Andrei

I stare down at the unconscious man between Xander and I for several heartbeats. Meeting Xander’s eyes I toss him a pair of cuffs. “Put these on him. I’m going to ask around, see if there are any others that survived attacking us.”

Xander nods once then bends down to cuff the guy. “Alright. What about Cherish?” he asks as he straightens.

“She’s with Kade. Once we have all those that survived taken care of and in the dungeon then we can get her.” I kick the man’s boot, watching as his foot slumps to the side. “These guys aren’t going to be happy campers when they wake up.”

Xander snorts. “Nah, they’ll be even more pissed when they find out that their little plan to kill Cherish failed.”

“You’re sure it’s failed?” Horith asks as he comes up from the side. “She’s safe?”

I nod at the Fiela Mohi. “She’s safe. We watched Kade get her to safety.”

Horith lets out a relieved breath. “Thank the Gods. I don’t want to have to do another coronation anytime soon. And I quite like Cherish. She reminds me of my daughter.”

Xander laughs. “Yeah, they’re two peas in a pod, Horith. I can’t wait for the day that they meet.”

“I can,” I mutter dryly, making Xander laugh harder while Horith chuckles. “Take this asshole to the dungeon Xander. Fiela Mohi, it’s always a pleasure. I have some things to check on.”

Horith smiles. “Of course. I look forward to seeing you all again.”

Xander reaches down and picks the unconscious male up and hefts him over his shoulder like he’s a sack of potatoes. “Hope we’ll be seeing more of you around here, Horith,” Xander says as he starts walking away toward the castle.

Horith chuckles, shaking his head as he walks in the opposite direction.

* * *

It takes an hour and a half for Xander and I to find and put all of the attackers that survived in the dungeon.

Meeting Xander’s eyes as I shut and lock the last prisoner in one of the cells. “Let’s go get Kade and Cherish.”

“You got it,” Xander says as he hands the keys to one of the guards.

“That’s it?” Forrest snarls from his cell once Xander moves past it. “You’ve got nothing to say to me?”

Xander stops in his tracks but doesn’t look at Forrest. “Why would I have anything to say to you?”

“Maybe because we’re friends,” Forrest spits out.

Xander chuckles, the sound holding absolutely no humor in it. “We stopped being friends a while ago, Forrest. I definitely stopped considering you a friend the moment you went after your sister.”

“Oh? Why is that? You can’t tell me that you didn’t at the very least suspect that I was the one responsible for the deaths of my siblings.”

Xander’s quiet for a moment. “I suspected, but had no proof,” Xander admits. “That’s not why I stopped considering you a friend. I stopped considering you a friend because you not only tried to frame the woman I love for your crimes, you also tried killing her. That is something that will never be okay with me.”

“Love,” Forrest says through clenched teeth. “How sickeningly sweet. Well, I’ll bet you’re thrilled to know that my plan failed. The annoying little brat still lives and she’s even got my crown.” Forrest cackles. “Now it’s just a game to see if she can manage to keep it.”

Xander tenses and I immediately step up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go. He’s dead come tomorrow morning anyway. There’s no point in listening to this shit. Let’s go get our girl.”

Xander’s teeth grind together as he takes calming breaths. Without another word to Forrest, Xander leaves the dungeon, with me following close behind.

“You remember which tunnel they’re in?” Xander asks, sounding calmer.

“Yeah. The one that goes to the armory.”

Xander nods once and leads the way to the armory. “What made him choose that tunnel?” Xander asks as we get closer.

I shrug as I open the door to the armory. “He knows the tunnels better than anyone else does. According to him it’s harder to navigate the tunnels around this area than any other in the castle.”

“He had way too much time on his hands,” Xander mutters.

I bark out a laugh as I pull on an axe that’s hanging on the wall, triggering the tunnel door to open. “I actually have to agree with you on that one.”

“About damn time,” Cherish says, annoyance clear in her tone as they enter the light so we can see them.

My mouth twitches as Kade laughs. “She’s been just a little bit impatient, to say the least,” Kade informs us as he follows Cherish out of the tunnel.

“You don’t mean to tell me you guys didn’t find some way to pass the time,” Xander says, his tone suggestive with a teasing smile plastered on his face.

