Page 43 of Enchanted Heir
He crossed his arms and turned to look me in the eyes. “I did a little research. Krew and I were both at a party in Savaryn the night your father died.” He paused. “We were not in Nerede.”
I took a deep breath in with that information. “So neither of you killed my father?”
Owen shook his head.
“No,” Krew added.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Thank you for checking.”
“So what do you think your mother is going to do?” Owen asked as he moved to walk again, effectively changing the subject entirely. “About the switch.”
I took one more deep breath and shrugged, taking Krew’s extended hand to step over a huge log. “I assume she will already know. Judging by the whispers and stares, I assume it’s filtered down through the levels of the kingdom.”
“A scandal,” Owen scoffed. “Yet the king is like a breathing scandal, and no one bats an eyelash at him.”
That was a decent point. “At least it will up my marriage marketability for when I return to Nerede.” I wasn’t sure I could pour any more sarcasm into my tone.
I felt Krew’s glare before I saw it.
“What?” I asked. “It’s a thing.”
He rolled his eyes. “I know it’s a thing. I was only wondering if your ex-lover would be such a suitor you would entertain. Surely Will has not lost any affections toward you.”
“And what does it matter to any of you?” I asked defensively. I had zero interest in marrying Will. But I also didn’t know why Owen and Krew loathed him so much.
“Because you deserve better,” Owen snapped.
“I also deserved better than Keir. Who was in the highest level of the kingdom and still treated me poorly,” I reminded them.
“True,” Krew agreed. “I just find it hard to believe you should find a man in any level of the kingdom that I should deem good enough for you.”
I sighed. “So am I destined to be a recluse then?”
It wasn’t a question I wanted an answer to, as I strode over to the tree. “Dammit,” I groaned.
I really hoped today would be the day. After the fire yesterday and seeing that I couldn’t keep going to the main kitchens as often, I wanted this little pick me up. I kicked the dirt, mad at the king and possibly even the forest a smidgeon too, for not healing fast enough when I was doing everything I could, literally bleeding upon it to help. But when I kicked, I saw something green by the toe of my boot.
I was then dropping to the ground and moving the crunchy leaves away to find it.
Sure enough, in the middle of a dead forest, in the middle of fall, a small blade of green was peeking out from the ground.
“Owen!” I hissed. “It worked.”
Having barely made a sound as they approached, they were soon with me on the ground, looking at the spot.
I looked at Owen’s green eyes, then to Krew’s gray ones. “What does it mean?”
Krew shook his head. “It means your blood is not only immune to magic, but it also has a healing property to it.” He paused. “It means, love, that you are now more valuable alive than dead.”
* * *
“You switched!”Mother exclaimed as we walked in the door.
Just as I suspected. She already knew. I nodded while hanging my coat. “I did.”
She gave me a look. “I, for one, was not surprised after his visit here.”
“Mother,” I groaned, stealing a look at Owen where he took his post looking out the window. I wished there was some sort of magic I could use on her to get her to stop talking.
