ALL MY LOVE (Lovemark #5)

3. Xavier-1

Chapter 3

Xavier

Damn, I hated traveling.

If everyone would just let me ride a horse, out in the open air, it wouldn’t be so bad. But no... A fuss of royal proportions arose each time I even suggested leaving my safe, guarded carriage. Especially since we weren’t yet on Lowden land.

It was easier to simply comply with the arguments and pleading from my guards and advisors and ride enclosed, where I silently suffered from the sickness that gripped me every time I was in motion and couldn’t see where I was going.

But I did make them pause and rest more often than not and make the trip take significantly longer—my petty way of getting them back.

“It’ll pass,” Valerio told me without a smidgeon of compassion as I slumped onto the cot in my tent that had just been erected for me.

Groaning pathetically, I remained upright so I could rest my elbows on my knees and bury my face in my hands. Praying everything in my gut stayed there, I closed my eyes and simply exhaled.

Yes. Much better.

“Gah, you’re such a pansy.”

As my personal guard, Valerio was the only one privy to my affliction, and I had to say, I honestly think anyone else alive would’ve had more sympathy for me than he did.

“Easy for you to say,” I rasped, shifting my arms to clutch my belly as a lingering wave of nausea swelled over me. “You’re not the one about to cast up your accounts.”

“Eh, quit your whining already, King Pouts-a-Lot. It always passes. Now here. Drink. Then take a power nap before your bellyaching grows so loud all your subjects back in Lowden can hear you.”

See what I mean? No sensitivity at all.

The asshole was lucky he was my best friend, and that I actually liked him.

But everyone adored Val. He was the kingdom’s hero, who had personally saved an entire building full of trapped women and children during the Great War. Not a single person in all of Lowden said his name without smiling or nodding their head in respect.

When he held a leather flask down to me, I sent him a wary glance, wondering what he’d done to no-doubt tamper with the liquid inside, and then I reluctantly took it because water really did help settle my stomach more than anything else.

Tipping my head back, I took a healthy swallow, only to cough and sputter, demanding, “Gah! What the hell is this?” Because it definitely wasn’t water. I swiped the back of my hand over my wet mouth and shuddered before sending Valerio a deserving glower. “Are you trying to kill me?”

He chuckled and snagged the flask back. “What? Can the new, soft king not handle the hard stuff anymore?”

I scowled. “You say hard. I say lethal.” Pointing, I insisted, “That s**t is death’s elixir.”

Valerio hooted and took a nice, long drink for himself. I winced and shook my head. There just wasn’t something right about the man. No one should rightly survive that big of a gulp.

Sighing in satisfaction as he finished, he recapped the flask and tucked it away. “That’s what I’m talking about. Mm, yes. Makes your babies come out naked, it does.”

“You concern me,” I said dryly.

My personal guard merely sent me a crazy-eyed grin. Then he ordered, “Take your nap and recoup, Fireball. I’ve got a wife that needs some pleasing while you’re suffering in here alone.”

“Ass,” I muttered, only causing him to laugh more ardently. Rolling my eyes, I waved the backs of my hands at him, ordering, “Be gone with you, then. Far be it for me to leave the lovely Sylvie unsatisfied.”

“Damn straight.” Valerio turned away, still chuckling, before he exited the tent, leaving me to recuperate on my own.

Immediate silence filled the enclosure, and I sighed around the interior of my temporary quarters. Alone. Ignoring the void that seemed to surround me, I stretched myself out on the cot and tucked my hands under my head before closing my eyes.

The cessation of movement along with the foul drink Valerio had given me seemed to do the trick, though, and before long, I was feeling fully recuperated.

But a calm stomach opened the path for my thoughts to move on to other issues to stress over.

And I had many.

Somehow, I was now the f*****g King of Lowden. I was still trying to wrap my brain around that fact.

Last moon cycle, I had been loyally serving King Tomrick of House Gill. As a minor advisor, I’d had all the comforts of castle living with none of the responsibilities. It was quite the luxury.

But then Tomrick had turned out to be a damn Graykey in disguise, and after he’d been executed, my mother’s older half brother, who was also the ruler of High Cliff, had assigned me as the new King of Lowden.

Not that “king” was the correct term that should’ve been used at all. Ever since High Cliff had come in and helped us clear the last of the Graykeys out of Lowden during the Great War—or at least what we thought were the last of the Graykeys at the time—they’d technically been ruling Lowden, and our “kings” were more like governors who still answered to him.

But then Uncle Ignatius had been assassinated and my cousin Olivander had taken over High Cliff. The bastard was supposed to be my friend, but no… Yesterday, Vander had told me he was giving up his kingdom’s power over ours, and now all the decisions, all the responsibilities, everything was on my shoulders, and I was no longer a king in name only.

I was now the top guy who had to take care of everything.

And I didn’t particularly want this. It was too big. Too overwhelming. Too much.

My people were going to be ecstatic, sure. I knew that. They’d never wanted to be held under High Cliff’s thumb. Having more of their freedoms returned was going to be a great relief, and hopefully that was going to help me win their favor. But what the hell was I supposed to do from there?

