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I didn’t reply. Finding her had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the others insisting I go after her. The knight put his hand on the bare skin of her ankle. I curled my free hand into a fist, the points of claws digging into my palm.
Before I could lose my ability to cope with his latest trespass, Ember sucked in a deep breath and her eyes fluttered open. She frowned, glancing around at all of us before sitting up.
“Did I fall asleep?”
“After a fashion,” Nic answered her, then explained about the flowers.
Ember’s eyes widened, and she let the knight wrap his arms around her. “I suppose Robby did say Dream was every bit as deadly as Nightmare.”
Nic smiled. “In some ways more so. Nightmare rarely hides its danger behind a pretty façade.”
“Only in the case of princes, right?” Ash laughed. “And the occasional attractive monster.”
My brother chuckled. “Yes.”
He was clearly comfortable with the current situation. Anger tightened my jaw.
“Anyone know where Robby went?” Ember glanced around the clearing.
“He’s working on finding us transportation,” Nic said.
Ember groaned and climbed to her feet, her knight assisting her. She leaned against him while she continued to recover from the blossoms.
The jester stepped out of nowhere and bowed in that sardonic way that only jesters could pull off and survive. “Your carriage awaits, princess.”
Ember flipped the jester off, which really was the only acceptable answer to his behavior. It made me wonder if Ember had known him for some length of time. There was a lot I needed to catch up on.
“Aww, is that any way to treat an old friend?”
“It is when you ate all my espresso beans. Those were a gift from Geraint.” Ember put her hands on her hips and glared at the jester, who smiled.
“You eat too many of them.”
“You eat most of them.” She jabbed him in the chest with her finger.
They had definitely known each other for a while. A different kind of pain than anger constricted my chest. I’d missed so much of Ember’s life.
The jester offered Ember his arm, and she took it, laughing as he escorted her out of the clearing, her knight following and not looking bothered by seeing Ember on another man’s arm. He wasn’t sleeping with her, too, was he?
My brother walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Relax, Dio. They’re just friends.”
“Jesters don’t have friends.”
“This one does.” Nic frowned for a moment, then shrugged. “At least as much as anyone in his position can have a friend.”
I wondered what Nic was referring to but guessed he wouldn’t answer. At least not right now.
Ash followed the trio, commenting on Geraint’s ass or something else ridiculous.
“Are you going to be okay, Dio?”
I turned and looked at Nic. “I’ve missed so much.”
“We both missed years of Ember’s life. We need to make up for it now.”
“But I loved her, and I wanted her, and now she barely knows me. You didn’t even want her and now look at the two of you.” I kicked at a clump of harmless flowers. The rock that had hidden in their midst did its best to break my toe. My brother ignored my swearing.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t want her, Dio. I simply wanted the unknown to remain unknown for a great deal longer. It’s in my nature, if nothing else.” Nic swirled into shadow for a moment, then solidified. “She will come around to you, Dio. You simply have to recognize it’s her place to choose her lovers and accept Geraint.”
