Team changes, p.2
Team Changes, page 2
“Inez, you assume we would take this commodity and that’s what hurts.”
I blinked at Petre. “What is the difference between this and Kristof throwing me at his friends because of their protection? You both have made it clear you could give me a lot if I was with you. I’m giving you me because I need that and—you started this idea. Give myself to you and you could give me so much more.”
“You’re right,” Vitor interjected. “We have made that…”
“In a way,” Petre muttered, but then sighed. “Everyone shows their best side and what they can give their potential partner. That was what we were doing. That’s what’s been going on. I can see how all the lines were blurred for you.”
“I’m even confused now,” Vitor admitted. “But Petre’s right that we don’t want your body as payment. What we want with you isn’t that cheap.”
I tried to move away. “My body isn’t cheap.”
“No, it’s glorious, but giving it to us for a payment is.” He reached out and took my hand in his, not letting me pull it back. “You hated those men at settlements who would demand sex for safety. Doing this would make us one of them.”
The light bulb went off overhead with that. Shit. I had basically set them up in that way.
It also made me realize what Petre had been getting at, and I was completely exhausted and lost in my head. I squeezed Vitor’s hand and reached for Petre’s. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“We know,” they said together, Petre continuing. “You’re carrying the weight of the world on you, Inez. Share the burden with us, and have faith in us that we would help.”
Vitor cleared his throat. “And if you want to reward us with sex when we do, that would be wonderful.”
Petre cuffed him upside the head. “That’s practically the same thing. Don’t confuse the situation. We’ve all done enough of that already.”
Vitor winced but then raised my hand to his lips. “Tell us what you want us to do, My Princess. What do you need?”
“Why do you need us instead of the others?” Petre added.
I let out a slow breath and glanced at each of them in turn. “I need to kill a princess. I have to take her out.”
To say they were shocked was an understatement. They didn’t say anything for several minutes, maybe waiting for me to say I was kidding.
But I wasn’t.
“Who?” Petre asked, recovering first.
“Bahati.”
“That’s why you didn’t bring any of this up to your court,” Vitor sighed. “You’re worried how Cerdic will react.”
“Yes. This isn’t about Ceawlin though.” I winced when they didn’t seem to buy that. “She’s torturing him. He’s kept what he knows from her and prayed to Aether that Cerdic doesn’t fall in her hands, that we stay safe.” I nodded when that really shocked them. “Yeah, I felt the same. So it’s not for him, but he’s doing what’s right.”
“I actually felt for him,” Petre admitted. “He didn’t need to still be a dick, but I was young when I made the same stupid decision, and it trapped me. I understand him.”
I sighed. “I did a bit better after what Aether showed me too. I can’t forgive him for hurting Cerdic, but I get it. This isn’t about him though. This is about us and what she’s plotting.” I snorted. “Fuck, please help me do it so the visions stop. It’s been weeks. It’s…”
“You barely recovered from the wedding and we’ve seen—”
“And felt,” Vitor interjected.
Petre nodded. “And felt how you’re getting more exhausted and worn down. We all knew something major was up.”
“We can take her out today and make this stop, My Princess.”
I swallowed loudly and met his gaze. “I have to do it, but I can’t do it alone.”
He studied me closely and sighed. “You want to free her coven like you did ours.”
“Yes, if I’m going to do this, I want to—enough.”
“And that’s not to set Cerdic’s twin free?”
I shook my head, knowing that down to my soul. “She’s willing to sacrifice the kids of her coven to get what she wants. So others take the risk. I saw it. I can’t risk someone just as bad taking them over. I want to set them free.”
“Tell us everything, Princess,” Petre whispered. “Tell us, and we’ll figure out a way to make it happen.”
“And fast,” Vitor added.
So I did. I gave them the rundown of the plans and who I’d seen her talking with. They knew the princess when I described her and what she’d said. They knew the three that had lied about having the dreams and only one fit the description, so that was easy enough.
The more I told them, the faster I spoke. The emotional dam broke, and I just spilled out all of what I was going through.
They shared a look when I was done and had calmed down. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but Petre nodded and Vitor cleared his throat.
“We’ve been scouting that coven already. We knew enough about that princess to be worried,” Vitor confessed. “Others have been focused on the threats and all the rest they heard, but we knew…”
“Safie used to say Bahati was a princess she could respect,” Petre finished for him. “That’s not a good thing when someone is as crazy as she was. They got along very well. She almost brought us to Bahati for shelter originally but then decided she didn’t want to have to kill the princess she liked when things inevitably went to shit. They were both women who needed to be on top.”
I bobbed my head, understanding the point. “Her jealousy is terrifying. She wanted me dead right away, but Ceawlin has been using that envy to hold her off, but she’s completely unstable. She cackled like a villain when she decided to kill children of her own coven and blame us. She’s a monster, and she wants everything now.”
They shared another look and both nodded, Petre speaking for them this time. “One of my gifts is cloaking. I can get us in and past their security.”
I about wept with relief.
