Princess Ninja Warrior (House of Garner Book 4) Read online

  I couldn’t forgive her for all, but it helped my wounded heart for sure. I kissed Inez’s hair again as this was because of her kind heart that I had the chance to heal.

  Next was her apology to Inez and promises that none of hers would dare encroach or try for what was Inez’s. That wasn’t as from the heart, and there was a certain amount of bitterness seeping through her words, but I saw true regret when she admitted she hadn’t acted in the best interest of the Wessex coven, and she prayed Inez wouldn’t punish the innocent and good people of the coven, only her.

  “I don’t want to punish her at all,” Inez grumbled. “I just want everyone to fucking behave.”

  “Smart to do this before Trisha even has a chance to start negotiating and raking Olivia over the hot coals,” Kristof praised.

  I was shocked speechless as Olivia stated that she and her nobles would leave the safety of the coven to hunt the corrupted that hunted Inez once she recovered, if Aether willed it so. She planned on killing as many corrupted as minutes she added to the massive amount of stress and issues Inez undoubtedly had on her shoulders.

  Inez snorted. “A month isn’t even fifty thousand. We do that all the time. At least go for badass with every second. That’s a body count.”

  I bit back a laugh. Of course that would be what she focused on. The message finished, and I played the next one, which was from Mother telling us she found one of those train track laying machines and a group of humans that knew all about it… And about us. They didn’t care who we were as long as we could truly protect them, but also didn’t feed from them.

  It all sounded great and amazing until she slipped in at the end that it was meant as present for when Inez accepted my oath and she became Mother’s daughter-in-law. Subtle. Very subtle, Mother. Yes, she wanted to lock in the alliance with Inez.

  Clearly, as that couldn’t have been an easy find and something to arrange so fast, which made me think she jumped on the idea before she headed back to England.

  “Well, I can’t act like I’d let people push me around for cool gets,” Inez drawled, but then cleared her throat as she looked at me over her shoulder. “I mean, assuming you—”

  “Yes.” I kissed her when she opened her mouth and said it more firmly the second time. “Yes, I want to give you my oath, My Princess. The moment you’re ready.”

  “He is not the only one,” Kristof added, shocking both of us.

  “Really?” she breathed, glancing between us.

  “You made it clear we were yours, and we accept,” I told her. “I was going to wait until your castle is finished.”

  “That’s smart and I think that be the answer to Matilda,” Kristof agreed. “Even invite them to be the first guests, along with Hanna, Olivia, and Nora. It’s a powerful message to say, but something easy, like a weekend, as it’s the apocalypse.”

  “Let them see how quickly you have much,” I added when she looked like she might object. “It’s smart, and not so fast to look like you were caving to Mother, but assumed she overheard I planned to give you my oath, then maybe.”

  “I’ll think about it,” she accepted, giving me a heated look. “Now, I have a punishment to give out. Would you like to join us, since apparently you’re both going to be with me on our wedding night?”

  “Yes, fuck yes,” I growled, swooping her up in my arms and following after Kristof as we took her somewhere quiet.

  And I got my first blow job from her. She sucked me off while riding Kristof’s face in “punishment” and only allowing him to use his hand. I was so shocked, I couldn’t make my mouth work when it was over.

  “A wife should give her husband all of herself,” she said shyly. “Just a down payment on what I will give you after you give me your oath.”

  “I will love you all of my days, as no noble has ever loved a princess,” I swore against her lips. And I meant it. No princess had ever been as perfect as her and I would thank Aether every damn day for her, never let her go.

  Except then I failed, and she was taken from us, and I knew I would pray for death if we couldn’t get her back.

  15

  After I spoke with the others and got some feedback from even Sebastian, I decided to accept Olivia’s apology. I even recorded a message to Matilda as to what Kristof and Cerdic had said, as if I knew they were plotting it, but they hadn’t officially told me yet and I did not want that fun spoiled for me. Though we were planning to invite them to a weekend of fun for a reception.

