Team Changes by Erin R Flynn

2

It wasn’t hard to ask Sisay to handle something for me and promise I would have Petre fill in for him. Sisay was having fun getting supplies to that good settlement up in Wisconsin, so he was fine with taking the time off his guard shift to do more.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Petre, but could you cover for Sisay?” I asked, even if he was about to be done guarding me. I let him see in my eyes that I wasn’t being a bitch by asking him to do double duty.

There was a reason I wanted him and Vitor on my detail together.

Petre caught on fast, shrugging and glancing over at Sisay. “Sure, just swipe me some booze when you’re raiding. I’m running low.”

Sisay chuckled. “Scotch man, right?”

“You know it,” Petre replied. Once Sisay was gone, but others were still in earshot, he glanced at me. “What’s on the docket for today?”

I pretended to ponder that. “I was thinking about checking out the Boston area soon, but since I have you both, and you can sense just about anything—why don’t we go now? I would love your opinions, and maybe later you can check all around and see if we missed any settlements?”

“Of course,” Vitor agreed, giving me a funny look.

Yeah, because there was no one working on Boston yet, so we’d be completely alone since I’d made it clear I didn’t want to take on new areas until we were secure in the ones we had. It was a complete flip on what I’d said before.

They probably knew something was really up when I went to Vitor to carry me for when they blurred us over there. I normally went to anyone else first, or he picked me up and it wasn’t worth making an issue of it.

Heat filled his eyes and I was in his arms before I could even think to blink and we were moving. I held onto him when we stopped, my body still not able to get used to how fast they moved, especially the super old guys.

When I adjusted, I moved a few steps away, both of them focused completely on me… And slid my sundress off my shoulders so it fell to the ground and pooled over my sandals.

Oh, and I was completely naked under it.

I licked my lips and stared at the sexy men in front of me, deciding to address Vitor first. “I used to be scared of Kristof and his rage. Sometimes it still startles me, but do you know how I moved past it?”

Vitor slowly nodded, meeting my gaze instead of looking over my body. “He saved you from those pig nobles.”

I shook my head. “He’d saved me before. It wasn’t that, but realizing the monster inside of him, all that rage, would kill for me but never want to kill me. That part of him wanted me as much as the rest of him.”

“All parts of me want you, Inez. It is the same for me, I swear it.”

I nodded, stretching my hands above my head and giving them several other angles of my body since I knew the others loved that. “And you?”

“You know I want you,” Petre whispered. “What have we done to earn the gift of seeing you like this, doing this just for us?”

“I need your help. I need to ask you things it’s not fair to and for you to help me do something monstrous.” I swallowed loudly as I moved closer to Vitor and dropped to my knees. “And I’m willing to pay the price of that, give you anything in return.” I reached for his belt, but a hand stopped me.

Petre’s hand. “This isn’t what we want, Inez.”

“It’s not?” Vitor asked… Well, argued. His tone seemed like he was arguing.

“Not like this,” Petre clarified, sighing when Vitor seemed like he was going to argue. “You don’t want her to give herself because she thinks she has to as payment, do you?” He reached out and touched my hair when I flinched at that. “I’m not saying you’re—you’re not whoring yourself, Inez. You’re willing to jump to the end of where this might be going even if you’re not ready. That’s different.”

Was it? It seemed more like splitting hairs, but I ended up shrugging. “I would whore myself out for this. Other things I’ve found other ways, but I can’t this time. Not as fast as I need to. This is what you both want from me, and I need you to handle what I can’t.”

Vitor shocked the shit out of me when he squatted down and already had my dress in his hands. He kissed my forehead and slid it over my head so I was covered again. “Petre is right, not like this. You are better than this.” He shook his head when I went to object. “And we deserve better than this.”

Shit, the last thing I wanted to do was offend them. “I’m sorry.” Then their rejection hit me. “So you don’t want me?”

“Inez, when was the last time you slept?” Petre asked as he squatted down as well.

“I’ve been sleeping a ton and—”

“Having nightmares,” he whispered.

“Having visions, I bet,” Vitor corrected. He sighed when I flinched. “That’s why you’re so afraid and not thinking clearly.”

“The woman we know would never do this,” Petre said gently when I went to argue again.

“I would do anything to protect everyone,” I rasped, moving my hands over my face. “I’ll whore myself out or—I’ll do what it takes. I don’t care about me. I’m the reason this is happening. I’ll pay the price for help!”

