Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 48568 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48568 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
“What is your name?”
“They call me Kinsey, boy. And what’s your name?”
“Seb…no…” Lucan tried to stop him, but Sebastian was on a roll.
“I am Sebastian Force, son of Thadecus Force, Crown Prince of the land of Force. “Those jewels you hold are mine. They are the very last things I have, and frankly, I am beginning to find life very miserable and tedious, ever since my family was poisoned to death.”
Lucan palmed his face. The idea had been to travel incognito, and that had lasted barely more than a day. The thieves thought they’d made out well enough with a bag of jewels. Now they knew they had an entire prince to ransom.
If they somehow made it out of the situation alive, Lucan intended on thoroughly whipping Sebastian. His impetuous arrogance was going to get them both killed one way or another.
“You say you’re a prince, boy? Sleeping in a ditch, looking the way you do? What are you claiming? That you ran away and took a lover?”
“He’s not my lover. He’s my knight. And he’s here to save my life.”
“Doing a mighty fine job, isn’t he?” Kinsey laughed. “You know, we could ransom you back to the new king. Let you keep those baubles and claim the price on your head.”
“I would really prefer you didn’t,” Sebastian replied, showing no hint of fear. He reacted to their threats as if they were not threats at all.
Sebastian was brave, Lucan realized. He had not been trained in any kind of warfare, he had not been prepared for conflict or combat, but he was brave to the very core of his being. That was what made him seem like a petulant brat so very much of the time. He wasn’t afraid, and that made him not only beautiful, but actually quite charismatic.
“If you’d prefer we didn’t, perhaps you let us keep these jewels.”
“Alright,” Sebastian shrugged. “Keep them. Very well. Keep everything. Would you like my hat too? My shoes? My underwear? Take it all.”
He began to strip in a fit of temper, and at that point, Lucan stepped in, grabbing Sebastian and pulling him back down to the ground. “Keep your clothes on,” he growled. “You’re fortunate to be alive. Quit while you’re ahead.”
“Your guardian is a smarter man than you, sire,” Kinsey said. “You should listen to him.”
“We need the gold. Lucan said we need the gold.”
“Sebastian, enough,” Lucan growled in his ear. “They took it fair and square. We were caught sleeping. We’re fortunate not to be dead.”
“He is a sensible boy,” Kinsey said, still speaking to Sebastian rather than to Lucan. Lucan could not help but notice that the brigand seemed to be quite enamored of Sebastian. That might keep the prince from being turned over to the invading king, but it meant he might be kept another way. Lucan had a brief mental flash of Sebastian’s naked form writhing in Kinsey’s grasp and felt an equally swift flash of rage at the very idea.
“I think you boys should come with us,” Kinsey said, flashing white teeth in a grin. “It’s a dangerous forest. Never know who you are going to encounter.”
Lucan decided not to fight. The fact that they had survived the encounter unscathed so far was pure luck, and he knew better than to push luck of this nature. If they refused, they may very well be cut down where they stood. If he had been alone, Lucan had no doubt he could fight the lot of them. But Sebastian was here, and his desire to protect the prince meant that outrageous displays of violence could not be countenanced. It would be all too easy for Seb to be injured in the fray if a fight should break out.
“Very well. We will accompany you,” Lucan agreed.
“Only because I intend to get my jewelry back,” Sebastian said.
“There might be a way for you to earn a bauble or two back, your highness,” Kinsey smirked.
Sebastian narrowed his eyes at Kinsey, and for a moment he knew he seemed absolutely venomous with rage. He hid it quickly, behind a more petulant exterior.
“I am sorry, sire. I should have been awake.” He said the words quietly to Seb once their little camp was packed and they were all marching through the forest together. The sound of horses breaking through narrow paths was more than enough rustling to keep his words from being heard by those they were not intended for.
Sebastian gave him a look that did not contain much in the way of recrimination. “You had to sleep,” he said. “There are only two of us. Not enough against the entire world.”
It was a remarkably mature reaction from Sebastian. He was young. And inexperienced. And growing up fast. Mature in some respects and unreliably immature in others.
He reached out and squeezed Sebastian’s shoulder. “You are doing yourself proud, sire.”