Page 75 of Of Bargains & Betrayal

I opted for a simple black tunic with a bit of room to it and ignored Eilir’s protesting sputter as I tugged my dressy blouse over my head and traded it for the black one. It was far from perfect training layers, but I was going to work with what I had. Given how dinner had gone, today didn’t seem like the best time to surface the topic of new clothing and allowances with my cantankerous soon-to-be spouse.

I was sure it would devolve into him accusing me of something ridiculous again, or making remarks about my attitude, and I wasn’t keen to have a repeat.

I’d only just stepped foot into the bathroom to deal with my hair when a knock echoed at my door that made me tense. After swearing quietly, I tossed a pleading look back at the sprite hovering behind me. “Could you get that, please?”

Eilir tsked as they zipped away. “Oh, now the princess wants my help. Funny how that works, isn’t it?”

The lock clicked over, and hinges whined as I fought a brush through the tangled ends of my hair. Eilir’s indecipherable squabbling and the rumble of a masculine voice—clearly arguing with each other—quickly followed them.

I’d barely gotten my hair half brushed when Eilir shrieked out, “No! Wait in the hall, Jasper. This is a lady’s quarters. It’s not proper. I don’t care if⁠—”

“Eilir,” he hissed back.

At least that quelled my minor concern someone other than the mage had shown up—the last thing I needed was a run-in with Maksym already, though I had a feeling the king would’ve felt the need to make his presence quite known should he deign to grace me with his presence.

I poked my head out of the bathroom and found Eilir barring the poor mage’s entry, one of their tiny hands gripping the door and the other fixed on the frame, fighting against the width of the man’s shoulders. They were clearly fixed in some kind of stalemate, both unmoving, the mage’s hooded attention set directly on the sprite whose whole body buzzed with annoyance.

My mouth quirked as I fought my amusement.

“You can let him in, Eilir,” I called out, and both sets of attention snapped over at me. I flashed an apologetic smile before dipping back into the bathroom. “I’ll just be a minute!”

I wasn’t sure exactly when the sprite had decided they would become the protector of my nonexistent virtue, but it was endearing as all hell. Probably annoying as fuck for the mage, but why not set the tone for him early? I’m sure a mage of a high enough talent to be advisor to a nation like Grimmoria felt he had far better things to do than train his king’s unwilling betrothed.

The rumbling of bickering that carried across my suite left a smile on my face as I fashioned my hair into a quick braid, gave myself a head-to-toe once-over, and slipped back out into my room.

“When did Max promote you to maid, Eilir?” I heard Jasper chuckle just before I caught sight of him perched on the arm of one of the chairs spread around the fire, a wry smile gracing the exposed lower portion of his face.

I hadn’t expected something as innocuous as two beings bickering in my room to strike me with homesickness, but it did.

The mage had been plenty cordial, albeit a little formal, in the brief times I’d heard him speak, but it was a novel experience to see him so at ease with the sprite. Eilir, who was picking up my tall boots from where I’d discarded them several paces apart from each other, stopped and turned to stare at the mage.

“They turned down my bed and tucked me in last night too,” I cut in. “A proper lady’s maid if I’ve ever seen one.”

The sprite set their stare on me, mouth gaped. As I headed over to retrieve my boots, they scoffed and squeaked, “Some of us take our duties around here seriously!”

The mage huffed an amused noise.

“I highly doubt your duties actually involve anything to do with me,” I said. “What did Maksym say you were again? An emissary?”

Eilir shook their head and dropped my boots ungracefully at my feet. “I am principal emissary of the denizens of the woods, thank you very much, and with that title comes an incredibly important secondary set of responsibilities—keeper of the house for Her Majesty, the Queen of Grimmoria.”

“Her—” I coughed and choked on absolutely nothing. “I’m sorry, Eilir, but is it not a little early for that?”

“Miss Wynn might not even see the other side of her trials,” the mage added as he came to join us. “Best not to get too attached yet.”

Now, Jasper wasn’t entirely wrong about that—and I intended to make full use of the day and get plenty of information out of him about my upcoming trials—but it clearly came as a shock to Eilir.

“Don’t you dare speak like that!” they squawked, flying right up to Jasper’s hooded face. “Enora isn’t going anywhere. The Agōn Ferr will be here and over and old news in a blink.”

Well, I was glad Eilir held enough confidence for both of us.

“We’ll see about that, sprite,” Jasper said before he turned his attention to me, and I was quick to realize the hood and shadows obscuring his eyes were going to drive me crazy. “Shall we get going? There’s a scenic route to the garrison I’ll take you on, since I assumed Max didn’t bother with any of that, and we’ve got a bit of a…shifter issue, so it’s better to travel in pairs.”

Goddess, it was too damned early for me to care about any issues Grimmoria was facing, so I huffed out a dry burst of laughter instead. “You know your king well, don’t you?”

He nodded slowly. “Whether or not I’d like to.”

“Wait!” Eilir screeched.