  I felt lighter after that, and not just because it was handled, but I tingled from my time with Cerdic and Kristof. He was taking his grounding seriously, and the way he was being so attentive to me—no matter who was around—was something I might want more often, as it made me feel I was worth being spoiled instead of feeling spoiled and bratty.

  It made sense in my head.

  I stepped out of the hotel with Simon, since we were going to see some of the progress, but after eating so much awesomeness for lunch, part of me just wanted to take a nap. And Simon was always up for that; all my lazy cats were. Well, not really, as they busted their asses, but it was fun to tease them.

  I was grabbed, and for a moment, I wondered who was whisking me off for something, but then I realized it wasn’t one of my nobles. I tried to fight as panic filled me, but the arm around me was a steel band. I was about to use my power to shock him but horror filled me as I worried I might not have been the only one grabbed.

  Sure enough, moments later we stopped, and I locked eyes with a panicked Simon. He turned and puked up his guts, having gotten thrown over our captor’s shoulder maybe, as it couldn’t have been easy to grab us both.

  “Don’t,” the noble warned me. “I will crush him before you can fight me.”

  I gave a slight nod, swallowing the need to flip shits when I was hit with his age and power. He was the oldest I’d ever met, and even more powerful than Tian, who everyone thought was the oldest still to have survived. What the fuck was going on now?

  I glanced around and realized we were in a cell. Another guy came and locked me up in cuffs held with chains to the ground, while the first waited until I was restrained before doing the same to Simon.

  “What kind of shifter is he?” the guy still touching me asked.

  “Wolf,” I lied, my gut telling me it was the right thing to do.

  He glanced between us and snorted. “Nice try. You’re lying. He’s some big cat that would shatter his body if he tried to shift out of those cuffs.” He rolled his eyes at my lame attempt and left.

  The first wasn’t as fast to get out, but I wouldn’t meet his eyes, not wanting him to get more than fear and panic off of me.

  Luckily, Simon followed my lead and did the same.

  I let out a full breath once he left, even if he locked the door behind us. He walked down a hall, and I heard a door open and close, but he could have been just on the other side. I was too disoriented, and didn’t know the place to figure out more.

  I shook my head when Simon opened his mouth. He slowly nodded before holding out his hands to me. Again, I shook my head. I’d never turned anything to energy beads while touching someone. That could be really, really bad.

  Really bad.

  I thought about options a moment as I swallowed my panic and used my powers to gather as much information as I could. Simon seemed to do the same because he started making hand gestures to me. It took me two times to understand, but then I realized he was saying there were hundreds of vampires around us.

  Okay, so we were at a coven. I nodded I got it.

  I let my fangs out and sliced my hand, letting a good amount of blood fall. It was like a beacon and seconds later someone came in and demanded to know what was going on.

  “You didn’t think I wouldn’t check if I could break the cuffs, did you?” I drawled, not meeting the guy’s gaze. I didn’t know anyone’s power or what they could manage.

  “You can’t, so cut it out,” he snapped. “You’re too young and
we don’t want you hurt. And before you think that might help your friends find you, it won’t. They can’t find you here with the magic, so don’t be stupid, and just wait to be summoned.”

  I gave a swift nod I heard him, but honestly, I had no intention of doing what he said. I wracked my brain with what to do as I added to the blood.

  Glancing at Simon, I knew the first thing was to get him out of range. He was a pawn that they would use to control me. I scooted closer and he got the idea, moving to me as well. We got as far as next to each other but that was enough. I didn’t think the place had power, but just in case, I checked for cameras and there weren’t any.

  I took Simon’s hand and slowly started drawing letters.

  He chuckled. “Woves you too.”

  Good, he got the idea of what I was doing.

  I spent the next several minutes carefully writing out what I wanted him to do. Needless to say, he wasn’t that thrilled at the idea of leaving me.

