Seduction of a Princess

Chapter Thirty-Six

This one was hard to write. Please tell me what you think...

Enjoy.

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          He paced through the small room, frustrated, on the verge of despair. From the side, they watched him, some with a hint of amusement, while others had their faces completely void of emotion.

          “I’ve got to save her,” he repeated over and over, saying it to no one in particular. “I have to save her from him.”

          “Him?” asked Rider. “Do you mean from that werewolf or from the Mage?”

          Marc looked up, surprised by the question. Had he not wasted precious time explaining what had happened to June? “The Mage, of course. He’ll kill her.”

          “Because she is a werewolf too.”

          In a corner of the room, the barbarian Zhe spat on the ground “Dugg,” he muttered. Other mercenaries agreed; they were a bit upset that Marc had not told them June was a werewolf when he had talked about Terrance and the problem he was to the original plan. “Just let her die. She had it coming,” they said.

          “She did not have it coming!” yelled Marc. “She is not a werewolf. She is still June. An innocent girl. I have to save her—we have to save her!”

          “Wait, it’s we now?” Thriftwood got up from his seat. “We have to save her too?”

          “I’m paying you, aren’t I?”

          “You made promises of payment, sure. But we still haven’t seen any gold. And going to that castle, fighting our way down to the dungeons and taking that werewolf with us, that isn’t something I’d risk, not for the King’s gold.”

          Marc humphed. “You weren’t so scared of my other plan.”

          “Because that plan wasn’t dangerous. We had to go to some inn, make a fuss, fake a fight with you and take off with both you and that girl. But this… this is something different from putting on a show. We’re talking about storming a castle here, with the Royal General and the fucking Royal Mage in it. With only a handful of swords! No,” he said, shaking his head. “We aren’t going to do that.”

          Zhe mimicked the motion. “Nho. Nho dugg.”

          “That’s fine. We don’t have to save Longeway, only June. The Royal Mage doesn’t care about her, she is just another werewolf to him. Just leave Longeway in his cell, and it’ll be alright.”

          “Can’t you just tell the Royal Mage about what happened? Just talk to him,” said Rider. “Tell him who you are, who she is. Show him that seal of the King you carry around.”

          “I tried, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He’s too busy with Longeway and that little girl to deal with anything else. And even if he would listen to me, what would I say? ‘That werewolf girl is the fiancée of prince Christian’? That wouldn’t save her—if anything, he would kill her even more ruthlessly for the insult to the Royal Family!”

          Marc glanced at Thriftwood, but the mercenary shook his head again.

          “Well, no way are we going to lay siege to a castle. I’m sorry. It was a pretty smart plan of yours, lying to the Royal Mage about being an ordinary traveler with a werewolf problem. Too bad it didn’t really work out. All because you couldn’t hold on to your girl.”