Chapter 8 : Friends of the King

*Wren*

“Just curious, are you going to hang out by the window all day? Or maybe you want to do something else?” Asher asked as he shrugged his shoulders. He was lounging on a couch and lazily reading a book.

I ignored him and continued to pace in my study. Jessa had taken Amaya to town without my permission and it had been hours since they left. Only the Goddess ever knew what Jessa was up to. I could only imagine the taverns she was dragging Amaya in and out of. Or the gambling houses, or Goddess forbid, the dance halls.

“This is a new side of you,” Asher joked as he placed the book on the small table beside the couch. He stood and joined me at the window that overlooked the entrance of the castle. He pushed back the curtain and leaned against the glass.

“Ash,” Saunder scolded. I’d almost forgotten he was in the room. Trained as a spy since childhood, he was very good at his job. He walked over to Asher and lightly smacked the back of his head.

“Ow,” Asher laughed. Saunder then stood next to me at the window.

After a few awkward minutes, Saunder turned to me, “I hate to agree with him, but maybe we should go do something else? Yeah?”

I sighed as I sat down at my desk with my back turned away from the window. Saunder pursed his lips and turned back to the window. “So, this is what we are doing,” he said under his breath.

“Look, I get it. I’m worried about her out with Jessa too. But how bad could it be? Like, Jessa is a lot but- oh look! There they are,” Asher said casually.

I jumped from my desk and ran to the window. Both men laughed at me but I didn’t care. I was too busy watching the way the sun bounced off Amaya’s auburn hair. She and Jessa were laughing and she looked genuinely happy.

“It looks like they had fun,” Saunder said as he motioned toward the multitude of bags in their hands.

I groaned.

“You know, I still have that muzzle,” Asher began jokingly.

Saunder pushed him and he began to laugh.

“You have to stop talking about muzzling my cousin,” I said in slight disgust. “That’s really fucking weird, man.”

“Yeah, like just fuck her already,” Saunder continued in a similar tone.

“Woah! No one is going to fuck my cousin. What is wrong with both of you?” I said as I went to shove Saunder.

“Hey! I don’t want to fuck her, anyway!” Asher said defensively with his hands held up.

Saunder and I immediately stopped and turned to Asher and gave him the same look of disbelief.

“I just meant that we all know how Jessa is and I could talk to her for you,” Asher continued.

“Yeah, you want to talk to her alright,” Saunder teased sarcastically. “Talk to her real nice and sweet.”

“I’ll talk to you, how about that?” Asher said with annoyed aggression as he puffed out his chest.

Saunder laughed as he turned back to the window and continued to watch the women below.

I began to walk toward the door. I was willing to bet Amaya was exhausted. Jessa had a talent for talking nonstop without realizing that no one else had gotten a word in. She could be pushy and a little selfish, doing only the things she wanted to do. Although it was annoying to see the number of bags they were holding, I was grateful to see that no one was noticeably drunk, so I could rule out taverns and gambling houses.

“Oh,” Saunder said in a serious tone that made me stop in my tracks. “They met with Katriss.” I closed the door and returned to the window.

“How the fuck do you know that?” Asher asked skeptically.

Saunder flashed him a mischievous smile. “It’s my job to know this stuff. It could’ve been your job too but you failed out of the training.”

“Funny,” Asher replied flatly. “No, seriously how do you know that?”

Saunder began to laugh heartily. “It’s obvious.”

Asher returned his gaze to the window and then back to Saunder. “No, it isn’t.”

“Look,” Saunder teased as he condescendingly patted Asher’s shoulder. “You have other strengths, this isn’t one of them. It’s okay, bud.”

Asher brushed his hand off of his shoulder. He began to reply but stopped when they both realized that I hadn’t been paying attention to their conversation.

I was fuming in anger. I wanted to wait a little bit longer before Amaya was introduced to Katriss. The culture shock of being here was probably overwhelming enough, but add an elf to the mix right away? Awesome plan. So much has happened to her without any care or forethought, how much more could she take?

I watched as her smile faded once Jessa had turned her back toward her and entered the doorway. Amaya stopped and began to look over the castle. She looked dejected and almost sickly. I waited to see if she would turn and run. I almost expected her to know that she was completely alone. Run back to that fucking asshole.

“You know, you hear all these stories about Emerald Mountain and their might. And then you see their princess. Yikes,” Asher said.

That pushed me over the edge. I shot up and bounded toward my beta aggressively. “Come again?”

“Sorry, sorry!” he said apologetically.

I took a deep breath. This behavior was not normal for me at all. I prided myself in my ability to keep my cool. It almost felt as if my body was foreign to me, acting and behaving independently from my mind.

