attitude.
"And I said it was time to switch the guards. I walked out of the room and headed straight here."
Henry's face fell. "I would have done it."
"Which is why you won't be alone with Stacia anytime soon. You'd forget your mission."
"Mother didn't say I couldn't have sex with Stacia. She only said to kill her and take the throne."
Jarrett sighed. "Men must learn to utilize self control, Henry. This is the second time this week I've been in close proximity to a nude woman and managed to control myself."
Tressa dug through her trunk, looking for nothing other than a way to keep her pink cheeks hidden from them. If he told Henry, she'd never hear the end of it.
"You're a lucky man, Jarrett," Henry said.
His envy was misplaced. Jarrett's kindness. His chivalry. His prowess with a sword. Those were the things Tressa wanted Henry to admire him for.
"I choose to treat women with respect, Henry. You should give it a try once in a while."
"Anyway," Tressa said, sitting back up again once she was confident Jarrett wasn't going to tell Henry his first nude girl of the week was her, "what is our next move? I say we kill Stacia now. Before the rest of the guard gets back. There are only five of us here. The three of us," she shot a wayward glance at Henry, "can dispose of the other two. Then we can take down Stacia."
"That was my thought as well," Jarrett said. "The men left about a quarter hour ago. There's nothing standing between us and Stacia now. Take up your arms."
Tressa reached under the bed for her sword. She belted the blade around her waist and let her hand rest on the hilt. She was calm. Resolute.
Henry grabbed his sword and brandished it in the air, pretending to kill an invisible enemy. "Let me be the one to kill her."
Tressa crossed her sword with his, the screech of iron raising the hair on her arms. "No, she's mine to kill. You can have the throne. I've no use for it. But she's mine. Do you understand?"
Henry looked at Jarrett and slowly lowered his sword. "She's a feisty one, isn't she? Too bad she wasn't one of the naked girls."
Jarrett winked at Tressa. "Yes, too bad."
Tressa felt the blush return, at least this time she was already out the door and into the hallway before either Jarrett or Henry could see her reaction.
She had more important things to do. It was time to kill Stacia.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Bastian's head swam in a sea of blue and purple fists. After the fog fell, it didn't take long for the army to arrive. He'd expected that, but not so soon. Before he’d had the chance to get to the city, Stacia's entire army showed up and took him captive.
They tried to fight back, but less than fifty men against hundreds of armed, trained soldiers was futile. Bastian urged them to put down their weapons. He didn't want to lose any more men in a skirmish they couldn't win. It wasn't worth the loss of life. Each man had a friend or brother or wife who loved him the same way so many had loved Connor.
That hadn't stopped five men dressed in black from knocking Bastian out. He hoped his men were being treated better than he was. Only the sway of the horse's canter and the smell of its well-timed droppings pulled him out of his stupor. The turd shot down the pallet Bastian was tied to, landing on the top of his head and rolling down the side to his ear where it finally came to rest on his shoulder. The sweet and earthy smell invaded his senses. If it weren't for the sharp scent of waste, he might have stayed asleep, lost in a dream of reuniting with Tressa.
Instead his head bonked on the wooden pallet any time it rolled over a rock. He'd have a headache, and not just from the beating.
His hands were bound at his stomach, but his head was free to loll about. He looked to his left, the poop still resided on the right shoulder, and groaned. The forest still surrounded him, the thatched roofs of taverns, inns, and shops danced above him, their roofs mingling with the trees. People milled in the street, taking a long gander at the man bound and dragged through town. They passed the tavern where he and Tressa had sat on their first day. Then came the