“Inez, you assume we would take this commodity and that’s what hurts.”

I blinked at Petre. “What is the difference between this and Kristof throwing me at his friends because of their protection? You both have made it clear you could give me a lot if I was with you. I’m giving you me because I need that and—you started this idea. Give myself to you and you could give me so much more.”

“You’re right,” Vitor interjected. “We have made that…”

“In a way,” Petre muttered, but then sighed. “Everyone shows their best side and what they can give their potential partner. That was what we were doing. That’s what’s been going on. I can see how all the lines were blurred for you.”

“I’m even confused now,” Vitor admitted. “But Petre’s right that we don’t want your body as payment. What we want with you isn’t that cheap.”

I tried to move away. “My body isn’t cheap.”

“No, it’s glorious, but giving it to us for a payment is.” He reached out and took my hand in his, not letting me pull it back. “You hated those men at settlements who would demand sex for safety. Doing this would make us one of them.”

The light bulb went off overhead with that. Shit. I had basically set them up in that way.

It also made me realize what Petre had been getting at, and I was completely exhausted and lost in my head. I squeezed Vitor’s hand and reached for Petre’s. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“We know,” they said together, Petre continuing. “You’re carrying the weight of the world on you, Inez. Share the burden with us, and have faith in us that we would help.”

Vitor cleared his throat. “And if you want to reward us with sex when we do, that would be wonderful.”

Petre cuffed him upside the head. “That’s practically the same thing. Don’t confuse the situation. We’ve all done enough of that already.”

Vitor winced but then raised my hand to his lips. “Tell us what you want us to do, My Princess. What do you need?”

“Why do you need us instead of the others?” Petre added.

I let out a slow breath and glanced at each of them in turn. “I need to kill a princess. I have to take her out.”

To say they were shocked was an understatement. They didn’t say anything for several minutes, maybe waiting for me to say I was kidding.

But I wasn’t.

“Who?” Petre asked, recovering first.

“Bahati.”

“That’s why you didn’t bring any of this up to your court,” Vitor sighed. “You’re worried how Cerdic will react.”

“Yes. This isn’t about Ceawlin though.” I winced when they didn’t seem to buy that. “She’s torturing him. He’s kept what he knows from her and prayed to Aether that Cerdic doesn’t fall in her hands, that we stay safe.” I nodded when that really shocked them. “Yeah, I felt the same. So it’s not for him, but he’s doing what’s right.”

“I actually felt for him,” Petre admitted. “He didn’t need to still be a dick, but I was young when I made the same stupid decision, and it trapped me. I understand him.”

I sighed. “I did a bit better after what Aether showed me too. I can’t forgive him for hurting Cerdic, but I get it. This isn’t about him though. This is about us and what she’s plotting.” I snorted. “Fuck, please help me do it so the visions stop. It’s been weeks. It’s…”

“You barely recovered from the wedding and we’ve seen—”

“And felt,” Vitor interjected.

Petre nodded. “And felt how you’re getting more exhausted and worn down. We all knew something major was up.”

“We can take her out today and make this stop, My Princess.”

I swallowed loudly and met his gaze. “I have to do it, but I can’t do it alone.”

He studied me closely and sighed. “You want to free her coven like you did ours.”

“Yes, if I’m going to do this, I want to—enough.”

“And that’s not to set Cerdic’s twin free?”

I shook my head, knowing that down to my soul. “She’s willing to sacrifice the kids of her coven to get what she wants. So others take the risk. I saw it. I can’t risk someone just as bad taking them over. I want to set them free.”

“Tell us everything, Princess,” Petre whispered. “Tell us, and we’ll figure out a way to make it happen.”

“And fast,” Vitor added.

So I did. I gave them the rundown of the plans and who I’d seen her talking with. They knew the princess when I described her and what she’d said. They knew the three that had lied about having the dreams and only one fit the description, so that was easy enough.

The more I told them, the faster I spoke. The emotional dam broke, and I just spilled out all of what I was going through.

They shared a look when I was done and had calmed down. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but Petre nodded and Vitor cleared his throat.