Cherish’s cheeks turning pink make me chuckle.

“That’s not the point,” Cherish grumbles as she crosses her arms over her chest.

Kade laughs and presses a kiss to her temple. “It’s alright, mia.”

“Why don’t we take this to Cherish’s room, so we can talk in private,” I suggest.

Cherish eyes me for a heartbeat before nodding. “Alright. There’s something I have to talk to you guys about anyways.”

Kade groans and ignoring the questioning looks Xander and I shoot his way, leaves the room before any one has a chance to say anything.

“Alright,” I say carefully, frowning at Cherish. She meets my eyes and raises a brow at me.

“We going? Or are we going to have a staring contest Andrei?” she asks dryly.

I chuckle and gesture for her to leave the room before me and Xander. “After you, my Queen.”

Cherish glares at me as she walks past. “Don’t call me that. I’m not your guys’ Queen,” she mutters.

Xander catches my eye and shrugs. Apparently, he has no idea what she wants to talk about either, or he just has no clue what that comment was about. Great. We’re both clueless and the one person who knows anything decided to take off without us.

Thanks, Kade.

Upon entering Cherish’s room she immediately walks to the dresser and takes the crown off her head, placing it on top of the dresser. “Close the door, please, Xander,” she says as she reaches behind her to unclasp her necklace.

Kade leaves Cherish’s bathroom to stand against the wall, watching us and wearing regular jeans and a t-shirt again as opposed to the royal guard uniform that Xander and I are both still wearing.

I watch as Cherish continues to keep her back to us as she quickly changes out of her dress and into a pair of skinny jeans and a t-shirt. “Cherish, what is going on?”

She sighs and peeks over her shoulder at me. “What’s going on is that I don’t appreciate being kept in the dark, Andrei.”

My brows furrow together as I meet Xander’s and Kade’s eyes. Xander looks just as lost and confused as I am. Kade just looks resigned. “I’m not understanding, Baby,” I admit. “What are you talking about?”

She twirls around in her spot and glares at me. “I’m talking about your decision to keep me uninformed about any threats to my safety. You tell me I can do this, that I can be the Queen of your people, that I can lead them, but then you dictate shit that makes me feel like I can’t actually do it. If my own fucking boyfriends think that I’m too damn fragile to deal with threats to my own safety, then what the fuck am I doing putting on this fucking crown and calling myself a goddamn Queen?” Her voice raises during her speech so the last sentence is spoken as a shout and makes me freeze. I don’t really remember a time when she’s ever raised her voice at any of us this way.

My mouth opens and closes for several heartbeats as I try to find the right words. I finally snap my mouth shut as I consider her words.

She’s right. Fuck. I seriously fucking hate it, but she’s right. We should have trusted her to be able to deal with the threats. I should have trusted her to deal with them.

Xander spits out several curses from beside me as he runs a hand through his hair. I look in Cherish’s eyes and my chest aches at the pain I see shining back at me. We hurt her by keeping her out of it. By not telling her that we had received threats for her safety and trusting her to handle it with as much grace as she’s handled everything the world has thrown at her already; we hurt her. I can see that now and I’m not entirely sure how to fix it. Promising that we will tell her in the future does nothing except give her the hope that we’ll tell her if it happens again.

That doesn’t help the pain that she’s feeling now.

“Baby,” I whisper as I cross the room and pull her into my arms, holding tight. I press a kiss to the top of her head. “I’m sorry,” I murmur, my voice muffled against her hair. “We just-“

“Wanted to protect me,” she says, shifting back just enough to look up at me, still keeping her body plastered against mine. “I get it. I do. Just... don’t keep me in the dark. Please,” she pleads, her voice cracking slightly.

“I promise we won’t keep you in the dark again,” I swear.

Cherish smiles up at me, soothing my frustration at my own stupidity until all that’s left is her smile. “Thanks, honey,” she whispers, her smile still on her face.

I nod once and press a kiss to her lips before enveloping her in my arms again, still internally cursing myself and vowing that I’ll do everything in my power to make sure I don’t hurt the small, fierce woman who made me feel again.