Page 46 of The King's Sword
“What’s going on?” Sabine asked.
“This is my sister, Princess Gemma, and this is a unit of her best fighters.” Evander moved his hand from Sabine’s shoulder to her lower back, stepping beside her and smiling.
Sabine knew Avoni didn’t have an army in the traditional sense of the word. “Her best fighters?” she asked, wanting clarification that these people who were dressed and looked like assassins were on their side and wouldn’t be attacking them.
“Yesterday, when we returned to the inn, I had a message sent to the palace. I was afraid with my injury that I wouldn’t be enough protection for you, and I requested help.” He dropped his hand from her back and stepped forward, wrapping his arm around his sister and hugging her. “It’s good to see you. Thank you for coming.”
It would have been nice if he’d mentioned this to Sabine before now. She tapped her foot, thinking about how her brothers hated to ask for help. The fact that Evander had swallowed his pride and did this revealed a lot about him. Another curtain he’d pulled back for her to see behind.
Gemma came and stood before Sabine, her face unreadable. The young woman had beautiful dark red hair pulled into a bun. Her hazel eyes glistened, reminding Sabine of Evander. Both brother and sister had the same skin tone.
“Gemma,” Evander said, “may I introduce Queen Sabine Manfred.” Evander extended his arm to Sabine.
Sabine smiled at Gemma, for some reason wanting the woman to like her.
“I have a lot of questions for the two of you, but I suspect that is a conversation for us to have in private.” She glanced between Sabine and Evander, neither one of them responding. “We must get moving—especially since there is a large bounty on your head.” She focused her attention back on her brother. “You look awful.”
“Thanks.”
Gemma made several hand gestures to the members of her unit and as one, they turned, facing out, making a pathway down the center between them.
“Let’s go,” Evander mumbled, taking Sabine’s hand.
The two of them followed Gemma as they made their way between the assassin-soldiers. When they reached the middle of the group, the unit closed in around them, effectively blocking them from an attack.
The urge to tease Evander about this being a bit excessive and the fact that his sister had come to their rescue was almost too great to pass up. However, with so many people around, she didn’t feel comfortable joking with him. It seemed best to keep her mouth shut for now. While she probably shouldn’t be holding Evander’s hand in front of others, it at least afforded her the opportunity to make sure no one bumped against his side where the cut was.
As a group, they made their way through the town and to the canal without incident. Based on Sabine’s estimates, there were fifty people which meant they were going to have to take at least a dozen boats. Instead of stopping at the dock as she thought they would, they traveled a few blocks south along the canal until they came to a longer dock that had a large, flat boat with a roof. Gemma and her soldiers began boarding.
“Are we taking this?” she asked.
“We are.” Evander helped Sabine step into the boat.
She led him to the back so he’d be out of the way. With so many people on board, she didn’t want him to be jostled or hit on his side.
Once the rest of the unit had boarded, the boat slowly pushed away from the dock, heading south along the canal.
Evander sat on the floor, pulling Sabine down with him. “It’s safer,” he said.
Sabine leaned her back against the side of the boat, watching everyone else stand around.
“Sorry,” he said, recapturing her attention.
“For what?”
“At first, I was afraid the wound was deep and I wouldn’t be able to defend you properly. I thought asking my sister for help was the best course of action. But now that she’s here, I regret doing so. Not only does it seem excessive, but you appear overwhelmed and uncomfortable. I thought she’d send one or two fighters. Not come herself with herentireunit. For that, I apologize.” He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding her gaze.
“There’s no need to apologize.” She’d rather have more protection than not enough. She had no doubt Evander would have fought to protect her if necessary, even if that meant he got hurt in the process. Having reinforcements here was a good thing.
He tilted his head to the side, looking into her eyes. “It seems the tables have turned and you have become my protector. Thank you for stitching me up and administering the necessary medicines.”
Her face warmed from both the compliment and the intensity of his attention. “It was the least I could do.” She reached out and took hold of his hand, squeezing it.
“Here,” Gemma said as she squatted before Evander holding a bottle. “You need to take a swig of this medicine to make sure you don’t get an infection.” She handed it to Evander. “And make sure you see the healer when we get there.”
“Where are we going?” Sabine asked as Evander took a drink from the bottle.
“We are headed to the main palace.” Gemma stood, looking at her brother. “I hope you know what you’re doing.” She folded her arms.