“We’ve been scouting that coven already. We knew enough about that princess to be worried,” Vitor confessed. “Others have been focused on the threats and all the rest they heard, but we knew…”

“Safie used to say Bahati was a princess she could respect,” Petre finished for him. “That’s not a good thing when someone is as crazy as she was. They got along very well. She almost brought us to Bahati for shelter originally but then decided she didn’t want to have to kill the princess she liked when things inevitably went to shit. They were both women who needed to be on top.”

I bobbed my head, understanding the point. “Her jealousy is terrifying. She wanted me dead right away, but Ceawlin has been using that envy to hold her off, but she’s completely unstable. She cackled like a villain when she decided to kill children of her own coven and blame us. She’s a monster, and she wants everything now.”

They shared another look and both nodded, Petre speaking for them this time. “One of my gifts is cloaking. I can get us in and past their security.”

I about wept with relief.

“We also have the plans of her coven,” Vitor admitted. “I drew up maps and what’s all there when I scouted.”

I launched myself at him, hugging him with all I had as I whispered my thanks.

“We’ll do everything we can, but you have to be the one to do it,” he reminded me as he rubbed my back. “Can you do it?”

“Is she more powerful than Safie?” I worried.

“I don’t think so, but Safie used to call her ‘scrappy,’” Petre warned. “You caught Safie in a compromising position where she thought she’d won you. Bahati has the ego to think she’s best but would still never open her arms to you and let you get close.”

I bobbed my head. “I can do it.”

“We will cheat and pull you out of there if it looks like you’re losing,” Vitor muttered, shrugging when Petre grabbed his arm, making me lean back. “She’s willing to sacrifice teens of her own coven for her own greed and glory. There’s no honor in that. We’re the only ones still playing by the rules and if we do this time—I won’t risk Inez.”

“No, you’re right,” he agreed after a moment. “You’re right. She doesn’t want to take over for power or what they have. She wants to stop death and disband the coven. That’s—Aether would clearly forgive us and be happy we helped her if She’s sending visions.”

“Good,” Vitor muttered before moving his hand under my chin so I looked at him. “I can put up an energy field around you both. Once you get to her, I will trap her and block all sound so she cannot alert people. I won’t let her cheat either.”

“I don’t understand the cheating thing,” I confessed.

“The rules of going after another princess are supposed to be like a duel of honor,” he explained. “You fight until one is dead, and you cannot get outside help. She would immediately call for her people and have them take you on first.”

“Fairly understandable given we’re going to sneak her in,” Petre defended. “It’s rare anyone would even try, and most would absolutely cheat for survival.”

I snorted. “I would. I didn’t agree to promise to follow some dueling rules just because I was born a princess. That’s bullshit. Someone bigger and badder comes after me because they want my people and coven, I’m doing whatever I have to so they don’t win. I don’t think that cheating.”

“I don’t either when you put it that way,” Vitor admitted. “You’re right, and it’s not fair. It’s mostly meant to limit who would come challenge a princess on their own turf. Some princesses long ago outlined the rules of honor for those alive and the houses leading covens.”

I smirked at them. “Which I wasn’t actually alive for, and my house didn’t swear to that. So they can suck it. It has to be done by my hand? Fine, but she’s doing unthinkable things, so I’m fine with all the cheating.”

“Fair enough,” Petre chuckled. He leaned in until his nose ran along my cheek. “We do need to discuss what will happen after you kill her.”

Vitor caught on to the meaning first and sounded like he was swallowing a groan. He brushed his lips over my ear on the other side of my face. “You remember how you were after killing Safie, right?”

I missed something, and it was distracting to be in the middle of them. Even if I was still scared of Vitor, he was attractive and I did want him.

And I really wanted Petre after the little we’d done together.

My mind cleared of that when I registered his question. I flinched and moved back. “I almost lost myself again. I spiraled out and felt like my mind was going to melt.”

They both flinched, Petre clearing his throat. “I didn’t know you suffered that. I’m sorry. That wasn’t what I meant.”

Then it hit me and I swallowed a sigh. “I turn into a horny monster.”

Vitor snorted. “You were sexy as fuck, but that is what he meant.”

“Right, yeah, I’ll have to deal with that,” I worried. I blinked at them when they leaned in again. “Wait, I thought you didn’t want sex for this?”

“We don’t want it as payment like you’re willing to sell yourself,” Vitor muttered. “We do want you though.”

I sighed. “Vitor, you promised not to push if I admitted I was attracted to you.”

“He’s not,” Petre defended. “This is a situation that came up after and we should handle.”