I understood what Asher was implying. Amaya was weak and timid. It was obvious that she had no way of defending herself. I had no idea if she could shift or not. It was a miracle she made it as far as she did by herself before we found her. Goddess forbid, she decided to leave. There would be no way she could survive on her own. That needed to change immediately.

“You’re going to train her,” I ordered.

“What?” Asher laughed in surprise. “You want me to train her?”

“What?” I shrugged. “It’s like you said,” I teased.

“I didn’t say anything like that!” Asher laughed.

“She needs the training,” I said matter-of-factly. “And you are the best.”

Asher smiled jokingly, “Thank you. But, sir, that is–” he began cautiously.

“A really good idea,” I finished. “Thank you, Asher. I agree.”

Asher sighed. “I’m not sure about this.”

“Look, she won’t be here forever,” I began, to which Asher flashed me a small skeptical look that I immediately ignored. “Emerald Mountain has failed in preparing her for the real world. They train their women to be breeders. She needs to know how to defend herself.”

Asher nodded his head in reluctant agreement. “I don’t think she’s going to like it. She isn’t the warrior type.”

“I think she’ll surprise you.” I walked over to my desk and scribbled a few words onto a piece of paper. I handed it to Saunder, who quickly looked it over before he nodded his head.

“I’ll deliver this to Katriss at once, Sir,” he said before he quickly left the room. His footsteps were silent as he disappeared into the hallway.

“See?” I said playfully to Asher once Saunder left the room. “That’s how you take an order. You don’t argue for ten minutes.”

“Oh,” Asher laughed. “Next time, I’ll do better.” He sarcastically bowed. I began to laugh.

Asher and Saunder were my best friends. I wouldn’t be where I was as an Alpha or King without them. I hated having to throw my authority around and usually refrained from doing so.

I wadded up a piece of paper from my desk and playfully threw it at Asher, hitting him in the back. He laughed as he picked the paper up from the floor and began to throw it back and forth between his hands.

“You know, this isn’t like you,” Asher said knowingly.

I sighed, “I know.”

“You want to go check on her?” he teased me. I glared at him. “I mean, I’d just to make sure Jessa didn’t do anything too horrible,” he continued.

“Do you really think?” I asked quietly.

Asher shrugged his shoulders. “You know her better than I do.”

I shot up from my desk and ran out of my study. I could hear Asher following behind, struggling to keep up due to laughing uncontrollably at my expense.

“You’re cooler than this!” he called after me.

As we rounded the corner and drew closer to Amaya’s room, he sprang into me knocking me into a wall.

“Catch your breath,” he said as he struggled to catch his own. “You don’t want to give yourself away.”

I nodded my head. I could’ve done without being pushed into the wall but I was grateful that he had my back. We both took our time to steady our breathing until we heard Jessa and Amaya talking down the adjoining hall.

Asher gave me an encouraging nod before we turned the corner. We both walked casually down the hall to give off the appearance that we just happened to run into them.

“Speaking of the devil,” Jessa said to Amaya once she saw me. “Hello, cousin!” she said with a smile. She turned to Asher and her face turned cold. “And you,” she said flatly.

“It’s always a pleasure to see you too, Jessa,” Asher flirted. Jessa rolled her eyes sarcastically.

A part of me did wish that they’d just get it over with, but I wasn’t going to encourage anything. They were adults, neither were mated, they could do as they pleased. But it would blow up royally. I’d rather not deal with the fallout.

“I see you took advantage of your allowance today,” I said sternly to Jessa.

Jessa smiled, “No, I took advantage of hers,” she said as she nudged Amaya.

“Jessa,” Asher warned.

She laughed again, “I’m joking! Goddess!”

“I didn’t know,” Amaya said softly. Her mossy green eyes fell to the floor.

I silently groaned as I looked over to Jessa who mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Jessa said as she threw her arm around Amaya’s shoulder. “Isn’t it, Wren?” she said pointedly in my direction.

Amaya sheepishly raised her head. Slowly, our eyes met. I give her a little nod of my head to say hello. She cautiously returned the gesture.

“See? There’s no issue,” Jessa smiled.

My heart sank to the floor. Amaya’s eyes were filled with fear and apprehension. I had no idea what I could do to make her not look at me like that. Hell, I’d give my right arm to have her look at me with anything other than fear.

I knew deep down that I needed to give her time to heal, time to adjust. I couldn’t even imagine what it was like to be in her shoes. The whiplash of being a princess then becoming banished, to then being stuck here, the one place she least expected. The one place with the worst reputation.

I could wait as long as it took. Even if it was the last thing I wanted to do. After all, I’m a very patient man.