Ena arched one dragon brow. Even though she didn't have a human kind of eyebrow in her dragon form, she still could lift the bony part of her brow. She was actually able to show all kinds of facial expressions that intrigued him.
Ryker quickly said, "They're here to help pack the gold, mistress. The women wouldn't be able to do it quickly enough, but I reverently ask that you don't tell them I said so. The last time I said anything about Cook's culinary arts, I ate burned food for a week. And when I said anything to your lady's maid about how she should do more to help you, she put double the starch in my sheets when she ironed them. I didn't mention it to you, afraid of what else she might do if I had done so, but she scorched a hole in the sheet near the foot of the bed and my toes got caught in it in the middle of the night. So, suffice it to say, I don't want the word to get out that I said anything that might be considered derogatory concerning the women on your staff."
Brett would have to remember that for future reference. Ena smiled a little.
The men began loading the gold into sacks.
Brett searched for a scabbard to sheathe his sword and wear it at his belt.
Ryker added, "And I've left your family portraits with your brother's household, telling them that you wanted them kept safe while you repainted the hall."
The dragon portraits that Brett had admired—her family. She couldn't take them with her for now, and he respected her greatly for seeing to their care in the interim.
He wondered why Ena hadn't shifted back, once she found the men were loading her treasure into the wagons. Then he realized as a good dragon was meant to do, she was guarding her hoard. Anyone who thought of stealing a coin would pay for it.
Though Brett couldn't see her hurting someone over a stolen coin. Given how generous she had been with Brett, and from what she had said about paying merchants more money for their goods than the common fae folk, he assumed she'd pay these men more than what their services were worth.
Brett found a scabbard and quickly sheathed his sword and attached the leather scabbard to his belt, patting it, armed and ready.
Ena shook her head at him. Did it mean she didn't want him to use her treasure for his own purpose? Or she didn't think he could properly handle it? Maybe a sword was useless in defending himself or others on their journey.
Fine. He started poking around for a bow and arrows.
Chapter 2
Ena didn't want her staff to know how worried she was for their safety. She wasn’t concerned for her own welfare. She could easily defend herself. But she truly worried about her people. They weren't very good at their jobs within the keep, so she had no idea if they would do well on this journey either. She imagined traveling such a great distance through lands they'd never been to, having to do things they never had done before, facing hostile weather, poisonous flora and fauna, dangerous terrain, and aggressive fae—any of which could kill them, and for what? All they wanted was to be treated like family.
She had been near tears—her, a fire-breathing dragon shifter—just to hear how much they wanted to go with her and not be left behind.
They were dragon fae, except for Brett, but none of them were dragon shifters. They had all come under her roof because they hadn't been able to keep a job anywhere else. Still, she worried they didn't realize just how dangerous the journey could be. On top of that, anywhere along the way, thieves could attempt to attack the wagons and steal her gold, and harm anyone defending it. She would make it known to her staff that under no circumstances were they to defend the treasure. If robbers stole her gold, it would take time, but she would earn it back. No way did she want to lose any of her staff because they were protecting what was hers.
As to Brett, she was torn between taking him home to his own world, where she was certain he really belonged, and keeping him with them in theirs. All her staff loved him already, and she figured they wouldn't be happy if he didn't go with them. He had an emergent leader kind of personality—as evidenced when he led her staff to free her from her brother's dungeon. She had to admire him for that because her brother's guards could very well have killed Brett when he fought them to free her.
She wasn't really sure why he opted to stay with them. Though, when she saw him digging through her treasure for weapons, she wondered if he thought this was all a lark, a game. She'd been to Disney World once. There, the fairies were cute and sweet and didn't attempt to kill the visitors. Living here wasn't anything like the human fairy fairs or themed parks. Not that humans didn't have their own mess of trouble—the myriads of heinous crimes committed against one another. So living in the Earth realm could be dangerous, too.
She had to remind herself Brett was a fae killer, so not so innocent himself. She'd noticed him looking askance at her after she was assured that the men coming into the dungeon were there to help them load her treasure onto the wagons. She guessed Brett wasn't used to her dragon shifter role—dragons guarded their treasure. It was an inborn trait and not something she could easily control. She'd heard some humans had the same problem—maybe not with gold, but other—collectables that they liked to hoard. And they didn't even have the excuse that it was an innate dragon trait.
She noted Brett did not help carry the gold out with the men, but was checking on the horses, the wagons, and the way the men were loading the sacks of treasure.
She shifted then, eyeing the two gold-handled daggers sheathed at the top of his soft leather boots, the sword at his waist, and the bow and quiver of arrows already sitting on the driver's seat of one of the wagons. The wind ruffled his dark hair and she tried not to notice.
"You know if you break or lose any of those—" She didn't get to finish her statement.
Brett's blue eyes brightened as he quickly said, "Yes, you'll take them out of my wages." Then he gave her one of his sunshiny smiles as if to say he knew she wasn't serious when she totally was.
You break it, you pay for it. If he lost one of those valuable daggers or that sword, he would need two human lifetimes—or more—to pay for it.
