Page 34 of The Twisted Throne

James blinked as he remembered the feel of those long legs wrapped around him in the cave under Northwatch. Then his uncle’s words registered. “How do you know what she looks like?”

Cormac shrugged. “Got a good look at the princess as she climbed over the wall of Fernleigh House. She followed you for a time, but then headed in the direction of the harbor. Maybe we got lucky and the princess is boarding a ship to Ithicana, solving our problem for us.”

James was already on his feet, because knowing Ahnna as he was coming to,luckwas not in the stars tonight.

“Is there anything else you require from me tonight, Uncle?” he demanded. “Or may we adjourn?”

Cormac spread his hands wide. “I think you have larger problems to manage than mine.”

James was already out the door.

Ahnna tilted her head, shockgiving way to rage that this gutter pig of a man would dare to lay hands on her. Her hand balled into a fist, and she turned, already swinging.

Only to find empty space where Jasper had once been, because the man was already sailing through the air to land with a crash on the neighboring table. Men cursed and barmaids screamed, glassware shattering every which way as a black-clad figure picked up Jasper by his shirt and slammed him back down on the table. “You dare to lay hands on a lady?”

James.

“I didn’t know!” Jasper squealed, trying to pull free from James’s grasp. “She ain’t dressed like a lady!”

James only slammed him down again. Ahnna moved to intervene, because she could bloody well handle her own fistfights, but the broken-nose man had picked up a chair.

“I don’t think so,” she snarled, grabbing him by his greasy hair and bouncing his head off a table. Only to see the third man swing at her from her periphery.

Ahnna ducked, hearing a growl of fury, and then James’s fist connected with the third man’s head. He dropped, out cold, but now more men were throwing themselves into the fray.

A red-haired woman with breasts the size of wine casks shrieked a string of curses and tried to slap Ahnna, but she sidestepped the drunken swipe and punched the woman in the throat. Only for a chair to slam against her back.

Hissing in pain, Ahnna picked up a broken piece of the chair and cracked the man who’d hit her across the head, then hit another man who tried to punch her with a blow to the stomach.

“Stop, you fools!” The barkeep was standing on his bar, screaming at the top of his lungs. “It’s Prince James! Stop, you cursed idiots—you’re fighting with the king’s son!”

At first, Ahnna was convinced that veins were running too thick with ale and anger to hear, but a handful of level heads seemed to register his pleas, calming their fellows. The bartender pointed a finger at James, who stood half a head taller than any man in the room. “It’s Prince James!”

“King’s bastard,” she heard more than a few mutter, which was either brave or stupid, in her opinion, because James had come out of the melee uninjured while groaning figures lay on the ground all around him.

The barkeep’s finger moved to her. “And that ass you slapped, Jasper? It belongs to the goddamned princess of Ithicana. Be glad it was our good prince who knocked you flat, for if Ithicana’s king caught word his sister was so abused, he would cut off the offending hand and mail it to your mother!”

Aren would do no such thing, but it was a well-worded threat, so Ahnna let it stand. Her gaze moved to James, who looked so furious that he might start another brawl just to spend the emotion. Instead, he pulled some coins from his pocket and slappedthem on the bar. “For the damages.” Then his amber eyes fixed on Ahnna. “We’re leaving. Now.”

There was only one man alive she took orders from, and her brother wasn’t here. Yet as she looked around at the mess of tables, broken glasses, and spilled drinks, Ahnna allowed reason to hold sway over her pride. Shrugging, she picked her way through the mess, taking up a bottle of whiskey as she passed the bar, then headed out the door of the Fabled Flask.

James’s boots made heavy thuds down the steps after her. “Have you lost your bloody mind? You have no business being out on your own at this hour, much less in an establishment like this!”

Pride once again took over, because she was Ahnna Kertell, and she went where she fucking wanted to go. Scowling, she crossed the street toward another alehouse.

“Where are you going?” James demanded.

“I never got my drink.” She tried stepping around mounds of horse shit, but it was everywhere, so she gave up. “Nor my conversation.”

“You are to return to Fernleigh immediately, Your Highness.”

Ahnna snorted softly, watching him stomp angrily through the shit out of the corner of her eye. “You are neither my king nor my father, which means you don’t have any authority over me,Your Highness.”

She could feel frustration seething from him, but Ahnna didn’t care. He had no grounds for ordering her about, especially given she’d have been reasonable if he hadn’t spoken to her as though she were a child. He didn’t have to agree with her choices, but he did need to treat her like a grown woman when criticizing them.

“You are a lady, Ahnna,” James hissed, stepping into her path. “There are certain standards of behavior expected from you, and this is not it. You will return with me to Fernleigh this minute!”

“I’m not a lady.” She sidestepped him, taking a mouthful fromthe neck of the bottle. “And if you want me to return, either ask me nicely or make me. Because ordering me about will get you nowhere.”

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