Thorn Queen (Dark Swan, #2)(16)

"Davros is wrong," the woman said. "Our daughter did not run off. She was taken by the bandits who live in the passes."

"Everyone knows they're there," added the man. He eyed Davros. "Them and their beasts. Even you won't deny their existence. They've been there for years, and she isn't the first girl to disappear."

I turned to Davros. "Is that true?"

He shifted uncomfortably under my gaze. "Well, yes, your majesty, but such brigands are nothing you need to concern yourself about, just as King Aeson did not."

"Wait. Aeson knew there were bandits going after you guys and didn't do anything?"

"Such petty concerns were beneath him," said Davros. To my astonishment, he seemed to believe that.

"I don't know," I said slowly. "If a monarch doesn't take care of that kind of thing, I'm not really sure what they're supposed to do."

Truthfully, I didn't want to deal with this any more than I wanted any other Thorn Land responsibilities. But the mention of Aeson had stirred my blood. Aeson had been a self-serving *, and it pissed me off that he would have left these people to fend for themselves. The only thing I wanted less than to be a ruler was to be a ruler like him.

Furthermore, the same fury that Jasmine's abduction had stirred in me flared up. Maybe it was my own experience with always being chased down by aggressive men, but I hated the thought of any girl facing rape or abduction. It didn't matter that these were gentry girls and not humans. The principle was the same. Brigands and thieves taking advantage of young girls, of preying on those weaker, had to be stopped.

"I'll send people to take care of these bandits," I said finally. Behind me, Rurik made a strange sound. "But I can't make any guarantees about your daughter."

The couple's faces lit up, and they fell to the ground in gratitude. "Thank you, your majesty!" the woman cried.

Her husband chimed in. "Truly you are generous and magnanimous and-"

"Yeah, okay, there's no need for that," I said hastily. "Or to kneel. You're going to get all dirty."

We had just started to ride away when Shaya leaned toward me. "You've made a lot of promises today."

I thought about it. She was right. I'd promised to help them get food, rebuild their infrastructure, and rid themselves of those who preyed upon them. "Yeah. I guess I did."

She gave me a bemused look. "And how are you going to accomplish all of this?"

I glanced around us, noting that the faces watching us leave town were no longer blank and afraid. They were grateful and adoring. I sighed.

"That," I told her, "is an excellent question."




I fully intended to make good on my promises, and in Tucson the next day, I began acquiring an odd assortment of goods that I hoped might improve the Thorn Land's situation. Admittedly, they were kind of lame, but I figured I had to start somewhere and was rather proud of my attempts when I finished.

I was sitting down in front of the TV with an early dinner that night when Kiyo walked in, clad in his white vet's coat. Naturally, all the animals lifted their heads or actually walked over to him in greeting. If I hadn't been balancing a plate of ravioli on my lap, I would have leapt up and run into his arms. Instead, I gave him a dazzling smile, one that grew larger when I saw he carried a bouquet of flowers.

"I would have been here sooner," he said, tossing the coat onto a chair. "But I had an afternoon shift."

"Hey, I'm just happy to see you at all. I figured you'd still be busy with baby stuff."

"Nope." He sat down in a chair opposite me and laid the bouquet down on the coffee table. "You were amazing there, you know."

"If by amazing, you mean shoddily dressed and leading on gentry princes-then, yes. Yes, I was. What are those for?" I gestured with my fork to the flowers-an arrangement of brightly colored gerbera daisies.

"Do I need a reason? Aside from you being awesome?"

I swallowed the piece of ravioli I'd just chewed. "Of course there's a reason. There's always a reason. We've talked about this before."

He gave me a lazy, dangerous smile, propping his head up on his elbow as his dark eyes assessed me. "Right. Standard practices in courtship and mating. Gifts given as subtle suggestions. 'Here, take these plant sex organs.' Hint, hint." It was an old joke between us.

"Fortunately, in your case, you don't need to be that subtle. I already know you want sex."

"True, but I wanted to clear up any doubts. Besides, you've been so great lately...I don't know. I just wanted to do something nice. Figured we could have a fun night-although, you're dashing my dreams of taking you out to dinner with the way you're inhaling that ravioli."

"Sorry," I said through a mouthful of food. "I've got a job tonight, so I had to eat early."

His eyebrows rose. "What kind of raw deal is this? I get off work so I can take you out on the town, and you've got to go into work now? Why can't you have Lara schedule you day jobs?"

"Because I was busy today with Thorn Land business."

Kiyo gave me a wary look.

"Hey, don't judge me," I warned. "I wasn't actually over there. But I kind of found out recently that people are starving and going without water."