He was already so indebted to her for all of the clothes she’d bought for him so that he looked more… fae-like, that it would take him two years just to pay her back for those. She'd watched as he'd sheathed the daggers and sword. The way he had stretched the bowstring, testing its poundage, she thought it appeared he knew what he was doing. Still, she wanted to know for sure.
"Do you know how to use those weapons?"
He stood a little taller, she swore his chest puffed out a bit, and he wore a hint of a proud smile. "Yes. In martial arts, I taught others how to use a number of swords. Nothing quite this ornate," he said, running his hand over the jewel-encrusted sword handle, "but I do know how to use them. I took fencing also."
"And the bow and arrows?"
"I took archery classes."
Then the disturbing realization struck her. "Because you were a fae killer? Trained to fight the fae?"
Everyone stopped doing whatever they were doing to hear what Brett had to say.
His face reddened a little. "Yes and no. I did it when I was young because I had a foster brother who tried to bully me. So I took up martial arts on account of him."
She nodded, appreciating that he'd found a way to stick up for himself. She noted that everyone was finished packing, including the ladies who had brought clothes, blankets, cookware, and food for the journey.
"Pay the men, Ryker," Ena said, motioning to the men who had helped them.
Ryker looked a little surprised, his jaw dropping fractionally, then he smiled a little. She knew he would give the men generous wages, partly because of what she was, but also so that they would keep quiet about this for as long as they could. She realized she'd never given Ryker the opportunity to pay for their accounts. She hadn't really thought it was a butler job, and since he was a stickler on the rules of buttling, she hadn't offered. But in the future, perhaps she could add that to his list of jobs, if he liked the idea.
By the
gods, she needed to leave money to pay her accounts at the shops as well. "If one of the men would take some extra gold to settle up my accounts," she said, letting Ryker decide which of them would do the task.
"Mistress Ena, Jacob would like to come with us. He's a good wheelsmith and if we have any broken wheels, he can fix them. He can also fight, and he has no family. But he'd like to start one, so if he could earn wages on the trip…," Ryker said.
She looked over the redheaded man, his green eyes eager, his age, she thought close to Brett's. He looked strong like Brett, like he could fight.
"It will be dangerous," she said, without preamble. She wasn't going to say it might be, because she knew it would be.
Jacob nodded. "I understand, mistress."
"Good, then you are welcome to go with us."
With a sadness she didn't wish anyone to see, she returned to her keep for one last time. She was certain the king would confiscate it in her absence, furious she had so rudely rejected his command to marry Prince Grotto. Thankfully, no one joined her. For this, she wished to be alone. She left a note for her brother, only. He could tell her suitors what he wished.
I'm taking a vacation and will see you when I see you. Love, Ena.
She had done so before, so it wasn't like this was that unusual. But in those cases, her staff had remained behind. They hadn't known where she was either during those times, because when she was on vacation, she didn't want anyone finding her to give her another job—no matter how important it was.
She closed the door to her beloved keep one last time and saw her staff all watching her. She took a firm step toward them. "You know the way I wish to go, and which of the roads to use on the first leg of our journey, Ryker, and then we will sleep in the woods at Carlon Falls. When we can rouse ourselves the next morning at daybreak, we'll head out again."
Everyone agreed, and then they mounted the wagons.
She waved for them to go, and then she shifted. She lifted herself with her powerful wings, noted no one watched her as they were used to her flying, all except for Brett. She really did want to tell him to watch his driving. Thankfully, Ryker had moved Brett into the middle of the pack, Jacob at the end, and Ryker took the lead. So Brett's horses followed the wagon in front of him, and he finally took his eyes off her and watched where he was going.
In the meantime, she flew overhead, watching for any sign of movement—thieves lurking in the forests, wild animals that might give the party trouble, and road conditions that might have deteriorated since the last time she'd traveled this way. She often flew anywhere she wanted and didn't follow a trail or road like this. She really figured the first part of their journey would be fairly safe as the thieves normally didn't like to get that close to towns to commit their thievery for fear of being caught.
The bright full moon illuminated the whole area, and the light cast a bigger than life shadow of her, warning anyone or anything on the ground that a dragon was protecting the cavalcade. All the treasure was covered with canvas tarps so no one would know for sure what was hidden on the wagons.
But the fact a dragon was flying overheard and that Brett was wearing all that fancy armament could give their mission away. Despite wanting to tell him he couldn't wear all those weapons, she didn't have the heart to do so because in truth, if they were attacked, she wanted her helpless human to feel he had some way to protect himself. The dragon fae could transport themselves safely away. The human could do nothing unless one of her people was able to reach him in time and spirit him away. She hadn't wanted to risk that they could, or even that he had to fight the thieves off. She hoped if no one had the chance to protect him if they were attacked, he would just run away until it was safe to return to the wagons.
When she heard a bolt released from a crossbow aimed at her, the whirring sound of the weapon slicing through the air, she dove upward. The bolt barely nicked her right wing, though it burned like being stabbed with a hot poker. Being a small dragon, she had less speed, but she was very quick at turning, and she could maneuver places that the bigger male dragons couldn't—like among thicker stands of trees where the armed bowman was waiting for her. If she located the archer, he was a dead man.
