us, his eyes narrowing at my hand on her shoulder. But he looks back at her and nods before hurrying away.

“We’ll probably see a lot of looks like that,” Blaze says quietly. “It’s completely unheard of for a princess to be with anyone of lower standing than a lord.”

She huffs a laugh. “Well, if you ask me, you stand on much higher ground than anyone else here.”

He leans over to whisper in her ear. “And that’s part of the reason we love you.” She blushes and bites her lip, making me smirk.

We walk in silence to the parlor. But waiting for her parents to arrive is even more stressful. I try not to pace as the minutes tick by. We’re brought refreshments, which we nibble on, and eventually even Elora starts to pace in worry.

“What’s taking them so long?”

“I heard they were in a meeting. It could be awhile still,” I tell her and she groans in annoyance.

“I just want to get this over with. It’s not just me, right? You all feel a pit in your stomach?” I frown, thinking that’s exactly how I feel .

“Yeah, I feel it, too,” Arrow says unhappily.

“Me too,” Blaze adds.

“And me,” I tell her.

“And me,” Ranger finishes.

Footsteps have us all turning to the doorway as the princes enter with their wife, Freya. She smiles happily when she sees our girl.

“Elora! I’m so pleased to see you!” She steps forward and surprises her with a hug. “I bet we have a lot to talk about,” she whispers before pulling back. Elora nods, looking a little relieved as the kings and Queen step into the room.

“It’s good to see you’ve all made it back safely,” King Coal says as he nods at us in approval.

“I assume your mission was successful?” King Ian asks with a raised eyebrow as he scans the room.

“If you’re asking if I’ve made my decision, I have,” Elora says firmly, standing up tall as she addresses them.

“Wonderful! The queen exclaims happily. “Who is it? Ravenbrook? Shadowcross?”

“No, I found much better men than them,” she says with a smile.

“Well, who is it?” the queen asks eagerly.

“My knights,” Elora says, raising her arms to gesture to us standing around the room. “I choose them.”

The second the words leave her lips and I see the kings and queen’s expression, I know this isn’t going to be good .

“This is some sort of joke, right?” King Lewis asks as he looks at Ranger. “I specifically tasked you with this mission because I thought you could be professional.”

“He is professional!” Elora exclaims in defence.

The king’s sharp eyes narrow on her. “Has he kissed you? Touched you?”

“I—” she cuts herself off, obviously realizing there is no good way to answer that question.

He turns to Ranger as he says, “You’re fired.” He turns to glance at me and the other two as he adds, “All of you. Effective immediately.”

“Father!” Prince Grayson exclaims. “Hold on a second, you can’t fire them.”

“He can damn well do whatever he likes,” King Chase adds angrily. “Just because they are your friends doesn’t give them a free pass to defile your sister.”

“At least hear them out first,” Arlo says, trying to defuse the situation. His father stares at him, then nods.

“Fine.” He turns back to Ranger, crossing his arms over his chest. “Explain.”

“Princess Elora met with several of the lords you arranged for her to meet. Things didn’t go well.”

“What does that mean?” King Coal asks.

“Most of them were hiding their true selves, and when that was revealed, it was clear they were not worthy of her.”

“And you think you are?” King Chase asks .

“I think nobody will be able to treat the princess the way we can, the way she truly deserves.” His warm eyes meet hers, and she smiles.

“No. No, this is not going to happen,” King Ian says in frustration as he starts pacing. “If the people find out the princess is with the knights, what will they think?! It’ll be anarchy. Next thing you know, they’ll think a farmer can be king!”

Elora’s nose wrinkles in distaste at his superiority over his people, and I have to agree. We know they are above us in status, but that doesn’t mean we want to hear them throw it in our faces as a reason we can’t be with the woman we love.

King Lewis glances at each of us before shaking his head. “My decision stands. You’re all fired. Please clean out your bunks and be gone within the hour.”

“I’m going with them!” Elora says in defiance.

“I don’t think so, young lady. You’ll be staying right here while we try to fix this mess you created,” the queen tells her, pointing to the ground in frustration.

