Page 108 of Enchanted Shadows
“Hold that thought.” I dropped my voice to a whisper. “May I ask for one more quick favor, wife?”
“Yes.”
I grabbed her hand and pulled us toward the secret passageway. “Hide us in shadows so I can mess with my nephews.”
Within minutes, the world seemed brighter, less cruel. Warrick and Arden made life seem full of possibility and hope. They talked with Kessara for a little bit before we opted to head to the meadow. Kessara shocked me by asking if she could come along. We took extra guards per Krew’s request and headed outside into the sunshine.
Despite summer lingering for far too long, in the last few weeks, fall had arrived. It didn’t sneak in like it sometimes did; it seemed this year to just open a door and let us step from one season to the next. It was cooler, but with the heat from the sun, still gorgeous out.
The trees of the forest were starting to turn colors too, hues of yellow first, then some oranges. I would never tire of seeing this forest in the fall. A forest that had been black and dead for a decade giving us the promise that after a sleep, the trees would return strong once again.
I put up a target and helped Warrick and Arden practice with their bows. Arden’s was unsharpened sticks, as he was far too young.
“Can I start with a sword when you get back from your trip?” Warrick asked. He was in that in-between stage I remembered Wren being in. She was about his age when I disappeared to help form the disloyal.
Normally I would say no, but I was talking to a future king. A future king some in Savaryn were refusing to back, calling himthe bastard princeinstead. A phrase that made my blood run hot every time I heard it.
“Yeah,” I told him. “We’ll start you on a practice sword.”
“Really?!”he exclaimed.
“Really.”
He passed his bow to Kessara kindly. “Wanna try?”
She smirked. “No thank you.”
“Owen can teach you how,” he urged.
She sent me that look, that damn look that both drove me to madness or could bring me to my knees.
I glared at her as I guessed, “She already knows how.”
“She does?!” Arden laughed. “No way.”
“I was well trained with weapons in Agria,” she told Warrick.
He was quiet a moment. “Is—is that standard princess training there?”
She laughed. “No. Not at all. But I am not your standard princess.”
No, she was not.
She grabbed his bow, knocked an arrow like most people lace a shoe, and fired the arrow sure and true. It hit just next to the bullseye.
“You two should have a competition!” Warrick provided.
I looked him dead in the eyes as I said, “That is a horrible idea. I would hate for my wife to have to lose.”
Warrick snickered, then tried to cover it, before laughing again.
Kessara grinned at me and said, “Either way, you get to sleep with a winner.”
Within ten minutes, she had beat me soundly. So soundly I wondered if she intentionally shot her first shot a little off the mark. And though I normally hated the taste of losing, with as happy as she and the boys were about it, I found I wasn’t even all that mad. It was times like this that I was reminded I hadn’t even heard Kessara laugh those first few weeks of training.
We headed in with the boys, opting to eat with them in the kitchen of the royal wing, Krew and Jorah joining us later.
“Well, we need to start baths and showers, and you two need torest,” Jorah told us as she began walking with the boys. “Krew and I will see you off in the morning.”
