Pretty Bride (Rags to Riches 3)

“Call to her!” Strax snarled.

Grinning, Aruk shouted over the crowd, “Mara of Aremond! Hold where you are, and my brother and I will hasten your path to the docks!”

Nothing would tempt her more than going faster. This tournament was a race, and she lagged far behind the other contestants.

Strax surged ahead, forging a path through the crowd. A laughing Aruk followed in his wake. Quickly his brother was upon her, hauling the burden of the saddle from her grip and snarling, “If you cannot even push your way through a crowd, how will you have strength enough to climb the Skull Cliffs?”

“By eating the hearts of my enemies,” she snapped back. “Though I think yours might taste like piss.”

“More likely troll dung,” Aruk said. “Fresh and steaming.”

Strax growled at both of them.

Mara held out her hand in clear demand. “Give back to me the saddle. I can carry it.”

“You wish to go faster? Then I will carry it. Follow close behind Aruk as he makes a path.”

And with Strax close behind Mara. The besotted, cursed fool. Aruk glanced back once to see his brother bending his face nearer to Mara’s hair, as if to catch her scent, eyes closing in a mix of agony and ecstasy when he breathed her in.

She ignored Strax utterly. Around them, the crowd grew restless as trumpets sounded in the distance.

She tapped his shoulder, voice lifted over the din. “The horse dealer said the primary route to the docks will be near impassable, and to cut through to the lower street after we pass through the main square.”

Aruk nodded. “What is this celebration?”

“Savadon’s princess has come of age, so they are gathered for a parade.”

A parade for which the entire kingdom seemed to have turned out. “A popular princess she must be.”

“I do not know about that,” came Mara’s wry reply. “In short time, I have heard her called spoiled and selfish and difficult. So I suspect they truly gather because gold coins were minted with her likeness, and as part of the celebration, they will be tossed into the crowd.”

“They toss gold at the crowd? Then I might also linger for a glimpse of this princess, spoiled and difficult though she is.”

Mara laughed. “I have seen your purse. You are not so desperate for coins.”

“But we will not hire out our swords while seeking the gauntlet,” he said to her. “So there will be many coins leaving that purse and none going in. What sort of selfish princess tosses away gold?”

“I do not know that she is truly selfish. That is only what was said—and not much weight would I give to such words. Spoiled, she might be. Many princesses are. But I have known too many women who were called selfish and difficult, simply because those women did as they liked without regard for the opinions of those who would have her behave in a manner better suited to their own interests.”

“I think you might have been called difficult a time or two.”

“So I have.” She sounded amused. “Though by that measure, I am not nearly as difficult as a barbarian from the Dead Lands.”

As he and Strax were. “You think we only do as we like?”

“I think that you are so big that even if you were selfish and spoiled, never would I have the courage to say so aloud.”

Aruk laughed, for that was a clear lie. She had courage enough to say anything to warriors of his size. Had she not just threatened to eat his brother’s heart? Though there was nothing left of it that she had not already consumed.

The trumpets sounded again, nearer. The crowd surged, breaking around Aruk as a stream broke around a rock. Mara staggered into his back.

Her sharp protest sounded, then his brother’s gruff, “Quiet, woman. When they begin throwing coins, you’ll be trampled by the mob. I’ll set you down again when we are clear of the crowd.”

It was not coins yet, but the parade—mounted soldiers riding two abreast, banners flying, and those at the front shouting for everyone to make way. The crowd surged again, parting to clear a path through the street. The press of people around him became a tight crush, as they jostled for position and shoved closer together. On opposite side, he saw a woman stumble against another and disappear.

This was madness. Pushing forward, he threw back to Strax, “Get Mara away from this. I will meet you at the docks.”

With Mara cradled against his chest, his brother gave a short nod and pressed on.

Aruk broke through the line and into the cleared street, paying no heed to the mounted soldier shouting at him to make way. Into the crowd on the opposite side he shoved, gaze locked on where the woman had fallen. With sheer muscle, a path he made and dragged the woman up to her feet.