Page 6 of Winter Princess
“Don’t worry, I’ve seen it all before when I undressed you.”
“Not helping.”
“You’ve got nothing to hide, princess. Now come on, the others are waiting.” He jumps off my bed. At the door, he turns back. “You’ve got five minutes, then I’m sending in Arc.”
I keep clutching the duvet for another minute, just in case he or one of his friends return. Of course, I’ve been naked in front of guys before, but usually I knew them and had chosen to take off my clothes. Or chosen to let the guy take them off for me.
When I step out of the room, the four men are waiting for me. Arc is in a kilt again (a blue-green one this time; apparently, he’s not loyal to one particular clan), Storm all in black with a high button shirt (but no cloak) and Frost in aWinter is Comingt-shirt. They’re all as different as they come – even the twins have their own distinct looks. And Gods, are they all gorgeous. My hormones are fluttering excitedly. Down, girls, they are off limits. I don’t even know them, and it’s likely just a job for them. Bring the princess to the Winter Queen.
“Ready?” Storm asks, his voice a low grumble. Eww, someone didn’t sleep well. Or maybe that’s just his general attitude.
I nod and follow them out of the hotel. When we step outside, I realise we’re still in Edinburgh. And that yesterday was a mess. I stop in my tracks, making Crispin bump into me. “What happened yesterday? You know, after- “
“After you levelled the street?” Frost laughs.
“Not funny,” Storm grumbles. “Arc had to spend two hours changing your neighbours’ memories.”
“Wow, you can do that?” I stare at the ginger Scot. He shrugs uncomfortably. “Aye, I guess.”
“Are my parents alright?”
“Yes, your mother had a slight graze on her arm, but I healed it, so don’t worry,” Crispin says from behind me.
“You can heal?”
“How do you think you’re up and walking?” Storm says impatiently. “Can we have this conversation somewhere that isn’t among humans?” He says it like being human is an insult. That reminds me, I don’t even know what they are. My mother told me her guards would come and collect them, and I know that one can heal, one can change memories and one can manipulate the air’s temperature. I’ve not seen Frost do anything magical, but I’m sure he has some kind of amazing magic, just like the others. I can’t wait to find out if I can do some of what they can. I’d love to be able to heal.
Before I can ask any more questions, Storm leads us away from the busy streets until we come to a small rental car place. While he goes inside, the other guys are looking at the cars on display, their eyes wide and mouths salivating. Well, maybe not the latter. Men. Give them something shiny to look at and they forget all about the woman in their company.
“Where are we going?” I ask them but don’t get a reply. They’re too busy examining cars. Tsss, apparently it doesn’t matter that they’re not human, they’re just as easily distracted by a few PS. Ok, that Ferrari looks quite nice, but as long as it gets me where I want it to, I don’t really care what car I drive.
Storm comes out, waving a set of keys. I thought he’d rent some kind of sports car, something sleek and expensive, but we stop in front of a large seven-seat people carrier.
“Seriously?” Arc asks him. Frost is bent over laughing.
“It was on offer,” Storm grumbles.
“We’ve got access to the royal bank accounts. You’d think we could afford to rent something more… like a car.”
“Maybe if you lost some weight we would all fit into a nice car,” Storm smirks.
“Oi, it’s all muscle!” Arc flexes his biceps and then lifts his kilt to give me a view of his thick leg muscles. Thanks, didn’t need to see that. He’s probably traditionalist enough to not wear anything beneath the kilt.
“Let’s get going, we’ve got quite a long way ahead of us.” Storm shoos us into the car, taking the driver’s seat for himself. Frost joins his brother in the front, while Arc claims the back bench. I join Crispin on the seats in the middle.
“Where are we going?” I ask as we drive out of the rental place and along Edinburgh’s busy streets.
“Calanais on the Isle of Lewis.”
“The Western Isles? That’s in the middle of nowhere. Why there?”
“The standing stones are the closest portal to the God Realms.”
“So we’re going to step through the stones like in Outlander?”
Four clueless men look at me. Guess that book hasn’t made it into the Realm’s libraries yet (do they have libraries there? Or computers? Will my Kindle work?) Actually…
“I need to go home first, pack my stuff.”
