All four princes shifted their gazes to him, and more than one brow lifted in confusion.
“Keep her happy,” Draven said. “Make her laugh, take her out. I’ll get my father to lift the ban keeping you in the palace. Let her enjoy herself. We extend our stay in Mersarth by two weeks, and we each get an additional two days with her. Keep her mind off the, uh, engine trouble. I’ll even give up some of my time with her since that’s not, you know, fair.”
After a moment, all four princes nodded their assent. If their plans were anything like Draven’s, no one would take him up on his offer to let them out of the palace. They would probably spend every hour in her bed, same as him.
Zane paced the room, rubbing his neck. “We’ll have to come up with an alternative plan, one that allows us to travel unseen. In the meantime, I agree with Draven.”
Killian nodded. “I suppose you’re all right. If we can make this easier for her, it’s our duty and obligation to do so.”
“Agreed,” Flynn said.
Anthony stood. “It’s settled, then. Let’s figure out how to get out of Mersarth unseen.”
48
Anthony
After two weeks, when it was finally deemed safe to leave Mersarth, Anthony still couldn’t relax.
He lounged in a cushioned chair on a private jet out of the dragonlands, the plane provided by Draven and his father to deliver them to the cat kingdom Cimarron. It was the nearest kingdom to Mersarth, but he couldn’t shake the inescapable feeling that they should have changed their plans again at the last second.
Deep in his core, something just felt wrong.
Their plan seemed safe enough. Five other planes had taken off around the same time as theirs, four of them headed toward the other kingdoms and one back to Epara. It should’ve been enough to confuse anyone following them. Only the pilots and Draven’s father knew when they were leaving.
Last-minute plans. Almost no trace left behind. They should have been safe, but Anthony’s instincts flared all the same.
Anthony wished he had discovered his special new power like Draven had, but thus far he’d seen no change in his skills. It irked Anthony, mostly because new powers would be extra insurance in case things went south. Still, he had gone his whole life without magic, and he could protect Tina all the same without it.
Tina’s angelic laugh cut through his thoughts. She sat by the window with Draven at her side and Flynn across from her, though Anthony had to admit he wasn’t paying attention to what was being said.
For a moment, the thought struck him as odd, since he had been raised to not trust any of the other kingdoms or their citizens. Yet here he was, lost in thought as he allowed a conversation to go on nearby without eavesdropping.
Before, the idea of letting his guard down around politically significant men like the four princes would have made him question his sanity, but his time with Tina had changed him. What began as a political contest and struggle for power had opened his eyes to who these princes truly were.
Arms crossed and lost in thought, Anthony shifted his gaze to Draven. The dragon prince leaned toward Tina and smirked, whispering something in her ear that made her blush. With an unapologetic grin, Draven caught Anthony’s eye and winked.
Three weeks ago, Anthony would have grabbed Draven’s collar and taught him some manners for being crude to a woman Anthony cared about. Now, he merely shook his head at the horny dragon shifter’s antics. Sarcasm and sex, that was about all he could expect from Draven.
The dragon shifter nodded toward Anthony. “You doing okay over there, wolfie?”
Despite the looming sense of danger, Anthony laughed in surprise. “Wolfie? Seriously?”
“I kind of like ‘wolfie.’ It’s cute,” Tina said with a playful grin.
Flynn snorted. “Right, because that’s the word I’d choose for Anthony, cute.”
Draven laughed. “Of the five of us, I’d say he’s the most adorable. So furry.”
In a seat not far from Anthony, Zane lifted his head from his phone and chuckled. “Hey, tigers are furrier than wolves. Doesn’t that make me the adorable one?”
Tina laughed.
“You two are idiots.” Anthony shook his head, unable to hide his smile.
“All right, that’s enough,” Flynn reclined in his seat and grinned, his eyes briefly darting between Zane and Anthony. It was a subtle motion, almost imperceptible, but the message to refocus and stay alert came through loud and clear.
Anthony’s smile fell, and he nodded to the demigod. Flynn could be controlling and a bit stubborn, but he would always do what was best for Tina and the six of them as a whole. Right now, that meant getting to Cimarron safely.
Draven pulled Tina into a new conversation, he and Flynn doing what they could to distract her and keep her happy on the flight. It was up to Killian, Anthony, and Zane to monitor what they could both online and out the window to ensure a smooth trip.
They settled perfectly into their assigned roles like a flawless team. As Anthony scanned the horizon for possible threats, he couldn’t help but wonder when this friendship of theirs had begun.
Zane typed away on his screen, the subtle clicking steady as the cat shifter worked his nerdy magic. For a decade, Zane had played the part of a weak and pathetic geek almost too well when he was, in fact, the most brilliant strategist Anthony had ever met.
More surprising than Zane, though, was the eagle shifter pacing up and down the aisle at the rear of the plane. To Anthony’s surprise, Killian wasn’t the mindless drone he had hated from afar. The eagle shifter was one of the best warriors Anthony had ever seen, both in the sparring ring and on the battlefield.
Killian paused in the aisle and nodded to Anthony, who returned the gesture. It was a clear and silent signal that everything was okay. For now.
Anthony returned his attention out the window, shoulders aching from the tension as his intuition continued to flare. His gut churned with anxiety as his intuition screamed at him to prepare for war, so he stood and paced the aisle to blow off some steam.
Though they had been nothing more than obstacles at first, Anthony had come to respect all four of his competitors. The more time he spent with them, the less this felt like a competition and the more it felt like the founding of a brotherhood.
When the three months were up, their friendships would be tested, and sides would be chosen. Anthony didn’t want to think of what would happen when the time came, so he avoided the thought altogether.
Zane’s phone buzzed. The tiger shifter lifted it, and a smug smile broke across his face as he scanned the screen.
“Good news?” Anthony nodded toward the phone.
Zane nodded. “Epara is safe again.”
Tina’s head snapped toward the tiger shifter. She and Zane shared a knowing look, and her lips twisted into a smile as well. She was in on whatever Zane had done.
“Care to share with the rest of the class?” Flynn turned around in his chair, leaning one elbow on the headrest.
Zane gestured to Draven. “Thanks to the dragons’ interrogation skills, we learned the identity of the priest who betrayed Tina back in Bali. He has been dealt with.”
Despite his nerves, Anthony smiled. “I’m impressed. A tiger and a dragon working together. I never thought I would see the day.”
Tina stepped into the aisle, hands on the nearby seat to keep her balance as the plane hit a bit of turbulence. “I’m impressed, too. Thank you all for making sure I can go home. I was starting to wonder if it would ever be safe again.”
A surge of protectiveness hit Anthony square in the chest at the idea of anyone taking her home from her. He brushed his thumb over her knuckle to comfort his woman, and she smiled warmly in return. He didn’t care what it took. It was his duty to keep her safe, and he would have gone to Epara himself to hunt down the traitor if it had come to that.