  “You are leverage to use against me. You will not help me being here but can help them find me. They will come.”

  That sold him until I clarified that last part.

  “They always come.” I nodded to my blood. His eyes went wide and I nodded. The corrupted would come for me. He swallowed loudly and finally relented.

  Next was figuring out how to get him out of there besides just slipping through the bars and taking his chances. Luckily, his hearing was better than mine, and he signaled to the far wall. I scooted away and disintegrated my restraints before moving over there. After a few moments, I heard it: the sound of dripping. There was a pipe close he could get out through, or an access area.

  I nodded and focused on the stone right there, aiming for a small area that wouldn’t be that noticeable. Yeah, right. I took out a huge area, but at least that gave us a better way to see it all. Once we saw it was big enough for both of us to fit, Simon changed the plan and wanted me to come with him.

  I shook my head and mouthed “order” again and again. I was giving him an order as his princess. He was freaking to keep me safe, but if I left they would follow, and he had more of a chance to hide and get out for help. I pointed to the blood, reminding him how everyone could smell me. Finally he relented, kissing my cheek before shifting and not wasting any time to get gone.

  I prayed to Aether that he made it out, even if it didn’t mean help for me. I couldn’t have Simon wrapped up in my bullshit.

  I sighed and sat back down, letting my brain try to work out options. It wasn’t the same group that had tried to kill me. No, why nab me this time if they wanted me dead? If they had this crazy fast and old guy, they could have killed me right away. This was about something else.

  Wasn’t it nice that there were options? I rolled my eyes at myself. Not the time to be snarky and glib.

  So assuming it wasn’t one of the covens I’d recently made deals with, as I couldn’t think how that would work out to their advantage, this was a new player. Florida? The other Canada coven? We didn’t go through water, so we were still on the continent or South America. It wasn’t cold enough out anymore to consider an ice bridge to Russia through the arctic.

  At least, I didn’t think so.

  I flinched when I heard that far door open.

  “Where’s the guy?” someone bellowed moments later.

  I shrugged. “What guy? I don’t know any of you.”

  “Very funny. His clothes are there. Where is he?”

  I lifted my head and gave him a wry look. “Yeah, I’m going to answer. Have I pestered you with questions I know you won’t answer?”

  “Fuck,” he growled, storming off. “Vitor, I need you to handle her.”

  So that must be the super old guy. Sure enough, that first one came into view the next time I blinked, frowning as he took in the scene before him. He shook his head. “You brought the display to come next on yourself if we cannot leave you alone.”

  I snorted, smirking at him. “You all have a choice in this. None of it is on me, so don’t play the petty mind games on me that my actions led to any of this. I’m not that stupid. You pushed over these dominoes, and how I reacted was because of you, so really, it’s all on you, isn’t it?” I beamed at him as he frowned deeper. “Hey, don’t be so upset, I’m still here. I didn’t crawl out of the hole I made, right?”

  He sighed and unlocked the cell. “Come, and know I do not wish to injure you, so if you fight, that is the consequence.”

  “We just went over this,” I sighed. “I’m reacting to you keeping me captive, so don’t act like the victim here and it’s all an accident. It’s still your fault if I get hurt, as I’m not here willingly and just an accident happened.”

  “Believe as you wish,” he grumbled, waving me to get up.

  “Spoken like someone who can’t keep up with the fight,” I taunted as I stood and brushed off my butt. “I’d ask for a chance to freshen up, but you guys probably don’t have running water or any of that, right?”

  He gave me a look like he wasn’t a fan of my teasing. Okay, so he didn’t think that was possible, confirming he wasn’t part of one of the covens we made deals with, as they planned on getting all of that going again once they could get power and not have corrupted come for it.

  “I love the digs,” I purred as I followed after him, checking out the old stone walls and actual torches. “Very creepy mood setting. Are we going on a quest? Wait, do you want me to retrieve some sort of artifact, like Indian Jones style? I saw that movie recently and get the reference now.”

