Royal Outlaw: (Royal Outlaw, Book 1) (36 page)

“How did you get in?” one of the guards asked angrily. “Or did you kill the men guarding the study entrance?”

The dark-skinned man laughed without humor. “That would be too easy for Snaketongue.”

“Snaketongue!
James Snaketongue
? The outlaw?”

James turned to Mariel. “They sound stunned. Knowing your criminal past, you’d think they would expect that you have criminal friends.”

“What are you doing making friends with her?” The dark-skinned man asked James angrily. “I thought you picked your whores better.”

“Watch your mouth, Zeke. Mariel’s never been in my bed.”

“Doesn’t matter. She’s one of
them
. You shouldn’t be her friend.”

Mariel was not angry with Zeke, but she was curious. “How do you know each other?”

“I told you, you didn’t want a black mamba because they have nasty tempers.”

It was then that Mariel noticed the fluid movement of the man. She should have noticed it before. He was serpentramel and evidently he was of the black mamba breed.

“Oh!” Mariel exclaimed as she tried to get a better look at him.

Zeke stared back, his angry expression fading to surprise. “She knows? But she’s a de Sharec!”

“Only by blood,” Mariel muttered darkly.

“You can’t call Mariel
Quickwit
a de Sharec. She played a central role in the Resistance.”

“And she abandoned the common people the first chance she got, for this.” Zeke spread his arms to indicate the room.

That struck Mariel. She ducked her head, allowing her hair to fall in a curtain in front of her face,lounge chair and busied herself checking the status of Tristan’s bleeding nose. He winced when she touched his nose, but the bleeding had stopped.

“You and Isabel would get along great,” Mariel muttered to Zeke.

James collapsed into a lounge chair sideways. “You haven’t killed Isabel yet? I didn’t think she would last this long as your lady’s maid. Hallie I wasn’t sure about. I had no doubt Cara would manage, so long as her perceptiveness didn’t unlock all your tightly guarded secrets. You better watch that one.”

Mariel looked at the grinning James with surprise. How did he know who her lady’s maids were after spending weeks with the zreshlans? Probably the same way he knew about her arrest in the tavern and near-death experience with the hangman’s noose.

“Do you know everything?”

“Of course.”

“So glad you don’t have a problem with your ego.”

Tristan finally had enough. “Someone tell me what
he’s
doing here before I start bashing heads together.”

“I was under the impression that I already bashed
your
head in,” James said lazily playing with a knife that he had seemingly drawn out of thin air.

Tristan launched to his feet, knocking Mariel on her rear. “Let me introduce your pretty face to my fist.”

“See, Mariel, he thinks I’m pretty. Now why can’t you?”

“Someone needs to keep your head from getting too big.” Mariel leapt to her feet and stopped Tristan before he attacked James. The viper did not flinch as he played with his knife.
  “Your name’s Tristan?”

“What do you care,
Snaketongue
?”

“We’re going to keep
that
name between the six of us. Dreyfuss knows who I am, but we both agreed it would be better not to let everyone else know.”

“You’re actually going to use your real name?” Zeke asked in derision. “Were you two the last time you used it?”

“Hah!” Mariel cried in triumph. “Your last name really is Alecsson.”

“Did you doubt me?”

Before Mariel could reply, one of the other guards spoke up. “James Alecsson? Isn’t that the name of the man who is going to be captain of the Princess’s Guard?”

James’s knife disappeared as he moved from the chair in a quick, fluid movement. He took the guard’s hand and shook it heartily.

“At last, a smart man in royal uniform! No offense, Zeke.”

“Offense taken.”

“
He’s
our captain?” Tristan sounded like he had just been told a close friend had died.

“Don’t ask me why he took the job,” Mariel told him. “But he did.”

“This is embarrassing.”

“Why?” Mariel asked the guard who had spoken.

“Your Highness, we are supposed to be protecting you and the man who is going to be our captain slips into your room without us knowing and then beats one of our best men in a fight. That is embarrassing.”

“He has a good sense of humor though,” Mariel informed the man. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if he snuck into the throne room and stole the crown from the king’s head.”

“Is that actually a compliment directed at me?” James asked.

“Don’t let it go to your head.”

James grinned broadly at Mariel and then turned serious as he looked at the guards. “Does the knowledge that I’m not going to fire any of you make you feel calm enough to go back to your posts so I can finish my discussion with the princess?”

A rock dropped into Mariel’s stomach at the thought of returning to the conversation about the Assassin. She wanted to tell the four guards not to leave, but she did not want them to know she was scared to be alone with James.

Zeke marched out of the room without a backward glance. The other two guards bowed low and muttered a good night before returning to the corridor. Tristan remained standing where he was. He did not seem to like the idea of leaving Mariel alone with James Snaketongue.

Mariel felt dizzy and her legs were shaky after the whirlwind of events. She sat in the chair James had only recently vacated to avoid collapsing. While Mariel struggled to wrap her mind around all that had happened, James and Tristan faced off in a glaring match, their bodies tense as though they might start fighting again. The exit of the three guards left Mariel alone with two friends and her mask slipped.

“So Zeke’s a spy?” she asked, since that was the first thing she was able to comprehend.

James tore his gaze away from Tristan and responded with an affirmation.

Mariel still was not sure James was not a spy and this new piece of information was not raising her confidence in him.

“And you’re going to let him keep his post as one of my guards?”

“Politics are complicated, that’s a lesson you must never forget. I think Zeke will come around with a little convincing and he’s a handy one.”