“We also have the plans of her coven,” Vitor admitted. “I drew up maps and what’s all there when I scouted.”
I launched myself at him, hugging him with all I had as I whispered my thanks.
“We’ll do everything we can, but you have to be the one to do it,” he reminded me as he rubbed my back. “Can you do it?”
“Is she more powerful than Safie?” I worried.
“I don’t think so, but Safie used to call her ‘scrappy,’” Petre warned. “You caught Safie in a compromising position where she thought she’d won you. Bahati has the ego to think she’s best but would still never open her arms to you and let you get close.”
I bobbed my head. “I can do it.”
“We will cheat and pull you out of there if it looks like you’re losing,” Vitor muttered, shrugging when Petre grabbed his arm, making me lean back. “She’s willing to sacrifice teens of her own coven for her own greed and glory. There’s no honor in that. We’re the only ones still playing by the rules and if we do this time—I won’t risk Inez.”
“No, you’re right,” he agreed after a moment. “You’re right. She doesn’t want to take over for power or what they have. She wants to stop death and disband the coven. That’s—Aether would clearly forgive us and be happy we helped her if She’s sending visions.”
“Good,” Vitor muttered before moving his hand under my chin so I looked at him. “I can put up an energy field around you both. Once you get to her, I will trap her and block all sound so she cannot alert people. I won’t let her cheat either.”
“I don’t understand the cheating thing,” I confessed.
“The rules of going after another princess are supposed to be like a duel of honor,” he explained. “You fight until one is dead, and you cannot get outside help. She would immediately call for her people and have them take you on first.”
“Fairly understandable given we’re going to sneak her in,” Petre defended. “It’s rare anyone would even try, and most would absolutely cheat for survival.”
I snorted. “I would. I didn’t agree to promise to follow some dueling rules just because I was born a princess. That’s bullshit. Someone bigger and badder comes after me because they want my people and coven, I’m doing whatever I have to so they don’t win. I don’t think that cheating.”
“I don’t either when you put it that way,” Vitor admitted. “You’re right, and it’s not fair. It’s mostly meant to limit who would come challenge a princess on their own turf. Some princesses long ago outlined the rules of honor for those alive and the houses leading covens.”
I smirked at them. “Which I wasn’t actually alive for, and my house didn’t swear to that. So they can suck it. It has to be done by my hand? Fine, but she’s doing unthinkable things, so I’m fine with all the cheating.”
“Fair enough,” Petre chuckled. He leaned in until his nose ran along my cheek. “We do need to discuss what will happen after you kill her.”
Vitor caught on to the meaning first and sounded like he was swallowing a groan. He brushed his lips over my ear on the other side of my face. “You remember how you were after killing Safie, right?”
I missed something, and it was distracting to be in the middle of them. Even if I was still scared of Vitor, he was attractive and I did want him.
And I really wanted Petre after the little we’d done together.
My mind cleared of that when I registered his question. I flinched and moved back. “I almost lost myself again. I spiraled out and felt like my mind was going to melt.”
They both flinched, Petre clearing his throat. “I didn’t know you suffered that. I’m sorry. That wasn’t what I meant.”
Then it hit me and I swallowed a sigh. “I turn into a horny monster.”
Vitor snorted. “You were sexy as fuck, but that is what he meant.”
“Right, yeah, I’ll have to deal with that,” I worried. I blinked at them when they leaned in again. “Wait, I thought you didn’t want sex for this?”
“We don’t want it as payment like you’re willing to sell yourself,” Vitor muttered. “We do want you though.”
I sighed. “Vitor, you promised not to push if I admitted I was attracted to you.”
“He’s not,” Petre defended. “This is a situation that came up after and we should handle.”
That seemed like splitting hairs when they could travel super fast and get me back to my men… But then I remembered the ocean we’d have to go across and lots to handle in that moment. Plus, there was no way my husbands didn’t ask like a million questions that delayed things.
And they weren’t sex dolls to always be on call for my sex needs.
I swallowed loudly as I remembered how out of my head I’d been after drinking down Safie. Yeah, there was no way I could risk letting that get worse, and I didn’t know if Bahati was more powerful than Safie had been.
“Inez, we want what you do,” Vitor whispered. “We want normal and not court crazy.”
I studied them each in turn. “What are you asking for then?”
“Take us as your lovers,” Petre suggested with a shrug. “We can spend time together and be lovers.” He shook his head when I opened my mouth. “No court-courting, just regular…”
“Dating. The humans called it dating before everything went to hell,” Vitor muttered. “You’ve seen it in the movies you’ve watched. I know you are gathering books you never have a chance to read, but people have probably talked about it around you.” He waited until I nodded. “Let us become lovers when you need us, and after.”
I sat with that a moment… And I wasn’t really sure how that was different from giving them sex for their help.
They kept getting sex after instead? I swallowed a snort at the snarky thought.
“It’s not payment, and you don’t have to keep doing it,” Petre promised, clearly knowing where my head was. “And we won’t be anything other than your guards in front of the coven. It will be between us.”