I was not prepared for this. I’d never expected it, never trained for it, never wanted it. And I already knew I was going to get too invested and give too much of myself, striving to make Lowden the best and healthiest it had ever been. And it was probably going to cost me my life; I just knew it.

Blowing out a breath, I sat up and rested my hands on my knees, knowing any chance of rest was gone now. There was too much to plan and decide and worry about.

We really needed to return to Lowden posthaste; my list of things to do kept growing in my head, and sitting around here, bellyaching about a little motion sickness was helping nothing.

That’s it. I was going to grab something to eat and cut our break short. We had to get home.

But as I stood, already dreading the notion of crawling back into that carriage, a commotion from outside had me frowning in curiosity.

I glanced toward the tent flaps, wondering what was going on and where the hell Valerio was. He was always the first to check in with a report whenever there was even the hint of trouble. And when he didn’t come blowing inside, I decided whatever the issue was, it couldn’t be that serious, so I pushed my way to my feet and headed toward the exit.

I poked my head out into the daylight and discovered no one was guarding the entrance of my quarters. Everyone’s attention had been diverted toward the side of my tent.

Huh. Even more intrigued, I stepped into the daylight just as a female voice shrieked, “No! Somebody help me. I didn’t do anything. Please…”

For the love of God, I was surrounded by guards. Why was no one helping the poor wench?

I tried to elbow my way through the mob, but when one soldier didn’t step out of my way, I finally just gave up with the docile approach and boomed, “What the devil is going on out here?”

And there… A lane immediately parted for me, allowing me to finally see better.

That was more like it. I guess this king thing did come with a few fringe benefits.

But what I saw had me frowning in confusion. Guthrie, one of my senior guards, was wielding a sword and stretching it over his head above two other guards who were holding down what appeared to be the fair maiden crying out in distress.

Immediately letting her go, the guards spun toward me and kneeled in a respectful bow. And the woman sprang upright so she could twist around and gape my way as well.

I blinked and straightened, taking her in. She was a pretty chit, dark flowing hair, darker eyes, nice smooth skin, plush lips. But she wasn’t the type that usually stood out or one that the masses would call remarkable. Yet there was something about her that captured my full attention and stood out to me, something that woke the primal male inside me. And he wanted to snatch her from the ground, carry her off to his lair, and take her in every way imaginable. And then, he wanted to do it all over again.

Which caused me to grit my teeth guiltily because she certainly wasn’t doing anything to be seductive at all. And yet I wanted her anyway. I wanted to growl at every other man looking at her and label her as mine.

Squinting and lifting her hand against the sunlight, she ogled me for a good ten seconds in return before gasping, “Holy shit.”

I blinked, wondering if she could somehow see my uncontrollable response.

Determined to act as if I wasn’t experiencing anything unusual, I turned stiffly toward Guthrie, who had finally lowered his sword in my presence. “Explain.”

“We caught this assassin trying to sneak into your tent, Your Majesty,” he rushed out. “And we were just about to execute her to eliminate the threat, that’s all. Nothing for you to worry about.”

Over my dead body would anyone lay a hand against this woman.

But aside from that, had he just said…

“Assassin?” I returned my perplexed scowl to the girl still kneeling on the ground. “You mean, her?”

Dressed in fine robes and groomed tidily, I would’ve taken her for a lady of the court. Not a killer.

I pointed. “She’s an assassin?”

“Good God,” she gasped, blinking at me as if in a trance. “You’re just so freaking gorgeous.”

I c****d up an eyebrow—wondering if my unnatural attraction was somehow contagious, or maybe someone had set off an aphrodisiac into the air—then I returned my attention to Guthrie. “You figured she was going to flatter me to death, did you?”

His face turned a bright scarlet with embarrassment. “No. I... She…” Flustered by my heckling, he fumbled a moment longer before jabbing a meaty finger accusingly at the girl. “Well, she was trying to break into the backside of your tent, Your Majesty. With her pet snake.”

Okay, now I had to be hearing things. This was getting too bizarre to be real. “I’m sorry; did you say her pet snake?”

He nodded solemnly. “I chopped him in half; his body’s just over there.”

I glanced that way, not about to go examine the remains of a blasted snake. Instead, I glanced at the girl for clarification.

She blinked big brown eyes, and I had an absolutely inappropriate image pop into my head of her kneeling just like that and looking at me with that very expression as she took my c**k into her mouth.

But then she jarred my brain back to the moment when she swore, “I never saw that snake before in my life.”

“Oh, is that why you sicced it on me to attack, then?” Guthrie charged as if catching her in some kind of word trap.

“As if. I did no such thing.” Straightening her spine indignantly, the girl pushed her way to her feet to glare daggers into his face.

This time, both my brows rose in interest. She was quite a feisty piece. I had to appreciate her pluck and then wonder if she’d be as spirited as this in the bedchamber before I told myself to cut such thoughts from my brain.

“He just happened to be back there,” she railed bravely at the guard, “because, I don’t know, there’s a forest behind the tent, maybe. And snakes live in forests. I bet you probably stepped on his tail or something, which made him mad.” She sent Guthrie a challenging smirk as if daring him to deny the possibility. “There’s no reason to blame me for it.”