That seemed like splitting hairs when they could travel super fast and get me back to my men… But then I remembered the ocean we’d have to go across and lots to handle in that moment. Plus, there was no way my husbands didn’t ask like a million questions that delayed things.

And they weren’t sex dolls to always be on call for my sex needs.

I swallowed loudly as I remembered how out of my head I’d been after drinking down Safie. Yeah, there was no way I could risk letting that get worse, and I didn’t know if Bahati was more powerful than Safie had been.

“Inez, we want what you do,” Vitor whispered. “We want normal and not court crazy.”

I studied them each in turn. “What are you asking for then?”

“Take us as your lovers,” Petre suggested with a shrug. “We can spend time together and be lovers.” He shook his head when I opened my mouth. “No court-courting, just regular…”

“Dating. The humans called it dating before everything went to hell,” Vitor muttered. “You’ve seen it in the movies you’ve watched. I know you are gathering books you never have a chance to read, but people have probably talked about it around you.” He waited until I nodded. “Let us become lovers when you need us, and after.”

I sat with that a moment… And I wasn’t really sure how that was different from giving them sex for their help.

They kept getting sex after instead? I swallowed a snort at the snarky thought.

“It’s not payment, and you don’t have to keep doing it,” Petre promised, clearly knowing where my head was. “And we won’t be anything other than your guards in front of the coven. It will be between us.”

Now that got my attention. I’d had fun teasing and playing with Branko without the pressure. But this was different. “What if we don’t click in the way we think or I’m not—I have a lot else going on. I don’t know I can balance more or handle other issues.” I cleared my throat and looked away. “And we need you. You say you don’t want me to sell myself, but if I don’t want to continue, I’ll still feel pressured to.”

“That’s fair,” Petre admitted. “I know I like it here. Yes, you are part of that, but I also like your nobles and knights. I would want to be here even if you weren’t.”

“Same,” Vitor agreed. “It if didn’t work out, I would still want to protect what this coven is and stands for. I simply couldn’t watch you still be with others. I might need to guard you from a distance instead of next to you.”

“I think that would be fair. Only one of your guards needs to be next to you. It would be better most times if the other was more removed and not distracted by what was right there. It’s how other courts do it. They hide an ‘aide’ as a guard, have a visible guard, and another one or two further out to alert earlier or intercept any problems.”

I bobbed my head as I listened. That was smart, and others had suggested I figure out something with a female noble or three instead of my “young” shifter knights. “So we have sex and then just keep having sex?”

“Did you really think we would have sex now and not ever touch you again? I thought you wanted more from me than that,” Petre pushed.

“I think she’s been too exhausted and scared to have put a lot of thought into this, Petre,” Vitor muttered. “Back off a bit.”

I wasn’t sure which of us was more shocked it came from him, but it made me smile. He constantly said he was not a man of patience, and no number of years could teach someone patience since he was proof of that.

But he was willing to be patient with me.

I also agreed with him, saying as much. “I think I’m worse than I realized because I can’t—please just spell it all out for me.”

“I’m going to treat this as we gave in to our passions after your victory and then have fun at the level we want,” Vitor stated clearly. “I’ve never had this either. Nobles don’t get to date and take things slow.”

“They can now but not when we were young,” Petre muttered. “We want to experience more as well. We need to so we heal as we should. We don’t want to bring our problems to you either, Princess. All of us need slow and patience.”

“I would like to bring you fruits or flowers too and sneak them into your room,” Vitor continued before I could respond. “Petre and I can be on your detail together, and we have dinner on top of a mountain or at a beach. Calm. Heal and just be.”

“If we sneak kisses or touches, all the better. But slow sounds nice.”

“It would sound better with tons of hot sex, but yes, I agree.”

Vitor said it so seriously, when that was the opposite of slow, that I burst out laughing. It seemed to amuse Petre as well which lightened the mood for sure.

“Okay, we can try,” I agreed after we calmed down.

“Good. Trying is good,” Petre muttered, leaning in and kissing my hair.

“True, but I’m going to punch you really hard later for stopping her and what she wanted to do,” Vitor said under his breath.

Except it was still at a level I could hear.

Goof.

Petre gave me a smile that was very much one of a predator. “Let’s go check out their coven and get a plan formed so you can drink that bitch down and scare the shit out of a lot of people.”

Sounded like a smart first step to me.