Now that got my attention. I’d had fun teasing and playing with Branko without the pressure. But this was different. “What if we don’t click in the way we think or I’m not—I have a lot else going on. I don’t know I can balance more or handle other issues.” I cleared my throat and looked away. “And we need you. You say you don’t want me to sell myself, but if I don’t want to continue, I’ll still feel pressured to.”
“That’s fair,” Petre admitted. “I know I like it here. Yes, you are part of that, but I also like your nobles and knights. I would want to be here even if you weren’t.”
“Same,” Vitor agreed. “It if didn’t work out, I would still want to protect what this coven is and stands for. I simply couldn’t watch you still be with others. I might need to guard you from a distance instead of next to you.”
“I think that would be fair. Only one of your guards needs to be next to you. It would be better most times if the other was more removed and not distracted by what was right there. It’s how other courts do it. They hide an ‘aide’ as a guard, have a visible guard, and another one or two further out to alert earlier or intercept any problems.”
I bobbed my head as I listened. That was smart, and others had suggested I figure out something with a female noble or three instead of my “young” shifter knights. “So we have sex and then just keep having sex?”
“Did you really think we would have sex now and not ever touch you again? I thought you wanted more from me than that,” Petre pushed.
“I think she’s been too exhausted and scared to have put a lot of thought into this, Petre,” Vitor muttered. “Back off a bit.”
I wasn’t sure which of us was more shocked it came from him, but it made me smile. He constantly said he was not a man of patience, and no number of years could teach someone patience since he was proof of that.
But he was willing to be patient with me.
I also agreed with him, saying as much. “I think I’m worse than I realized because I can’t—please just spell it all out for me.”
“I’m going to treat this as we gave in to our passions after your victory and then have fun at the level we want,” Vitor stated clearly. “I’ve never had this either. Nobles don’t get to date and take things slow.”
“They can now but not when we were young,” Petre muttered. “We want to experience more as well. We need to so we heal as we should. We don’t want to bring our problems to you either, Princess. All of us need slow and patience.”
“I would like to bring you fruits or flowers too and sneak them into your room,” Vitor continued before I could respond. “Petre and I can be on your detail together, and we have dinner on top of a mountain or at a beach. Calm. Heal and just be.”
“If we sneak kisses or touches, all the better. But slow sounds nice.”
“It would sound better with tons of hot sex, but yes, I agree.”
Vitor said it so seriously, when that was the opposite of slow, that I burst out laughing. It seemed to amuse Petre as well which lightened the mood for sure.
“Okay, we can try,” I agreed after we calmed down.
“Good. Trying is good,” Petre muttered, leaning in and kissing my hair.
“True, but I’m going to punch you really hard later for stopping her and what she wanted to do,” Vitor said under his breath.
Except it was still at a level I could hear.
Goof.
Petre gave me a smile that was very much one of a predator. “Let’s go check out their coven and get a plan formed so you can drink that bitch down and scare the shit out of a lot of people.”
Sounded like a smart first step to me.
3
The people close to me clearly knew something was going on with how distracted I was. I brushed it off and reminded them they pushed me to take better care of myself, so they should be happy when I did.
But really, I needed the sleep and to fuel up for what I was about to do.
I almost knocked on James’s door because staying there before the wedding had been some of the best sleep I’d gotten ever.
Instead, I asked Cerdic to stay the whole night with me. He was undoubtedly going to be upset with me after he found out and probably more than the others because it involved his twin.
He gave me a worried look before agreeing and added he was proud of me for asking for what I needed instead of always being so selfless.
I was fairly sure that was going to bite me in the ass later. Then again, I wasn’t doing anything selfish so… Maybe not?
Either way, I was undoubtedly going to be spanked.
I got two nights of ridiculously good sleep and a lot of naps with my lazy cat knights. I ate a lot of what I needed and somehow, Vitor or Petre managed to keep anyone from taking the fighter jets to kill corrupted, so I didn’t have any ghosts to deal with.
Or someone did. Maybe it just happened that way?
I doubted it. Someone made it happen, but it could have been any of them worrying about me and wanting me to rest more. Hey, that worked for me.
But that was all I got because Aether gave me a warning before I woke with the sun like normal. It had to be now since Bahati was going to push over the first domino tomorrow.
One of the many shitty parts of the plan was when we had to go. We basically had to leave at eight at night because that would be three in the morning in Nigeria.
And we had to swim an ocean again. That had not been fun the first time since I wasn’t doing the swimming, but basically holding onto Vitor and treating him like a water horse or something. That wasn’t super awkward or anything.
Even worse was I had let go and fallen off several times. In my defense, the force of the water when they moved that fast was unreal. Certainly not something I’d recommend.
Ever.
And I still didn’t know how to swim. Luckily, it was really obvious when I wasn’t with him anymore, and he immediately scooped me back up again.
They also came up with a way to improve my simply holding on and praying. Vitor found a harness he could wear, and I would strap in. He said it was for skydiving, but it would work for our purposes. Also, he wasn’t going to go full-out.
