Page 51 of A Sword of Ice
Prince Valerio sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose then turned to Uric. “She is one of us now. Her mission is our mission. We have to help her.”
Uric’s jaw tightened in response.
Ha, ha. Asshole.
Prince Valerio turned back to Iona. “But no more detours. After we find him, you help us find the third Elemental?”
“Yeah, sure.” She didn’t ask questions. The most important thing was finding her familiar.
Shula muttered from behind her. “I wasn’t given that luxury.”
Iona wondered at that, but before anyone could acknowledge that comment, Iona was darting towards the docks and the boat that would lead them to the West Isles.
* * *
“Impulsive,”Valerio muttered, watching Iona run towards the boat. “Worse than the Fire Dancer.”
Shula glared at him with indignation, but Julius didn’t pay attention to them. He was watching his woman. His mate.
She moved with a brutal force, but there was a certain grace to those movements that he admired. The docks were nearly empty, with a few humans hauling baskets of fish from smelly, dark waters. No soldiers littered the place, but he knew that was always a possibility of changing.
He watched, her boots echoing against the wooden docks as she ran towards the boat and stormed up it like she was a queen entering her castle.
Humans shouted, some charged at her and she smiled and dodged their swords, using maneuvers and slaps to disarm them and turn their own weapons against them. She fought through them, tossing them off the side of the boat with vicious kicks against their backs. By the time she’d taken possession of the boat by herself, she was panting, and Julius couldn’t help but notice she looked a little weary.
“I must look at her wound,” Ryker insisted anxiously, pushing past Julius and making his way to the docks. He’d obviously noticed the same thing in regards to her wound. Normally, Julius scoffed at Ryker’s self-sacrificing ways. But he didn’t fault him for it this time, considering the one he wanted to heal was Julius’ mate.
“Guess it’s time to go.” Clay slapped Julius on the shoulder, a broad smile on his lips. “Damn, Darah, you found a mate who could kick your ass straight to another life if she wanted.”
Before Julius could respond, Shula shoved past them, her every step a stomping aggression as she followed after Ryker towards the boat.
“What’s her problem?” Clay asked, brows pulled together as he followed her movements.
“We are wasting time with this,” Uric insisted. “Valerio—”
“Enough!” Valerio barked. “We need her.”
“We could—”
“No.” Uric opened his mouth to argue, but the prince interrupted before he could get the chance. “The same methods we used for Shula will not work on this Fae, and I will not risk her ire. Kidnapping Shula at the time was our solution, but I will not do something so callous again. Iona is willing to help us, all we have to do is this single favor for her.”
Uric’s jaw clenched with disapproval, but he didn’t contradict Valerio again.
Julius ignored them and made his way towards the boat, boarding to find Iona on deck, raising anchor with brusque, impatient movements. She aggressively torqued the handle, shoving against it and huffing.
“Let’s go!” she called out. “I want to leave before the soldiers come!”
Julius smiled to himself and went to help his mate. She flicked a glance at him as he took over, using his gift of strength to help raise the anchor quicker.
She didn’t thank him like he thought she would. Didn’t even look impressed. She was already onto the next task, and once the anchor was up and everyone was on board, she began steering.
Clay swaggered next to her and Julius listened in on their conversation, his irritation at Clay’s flirtatious nature growing. “Do you know how to do this?” he purred salaciously.
She shot him a look of impatience. “More than you, probably.”
“Jokes on you, because Valerio and I are excellent sailors.”
Iona didn’t answer. Or if she did, Julius didn’t hear. He was already turning away, a frown pulling at his brows as they started to sail away.
