G squeezed his eyes shut and scratched his forehead and tried to focus on bears and not skin. “Yes. Don’t act like food, make myself look bigger. Anything else to add?”
“Yes. Use anything at your disposal to defend yourself. Rocks, sticks, anything. Only don’t bend down to pick it up, because then you’ll appear smaller and more vulnerable.”
G sighed. “So, grab any weapons that happen to be at shoulder level.”
There was a knock at the door and Edward stuck his head in, Gracie and Bess standing just behind him. G waved them in.
Jane kept talking. “And if worse comes to worst, play dead. But if the bear starts licking your wounds, that means he’s planning on eating you, and you should do something else.”
“So, play dead unless he starts eating me.”
She shrugged helplessly. “I’ll do whatever I can, of course. I’ll distract him and then run up a tree to safety.”
G shot a look toward Edward, surprised that the king had let her believe she would be accompanying them. Edward smiled in a she’s-not-my-wife-I-shouldn’t-have-to-tell-her-no kind of way.
Should G inform her that she wasn’t coming? The last time he’d told her that, she’d come anyway, and she’d gotten hurt.
He wasn’t about to let that happen again.
Jane didn’t notice the exchange of glances. “I have the perfect way to distract the bear,” she said. “I read in a book once that bears can’t turn their heads very far in either direction, so I was thinking I could climb up onto his back and pull his fur, and he’ll spin about trying to get me, and that’s when you and Edward can go in for the kill.”
It was almost dark. They had only seconds before Jane would change. G had to tell her. “You won’t be there.”
“How will I not be there?” She narrowed her eyes at him.
“How? Because you’re not coming.”
“Oh, I’m going with you. I won’t have it any other way. Tell him, Edward.”
Edward scratched the back of his neck, but he didn’t answer. When she realized she would be getting no help from her cousin, she turned back to G. “You are my husband, not my master.”
“Yes, my lady,” he said. “You will always get your way. Except for right in this instance. And any others which may endanger your life.”
“Gifford Dudley, you do not get to decide when my life may or may not be in danger.”
G bowed his head. “Of course, Jane. And in the future, I will most definitely keep that in mind. But not tonight.”
Jane pressed her lips together in a thin line. “You can’t stop me.”
His eyes happened upon an empty birdcage in the corner of the room. “And I would never dream of it. Except tonight, when I will do whatever it takes to stop you, even if it means locking you up.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Not even if a hundred Carpathian bulls threatened to trample me. Except tonight, of course, I’m going to have to lock you up unless you promise not to come with us.”
She gasped in outrage. “You can’t treat me like this! You can’t catch me!” she said with enough force that the air around her trembled. With a flash, she was a ferret, but G was ready to pounce. Before she could shake off the disorienting haze of the transformation, he had her by the scruff.
“I would never treat you like this,” he whispered in her ear. “Except tonight.”
Then he placed the squirming ferret inside the cage and latched it.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Gracie remarked. She and Bess had been silent up to then, but they looked tense.
“I’m sure,” G said, and he was. “I want you to promise me that you won’t let her out. That you’ll protect her.”
The princess nodded and settled into a chair beside Jane’s cage. “I suppose this time we’re actually staying behind to guard Jane. I’d object, but I don’t know how I’d be useful in a bear hunt.”
“I won’t let her out,” Gracie agreed. “But she is going to murder you later, I think.”
She sat down at the edge of the bed.
“Wait, Bess and Gracie are both going to stay behind?” Edward looked startled. “Why shouldn’t Gracie come? She’d be useful.”
“I don’t trust the Pack,” said Gracie. “Especially Archer. I should stick around here in case he’s up to something while you’re gone. Keep an eye on him. And Bess can stay with Jane to make sure she doesn’t ferret her way out of that cage.”
“Can you use ferret as a verb?” G asked.
She shrugged. “You can now.”
Edward’s eyebrows were furrowed.
“Sire?” G said. “Are you troubled?”
“No. Everything is fine. With Gracie. Staying behind. With the Pack. And . . . Archer. That’s fine.”
“Right,” G said slowly. He picked up his sword. “We are off, then?”
“Without hesitation,” Edward said.