“He doesn’t respect you though.”

“Zeke doesn’t respect anyone. He has a bad temper.”

“
I
don’t respect you either, boy,” Tristan growled.

Mariel finally became aware of the angry tension between the men.

“I’m not a boy. I can’t be that much younger than you,” James pointed out evenly. “And why are you still here, didn’t I order you to leave?”

“You upset Mariel. I’ve never seen her upset before. I’m not leaving until I know you won’t hurt her.”

“Says the man who was
choking
her.”

Tristan shifted uncomfortably. “I didn’t realize she couldn’t breathe.”

“Give me one good reason not to throw you out of the guard.”

It was strange to hear those words from James: words that wielded power and authority.

“Tristan was one of my best spies. And he didn’t turn on me when he found out I was the princess, unlike Lizzie,” Mariel said.

“Then you are loyal to Mariel and you will give your life to save hers?”

“No!” Mariel exclaimed angrily. “No one needs to die for me. I can take care of myself.”

James ignored her and waited for a response from the large man.

“Yes,” Tristan replied. “But I’m still not convinced you should be captain.”

“Then we’ve reached an impasse. You don’t think I should be captain, and I’m not sure you should remain on the guard. Let’s see how it plays out. Now will you
please
leave? I won’t hurt her. I never would.”

Tristan hesitated and looked at Mariel for approval. Mariel felt very tired. She did not want to be alone with James because she feared what he would ask of her, but she also did not want Tristan here if James decided to push the subject anyway.

“Go. He won’t touch me. I promise to scream if he does.”

Tristan hesitated, Mariel glared at him. He glanced once more at James and then departed the room.

The room was empty again, except for her and James. She felt very tired all of a sudden and rested her head against the back of the armchair as she waited in apprehension for James to bring up the subject of remembering again.

“You aren’t friends with Lizzie anymore?”

“No,” Mariel said with some surprise at the topic he had chosen. “But I’m sure if you use your smooth tongue and flex your muscles a little she’ll let you into her bed again.”

“I guess I’ll never know if that will work because I’m not going to try it.”

That distracted Mariel enough to lift her head and stare at her friend. “Why not?”

James met her eyes for a long moment and then looked away. “Was she angry because you didn’t tell her you were the princess?”

“I
did
tell her . . . actually I let her figure it out, but it was before everyone knew. And I don’t want to have this conversation.”

“You would rather talk about remembering?”

Mariel could not stop the violent shiver that ran through her body, and turned her head into the chair so she would not have to see James’s reaction.

“I would rather debate the existence of gods.” To her shame, her voice was choked again, as she fought to keep the tears away.

“Why do you have to be so stubborn?”

Mariel felt weak and vulnerable. Tears began to slide down her cheeks. It may have been the fatigue of the events of the night that made her say it, or it may have been because she knew it was true and could no longer deny or did not want to deny it, or maybe she said it just because she hoped James would not press the issue further if she did, but regardless of the reason why, she did not look at her friend, the captain of her guards, as she told him through her tears, “Because I’m scared.”

Silence met her revelation. She had never admitted fear, not to anyone, and she had no doubt she had shocked James. And then there were warm, strong arms around her, lifting her from the chair. She squealed in surprise, but the sound was not loud enough to draw the attention of her guards. She struggled, but James held her tightly against his chest as he started walking toward her bedroom.

“Put me down!”

“I’m not hurting you. But I don’t think it’s healthy for you to be alone tonight either.”

“If you think I’m going to let you into my bed . . .”

“A companion in sleep is all I will be. I would never take advantage of you. Besides, the rumors of my reputation are exaggerated.”

Mariel warred with herself. She did not like feeling weak, but she felt the need to be held by someone. She was scared, and she needed the security and warmth that another living being provided. It was then that she realized she could not be left alone tonight. The potion she took banished the nightmares, but she had to attain sleep to keep those horrors at bay. Awake she could not stop her mind from reeling and dwelling on what James said about needing to remember and the little she did remember.

She ceased struggling and allowed him to carry her into the bedroom. The candle she had lit when she had brought in the crown the zreshlans had given her flickered when they entered the room. James tried to set her delicately on the bed, but she leapt from his arms, still uncertain about the arrangement and determined not to appear completely weak.

The blankets were cold from her long absence and she moved around to warm them as James stoked the fire. When he pulled off his shirt, Mariel quickly blew out the candle and turned over on her side. Her entire body stiffened when she felt James climb into bed. Keeping her back to him, she curled into a ball and scooted as far to the other end of the bed as possible.

“
Relax
,” James told her in a somewhat exasperated voice. “I’m not going to do anything.”

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her toward him, until her back touched his bare chest. It was awkward, and Mariel began to regret letting James sleep in her bed. She was about to make him leave when she noticed the feel of his breath stirring her hair and the steady beat of his heart. She imagined what it would be like to be alone tonight in this dark room and the fear of her forgotten memories began to press on her. Tonight she could not be alone.

She let her muscles relax.

“Don’t get used to this,” she warned.

“Mmmm,” James muttered unintelligibly just before Mariel felt his breathing and heartrate slow and knew he was asleep.

Mariel reveled in the feeling she experienced, the feeling of safety. She did not think she had felt this safe in human lands since she was six and her mother tucked her into her bed at Remel. It felt nice to be held like this too. Neither her papa nor zreshlan hugged or touched others much, and Mariel had forgotten how good it felt.