***
Esmeralda was dressed in gowns of gold, sheers, lace, everything trimmed in golden threads, her dark hair piled up on top of her head, decorated in gold as if she were a hawk fae princess. Which she was. She was like a gilded bird in a cage. Oh, sure, she had the freedom to wander the castle at her leisure, to see the whole of the island at her whim—with a guard detail at all times.
She wasn't sure what the griffin fae intended to do with her now that she had reached a marriageable age. When her father, the king, had twins with her mother, Esmeralda had been stolen away and hidden. Tiernan was her twin brother and now ruler of the hawk fae kingdom, in a place where ruler's siblings had fought for control of the kingdom for centuries. So to avoid civil war, if there was more than one sibling, the youngest one would be killed. End of the trouble before it could ever begin.
Before her mother died, she had paid to have Esmeralda taken away or suffer the consequences, since Tiernan had been born eight minutes earlier than her and would be the ruler. Even he had been removed from the castle when he was born because the king was afraid his own son would attempt to murder him when he was old enough. Such was the case in previous generations, so it was not an idle concern. She'd never met her brother or seen her mother or father and had lived a simple life until she was nine.
No one, except for the hawk fae farmer and his wife who had raised her, even knew Tiernan had a twin sister. And then the griffin fae attacked her village, as they were known to do, in one of their raids on the hawk fae kingdom. They'd meant to kill her and her guardians, until the woman who had been like a mother to her, stopped them, telling the leader of the raiders that Esmeralda, the name meaning emerald—a jewel in their midst—was the daughter of the hawk fae king himself.
Thank the heavens the raiding party had left her guardians alone, the one blond-bearded man grabbing her up, and carting her away despite her screams and fighting him. At nine, she wasn't able to do much against the brawny warrior except half annoy and half amuse him.
In long boats with big sails, they had finally made it to the island paradise—for them, not her.
Now, nine years later, she stared out the window of her bedchambers at the bright aqua sea, the white-capped waves pounding against the jagged moss-covered rocks below, wishing she was home with her guardians, helping them to garden and celebrate the little things in life. Here, she was treated like a princess, but in a sneering way. Sure, she got to wear all the finery, which she figured was a way for them to ensure she couldn't get "lost" among their people. Her clothes made her stand out too much. Every attempt she'd made at bartering for plain woolen garments, or fabric that she could fashion into something simple, had been thwarted.
Even her sheets and bed curtains were embellished with bright gold threads and would have been recognizable, if she'd attempted to turn them into gowns.
She sat at the high table at meals also, again, a way to ensure she was well watched. What if during all the hustle and bustle while serving the meals, she managed to slip out with some of the wait staff? But she couldn't. Not in all her fine gowns and while sitting at the head table.
No one included her in conversations, unless they wished to belittle her. She was from the enemy kingdom, pure and simple. She'd heard rumors that her brother was changing the way his people viewed a rulers' siblings as he hoped to have many children with the dark fae princess, Ritasia, his queen. If that was so, would he provide Esmeralda refuge?
So many times, she'd tried to send messages in bottles, or train a bird to take a missive to the mainland. She'd even attempted to steal a boat, but every time, she had been stopped. She'd feared punishment, but they'd been amused and entertained at her futile attempts.
With narrowed eyes, she swore one of these times she would get away.
See then just how amused they'd be. She'd been observing the fae fishermen's schedules and the locations of the boats around the island. She had even discovered where rafts had been made by young men and women who were coming of age and would make their way to the mainland on their own, live there for a few days, and then return to the island to prove their manhood or womanhood.
One of the girls had been preparing her craft for weeks and that's the one Esmeralda intended to steal. Well, borrow, because once she made it to the mainland, she was leaving it behind. The girl was the most obnoxious griffin fae she'd met, always taunting Esmeralda. She understood her reasoning though. During one of the skirmishes between the raiding griffin and the hawk fae, the girl's father had died. Then again, if he hadn't raided Esmeralda's kingdom, the griffin fae wouldn't have been killed.
In her silent way, Esmeralda sat beside the princess who was marrying the griffin fae king, Nereus, so named after the Greek lesser god who was a shapeshifter, living in the sea and considered the provider of the sea's wealth of fish.
The blond-haired woman said to Esmeralda, "You are so beneath us. You know that, don't you? Even though the king ensures you wear the finest of gowns, you are not worthy. Why do you always wear such a superior expression?"
Esmeralda cast her a ghost of a smile.
"The king intends to ransom you off, at my insistence, now that you're old enough to whet other suitors' appetites—considering that you’re a princess, otherwise, you have no other value. He's just trying to learn who would pay the most money for you. Much easier than raiding your wealthy kingdom."
Esmeralda had never seen anyone visit the griffin fae kingdom. How would Nereus be able to convince anyone she was worthy of anyone's interest? Other than her guardians saying so, he had no real poof she was even the hawk fae king's sister. Before Nereus shipped her off to some other fae kingdom far away, and before the girl took off on her journey across the sea, Esmeralda was planning to make her way home and prayed she would reach the safety of her brother's castle in time before Nereus could recapture her. That was if she could steal the raft in the first place.