To Love a Prince (Knights of Valor Book 1)(20)

“Yet he tolerates Premal.”

Auburn lifted her shoulders. “Premal is very rich and very powerful. Not even the sultan can do exactly as he pleases.”

“So Premal uses you to make me look bad to the sultan and undermine these negotiations. He’s either a master strategist or a spoiled child.”

“Or both,” Auburn said. “He didn’t become as wealthy as he is by being foolish, but wealth can make men feel entitled to things and angry when they don’t get those things.”

“An unpredictable enemy. Or at least one I can’t predict yet because I don’t know the game.”

“He will try again, but he’ll be less bold.”

Eli’s protective side roared and his eyes narrowed. “If he tests me, he will learn what it means to challenge a Prince of Tamryn.”

Auburn interlaced her fingers with his. “Please don’t let it interfere with the trade negotiations. The people of Qumaref will suffer if you don’t reach an agreement.”

Eli thought about that several minutes. “Was Premal involved in discussions with K’tel and Arren?”

“Yes, why?”

Eli could think of several reasons Premal would want negotiations to fail, none of them good. If the sultan’s adviser had decided to force an end to relations with Tamryn, the entire diplomatic team needed to be vigilant. The prince would post more guards, carry extra weapons, and exercise caution with anything he ate or drank.

But that wouldn’t protect Auburn.

He touched his lips to her temple, then took off his signet ring and handed it to her. “I want you to have this.”

Auburn stared at the elegant ring with dragons that wrapped around its sides and a gold dragon crest that encircled a dark sapphire at the top.

“For me?” Her eyes widened as she cupped it in her hands.

He thumbed over her lush lips, and the happiness that lit her face made his chest ache. He closed her fingers over the ring. “Yours. Now and always.”

She kissed him on the cheek, then tried the ring on each of her fingers. It was too large for even her thumb. She hurried over to a bureau and came back with a deep-blue silk cord. She slipped the ring on it and fashioned it into a necklace.

Eli swallowed back the satisfaction of seeing her wear his ring, seeing her marked as his. So wrong, so very wrong, yet he couldn’t deny it.

“Between that and your new clothes, there will be no question that you’re with my entourage. If anyone bothers you, it will be a direct insult to me and to Tamryn.”

Auburn hugged him, the unexpected intensity of her emotion surprising him.

“Thank you. You have no idea what this means.”

“I have some idea.” Eli stroked her hair.

The feeling of her in his arms soothed him, comforted him, and triggered a protective instinct he hadn’t known himself capable of exhibiting. He barely knew her, and yet, he would kill Premal if the adviser tried to hurt Auburn again.

Eli stared down at the woman in his arms, and a deep warmth filled his chest and radiated out to his limbs. He held her tighter.

Dracor save him, Prince Eli prayed. He was in trouble.





Chapter 13





It was late, and Eli couldn’t sleep. While his body ached for the woman beside him, his mind played through the events of the day over and over again.

The sultan’s gift hadn’t been spontaneous, of that he was certain. Auburn was a pawn in a larger game, and by giving her to Eli, the sultan had pulled him into it.

Time to learn more.

Tucking the blankets around Auburn, Eli dressed and found the bodyguards outside his door. “Send for Jaelin.”

A guard saluted and hurried down the halls.

Eli paced the room as he waited, his head spinning with possibilities. Auburn’s hair and eye color told him she wasn’t a native to Qumaref. While the desert kingdom had a reputation for abducting foreign citizens and forcing them into slavery, the stories were more fanciful than real. Even the Dragon Church had admitted that much.

Auburn was from his side of the ocean, and while that might explain the sultan’s gift, Eli doubted it. Auburn had told him about the failed discussions with Arren and K’tel.

Premal wanted her for reasons other than her beauty, and Eli suspected the sultan knew it. All the stranger that Pandhuka had gifted her to a foreigner rather than use her to appease a powerful noble.

There was a light knock at the door, followed by the code word.

Eli took his hand off his sword hilt and bid his visitor to enter.

Jaelin slipped into the room as silent as a cat. She wore her plain brown hair tied in a severe knot at the nape of her neck, and she dressed in bland-colored clothes that did nothing for her features. Unremarkable in every way. The kind of woman few noticed or remembered, and that was way Jaelin was so good at her profession.

Jaelin bowed to him as a man would.

“Learn anything interesting about our hosts?”

“A few things, Your Highness. I included them in my brief.”

“Nothing that helps with my current mystery.”

“Heard about the guards. Sligo put us all on alert and taught us how to identify traces of yetha root.”

“Does make you wonder why anyone would go through that much expense and effort for a slave. Especially a slave that’s been in the palace for more than a decade.”