Page 54 of Enchanted Heir
My eyes went wide, thinking of a conversation I’d had a long time ago with Owen.“What?”
Owen slapped at his legs laughing. So obviously he thought of it too.
Krew’s lips smirked. “I meant for your sore muscles. It’ll help with that.”
“Who besides Owen takes cold showers willingly?” I demanded.
Krew’s smile got bigger.
I headed toward the shower, saying over my shoulder, “You’re all monsters.”
* * *
Later that night,Krew slid into bed beside me. He’d been around more today, he and Owen talking about some disloyal radicals in the sitting room when I crawled into bed and read for a while before closing my eyes and falling asleep. I’d taken a longer nap than I ever had at the castle, and I was still tired. It had been a long few days.
“I have a question,” Krew stated as he turned toward me and propped his head up on his hand. “Why did you ask Owen to train you?”
I took a deep breath and looked at the tall ceilings. “I don’t know. I just don’t like feeling defenseless.”
“So you won’t take a drop of my magic, but you will train with Owen?”
My eyes flew to his. “Even a drop of your magic would not help me survive a run in with your father.” I shrugged. “I feel like had I known how, I could have had Michael off me sooner. Not that you weren’t fast. You were unbelievably so. I just want to know how to defend myself for the minutes it takes for you or Owen to get there.”
“But the combination of Owen’s traininganda drop of my magic would make you able to defend yourself from anyone.”
I thought on that a moment. Magic? Crackling in my hands and running along my veins? I just couldn’t imagine it. Me? An Enchanted? “But then who would fight off your nightmares?”
A quick smirk flashed across Krew’s face. “You likely still would, love.”
I laughed. “I have another request though. Or a question I’ve been meaning to ask.” I rolled so I was laying the same way he was. And didn’t he realize how good his collar bone and bicep looked propped up like that? It was rude.
Krew dipped his chin signaling for me to ask.
“I don’t mean to be too presumptuous,” I began. “I know we need to play our parts for a while, but eventually you are going to kick me out of this castle. But I kind of want to know more information about your father’s most loyal men. None of them seem like the type of men I should find myself cornered by.” I heaved a sigh. “And I feel like I’m always the last to know everything. So even just telling me a list of people to avoid or something like that would be nice.”
“That’s completely reasonable.” He paused. “Can we start with the three you should most likely avoid?”
I nodded.
“The Noyer family, the Koss family, and the Langston family are all the ones with close ties to my father. They fancy themselves important and are most likely to misstep like Michael did with you the other night.”
I took that in. “Noyer. Koss. Langston. I think I am going to need some flashcards. And I think I have met Annette Koss before.”
Krew added, “We are only going to be able to do a few at a time leading up to a ball or event. Then I’ll point them out to you so you can put names and faces together.”
“Wait,” I paused, “with the Noyers in hot water, who will be the replacement there?”
“Either the LeFrams or the Varga family. Rolland LeFram is all about appearances and looking close to the crown. So he’s probably safer than Thomas Varga, who is younger and more inclined to blindly follow my father’s poor decisions. He’s an ambitious fool.”
“What about The Six?” I asked.
“What about them?”
I was trying to think of how to word what I was thinking. “Who are your three most loyal supporters?”
“Owen. Keir. Hatchet.” He shrugged. “In that order too probably. Because sadly with Keir I always have to ask myself if his motivations are to wear the crown himself more than he wants to remove it from my father. Though to be fair, not as much recently as when we were younger.”
“Okay, rank the rest. Just because I’m curious.”