  I kept rambling as I checked it all out. He probably had no idea what was going on, but I was trying to see how many and how close people reacted like they knew someone was coming. Unfortunately, the answer was lots. Lots of them could easily hear me and I felt the energy of them.

  So no babies. Damn. Old vamps. That was problematic. I couldn’t use my power on just him and ditch out. I’d never make it, and my charge could run out.

  The Indian Jones joke was especially funny when I was brought to a throne room type place and he locked me up in another set of cuffs and chains in the middle of the room. There was an elevated dais and throne up there, and the room started filling with people who clearly were coming to watch the show. I kept looking around, and I was either off my rocker or I was in a temple.

  My eyes went wide as I looked at the guy. “Am I in a temple? Like an old ruins temple? Wait, we’re not in Asia with this construction, so we’re down south. I didn’t check them all out when I was traveling.” But I’d seen a lot of them, as there were artifacts at many of them.

  He didn’t answer me, and I kept staring up at the ceiling, trying to picture what it would look like outside. No, I didn’t think this one or I couldn’t be sure. The cuffs inhibited me when I wanted to see more, so I disintegrated them, several gathered gasping, but I ignored them and kept looking. I saw what I was looking for finally and swallowed loudly.

  The sun was going down. We weren’t in the same time zone I’d started in at Seattle. That had been just after lunch, and it hadn’t been that many hours since I’d arrived.

  No, we were a few time zones ahead, so Mexico? But not Mexico City, as that was blasted to all fuck. I really couldn’t tell more than that, as the torches could burn up the humidity that might be in the air outside.

  I got bored, sitting and slicing my hand, letting it drip all over the stones around me. That guy, Vitor, told me to quit it, but I just did it again. The more blood, the further it would call to the corrupted and my best chance was to get out during the chaos and fighting.

  It wasn’t as if I hadn’t done it before. Granted, my blood hadn’t been that much of a fucking beacon then, but it was worth the chance. It was maybe my only chance a long as I didn’t completely weaken myself.

  Since there were over a hundred vampires in the room with me that were way older than my husbands, I wouldn’t be the reason they died. I couldn’t live with myself if they walked into this to save me and didn’t survi
ve.

  Way too long later, people started moving and kneeling so I faced around front to see a princess I didn’t know enter from a different hallway than I did. She was gorgeous, but that seemed to be a requirement to be one, refined elegance I lacked that made me wonder once again why my men loved me. She went up to her throne and turned, smiling brightly at me.

  “Inez, darling, welcome,” she greeted.

  I blinked at her and flicked her off, much to the shock of everyone there from the gasps and murmurs.

  She threw back her head and laughed. “Ah, to be so young and careless.”

  “My manners are much better as I don’t chain up guests and I would have already offered a nice cold beverage.” I glanced around. “Which I guess you can’t, from the torches and all of that.”

  “We will soon.” Okay, so she knew enough that I could help. She gave me a placating smile. “Clearly you don’t know who I am. I’m—”

  “I don’t care,” I drawled, chuckling when she couldn’t hide her shock, more gasps from the bystanders.

  “Yes, well, I’m—”

  “Insignificant?” I cut in, smiling when she lost hers. “I mean that’s the bottom line here, right? You’re insignificant so you had to abduct me, because I wouldn’t give you the time of day otherwise.”

  “Watch yourself as my patience with your immaturity is not unlimited,” she warned.

  “What are you going to do? Abduct me?” I purred, holding up my wrists. “Chain me up? Oh no, not that.”

  “Behave and you won’t have to find out that answer, Daughter.”

  I swallowed a flinch, studying her, not seeing a single similarity between us. No, there was no way. I sighed when she didn’t go on, waving her to give the big reveal. “So what, you have a son somewhere you want me to take as a noble? Enough with the villain drama. The answer’s going to be no just on principle, so let’s skip to the end.”