Chapter 555 Chapter 555
Blaise couldn’t get off the sled fast enough, she almost landed face-first in the snow. When they’d left the gas station, she was driving but had to admit to freezing about twenty minutes later. She hadn’t paused long enough to grab a snowsuit for herself.
Griffin had taken over driving, using his body as a shield from the wind. It had sounded great in theory. Allowing her to watch for anyone following them, but with her bag on the back, she was mashed up against his back with no air between them. She’d been warmer, but also had to sit there and breathe in his scent for twenty-five minutes. Her cat was losing her mind and Blaise wasn’t far behind her. Sucking in the cold air, she tried to purge his taste from her tongue.
“This has to be it.”
She spun back around and looked at Griffin, then at the tall wooden gate in front of the sled. She hadn’t even looked around when he’d stopped, just bailed to get away from him. The gate started to open slowly, and Blaise pulled her gun and side-stepped to put herself between it and the man she was responsible for.
With four feet of space between the gates, a man in his shirt sleeves, no coat, stepped into view. He was huge, and his aura screamed, ‘give up now’. In his hand was a rifl; he had it aimed at the ground in front of her. “Blaise Morgan?”
She nodded, “Yes. Devin sent us.”
He nodded, giving Griffin a quick once over. “I’m Boone Weaver. Pull the machine inside, and we’ll go get the two of you warmed up.”
Blaise lowered the gun but kept it in her hand as Griffin started the sled and pulled it behind the fence. She turned to peruse the road and noted Boone was checking the trees.
“Let’s get inside.” He stepped back and motioned in the gate.
As she moved by him, she caught his scent and had to bite her tongue not to vocalize her analysis of it. He was pure one-form. Completely human. What was he doing guarding the princess? Going over, she undid her bag and didn’t scoff when Griffin slung it over his shoulder. She was okay with having both hands free until she figured out what was going on. Griffin gave her a quick look; his expression was asking if she was okay. She didn’t know how he knew what a look from a man she didn’t know meant, but she did. She nodded and jerked her head telling him to stay behind her while they followed Boone up what looked like a long, tree-lined laneway.
She lost all feeling in her feet by the time they reached the house. It was more of a log cabin retreat than the fortress she’d pictured. The door flew open and a tiny woman with brown hair stood in it. She was the very definition of cute and it wasn’t until they were closer, and Blaise saw the pale blue eyes that she realized it was the princess.
Blaise started to bow her head when the woman stopped her.
“I’m not royalty now.” She stated it in a lighthearted tone, which confused Blaise even more. The confusion on her face must have been evident, when Raquel chuckled, “I’ll explain later, come in and get warm.”
Blaise motioned for Griffin to go in first and then she moved by Boone with quick steps. She hated having strangers at her back. Where were the other guards? She couldn’t see any.
The heat inside made her cheeks sting, but she’d take it.
“You guys must be freezing. Coffee or tea drinkers?”
“Coffee.” Griffin and Blaise answered in unison.
Raquel smirked, “hot coffee coming up. I have some cinnamon buns in the oven too, they’ll be done in a few minutes.”
Blaise watched her go in a doorway, and then looked around. The princess who wasn’t royalty had only one guard and baked. This was not what she’d expected.
“Just toss your stuff over the rack, and go in and sit by the fireplace,” Boone said, turning and disappearing through the same door Raquel had gone.
Griffin leaned closer, “how is royalty not royal anymore?”
Blaise looked up at him as she pulled her hat off. “I have no clue.” The warmth of the fireplace was amazing, but Blaise was on edge now. Her plan to leave Griffin here with guards was gone out the window now. She moved over to stand on the other side of the room.
Raquel came in and smiled at her. “You have questions.”
Blaise glanced over her shoulder to see the two men sitting by the fire still. “Yeah.”
“I chose to marry Boone and step down from the Alliance’s royal family.”
Blaise blinked and processed what she said once more to make sure she hadn’t heard her wrong. “You’re married to,” she frowned and looked down at the cup again.
“The heart wants what it wants, isn’t that the saying?” Raquel smirked.
Blaise didn’t know what her heart wanted, so she couldn’t say. “I-I guess.” She studied her for a moment. “I didn’t know such a thing was an option.”
“It’s not, well, it wasn’t.” She rolled her eyes, “there was a big to-do over it of course, especially because Dev was off brooding on his own and refusing to accept he was going to be king,” she smirked, “I knew there would be no way the Alliance was progressive enough to have a Queen as the leader, so,” she shrugged, “I followed my heart.”
Blaise leaned forward, “what happens if you meet your…”
“Unless he runs up to the front door waging his fluffy tail, there’s not much chance of that happening.” She frowned for a moment, “I’m sure it has before, but I chose Boone and I’ll never change my mind.”
“I thought he was a guard.”
“He’s part of the RCMP emergency response team, so he may as well be a guard when he’s home.”
Blaise opened her mouth and then closed it again, “I’ve never heard of a mixed marriage with our kind before.”
“What team are you with?”
“Special operations.”
Raquel smirked, “so you only see the worse case scenarios in our world.”
Blaise shrugged, “I guess.” Her phone buzzing on the table startled her. She was usually more together than this. She answered it without pause. “Yeah.”
“Blaise, it’s Illias. Kenzo is a little busy, so he asked me to call and fill you in. Devin is on his way to you.”
“Alone?” She stood up.
“No. I don’t think he’s ever allowed to be alone, well, except maybe,” he cleared his throat, “he’s safe.”
“Okay. What’s the plan for when he gets here? Are we moving Griffin to another location?”
“Yes. Where I don’t know yet.”
She nodded, “Okay, when is he due to arrive?”
“By morning is the best I can do right now.”
She glanced around, not sure how comfortable she was here. Not only were there no guards, but she was also going to have Griffin and the prince of the Alliance here. She set her phone down and looked at Raquel. “Your brother will be here in the morning.”
Raquel smirked, “good, I can bow to him, he hates that.” She went over to Boone and Griffin.
It made Blaise realize she hadn’t seen her own brother, or family for that matter for a few years. It wasn’t that she didn’t love them, or them her—in their own way. She just couldn’t handle how her own family never accepted that she was different. It was better this way for everyone. They weren’t embarrassed and she didn’t hate them.