“You can’t force me to stay here,” she argues. The queen stares at her for a minute before her shoulders drop in defeat.

“You’re right. I can’t stop you from leaving with them.”

“Really?” Elora asks with hope, her bright eyes meeting mine.

“Yes. I mean, it’s not like you’re really the princess, anyway. Why don’t you go pack a bag or two to take with you?”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Elora says excitedly as she moves to the door. She passes me on the way and stops to give me a quick peck on the lips. “See you soon,” she whispers. “Don’t leave without me.”

“Never,” I promise.

She runs out of the room with Freya and the princes and queen on her heels. But when I look back to the kings, I feel the thick tension in the air. I scan the kings’ faces, but they stand unmoving as they glare at us.

“Well, I guess we should be going to clear out our rooms now,” Arrow says, slowly moving toward the door.

“Not so fast,” King Ian says, stopping him. He doesn’t say anything else, and Arrow looks around at us in confusion. Like me, he’s wondering why we’re still here if we’ve been fired.

A noise has me looking toward the door as the queen returns with no less than a dozen knights with her, all in full armor.

“What’s going on here?” Blaze asks, taking a step back in worry.

“I’m really sorry about this, boys. You’ve been exemplary at your jobs up to this point.” My stomach sinks as the knights move into the room, surrounding us. “But Elora must marry lords. It’s for the good of the people.”

“What are you doing?” Arrow asks as Marrick, one of his friends, places a hand on his shoulder from behind.

“Please understand, this is for what’s best,” the queen says, finally looking a little guilty. Someone places their hand on my shoulder and I yank myself out of their grip, turning to glare at the knights who were on our side moments ago .

“We’re just going to detain you until she’s married, then you’ll be free to leave. We’ll even give you some funds so you can start over somewhere new.”

“We don’t care about your money,” Blaze says angrily as he’s grabbed by both arms.

But what’s bothering me most is how she said they’re going to detain us.

“Let us at least say goodbye,” I beg as three guards suddenly grab me from behind, holding me firmly.

The queen shakes her head. “We’ll tell her you’ve left. It’s the only way we can get her to move on.”

“You can’t do this! It’s wrong!” Arrow yells.

A cloth is placed around my mouth at the same time I see it done to the others.

I struggle and try to rip myself out of their grip, but multiple knights are holding me firmly, forcing my arms behind my back, and quickly, shackles are attached to my wrists as we’re led into the hall.

“Elora!” I try to yell through the mask as we pass the stairs leading up to her room, but it’s no use. We’re quickly marched toward the other set of stairs, the ones that go down to the dungeon.

We’re all shoved into separate cells and the doors are pulled shut behind us.

“Turn around and give me your hands,” Marrick tells me. I see him holding a key, so I do as he says and he releases my cuffs through the bars. I quickly pull the cloth from my mouth as he moves to unshackle the other three. He ends at Arrow, who turns around and glares at him.

“Don’t blame me, man. What were you thinking, sleeping with the princess?”

“You don’t understand. I love her.”

“You’re a knight. It doesn’t matter.”

“It should.”

“I’m sorry this happened. I’ll personally make sure you get decent meals while you’re down here.”

He shakes his head and walks away. Blaze is in the cell beside me, Arrow is across from me, and Ranger is beside him. I grip the bars tightly as we all stare at one another, letting our new reality sink in.

“Fuck,” I curse, realizing how screwed we are.

“The only way that could have gone worse is if they executed us,” Blaze mumbles, leaning his forehead against the bars.

“They’re gonna force her to marry someone else. I’d almost rather die than have to watch that,” Arrow says angrily.

What will she think happened to us? The queen said Elora would be told we’d left.

“She’ll never believe it,” I tell them.

“What?” Ranger asks, frowning at me.

“Elora. She’ll never believe we just left her.”

“I don’t know,” he says, looking down at the dirty ground. “It’s not like we haven’t confused her with pulling back before. ”

“But that was before we all went fully in,” Blaze tells him. “Draven’s right. She’ll never believe them.”

Ranger glances at each of us before he asks, “But what if she does?”