The Battle of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book Two

Chapter Twenty-One

Adrian marched over to me and pulled me from Dominic's lap, then put me behind him as though that would do a thing if Ciaran wanted to take me again.

"Hey!" Dominic protested.

We all knew that there was very little Ciaran couldn't do if he were determined. But Adrian grabbed Ciaran by the shirt collar, ignoring that fact. Ciaran's expression turned mocking as he looked at my friend.

"The little hero has come to save the Princess. Oh my."

"I can see why Luis calls you a freakin K-pop refugee. You're as phony as a nose job, Kid."

Ciaran's lips lifted slightly, "I'm far more honest with our Princess than you are, little hero."

Adrian gave a frustrated growl and pulled back his fist. I groaned as I realized that Ciaran managed to find Adrian's button.

Venetto entered the room after Adrian, which made me groan again. The big lunkhead might start swinging his wings around, and there were far more breakable items in this room. He took one look at the beginnings of an argument and I swore that I could see him puff larger. He was raring to fight someone since he wasn't able to kill or rescue me.

Something had to be done before they broke my mother's house.

"Wait, before anyone starts swinging, let's open the windows and let all the testosterone out." With a quick, frustrated release of breath, I flopped back onto Dominic's lap. "Get everyone in here so we can work all this out."

Jeanne, bless her, actually opened up the windows.

Adrian pulled a chair forward while eyeing Ciaran, who chose to sit in another chair at the end next to where Elsie sat at my feet. Soon almost everyone was in the library sitting at the tables and the sofas.

Venetto chose to remain standing and his face darkened with confused wariness.

"Why art thou smelling strange? There be a strong magic upon you. I canst ken these things"

Luke was also staring at me with a dark look.

I held up the bracelet on my wrist. "This. Ciaran gave me a stasis bracelet. We were going to test it."

"We wanted to see what she looks like as a boy, but she didn't change." Jeanne said, looking apologetic. "We didn't think it would be the cause of much worry."

It was like a pin popped the big tension balloon. All the men relaxed. I vowed that Jeanne would have whatever she wanted for the rest of her life.

"My Lady, perhaps you should explain," Elsie suggested.

So, I rehashed the problem of my taint.

"As much as I would enjoy seeing you the way I'm used to, Matt, you told me that you weren't going to do something like that because it might be dangerous." Adrian gave me a chiding look.

I wormed around under the weight of his disappointment in me. "I know... I've been a part of so much magic, and I almost tried it."

He exhaled noisily then pulled me up from Dominic's lap into a hug. "Okay. I'll get off the judgment train for now. I'll admit it's going to be tough to avoid magic. You're impulse driven... I get it."

"Hey... I thought you were getting off that train?" I sat back down on Dominic.

"Off it now." Adrian smirked

"I bet you're absolutely adorable shaped like a human man," Jeanne sighed as she patted my leg.

I waved my hand and blushed, feeling uncomfortable with her compliment. "Thanks, Jeanne. I won't be doing it anytime soon because Adrian is right. I was worried about doing so much magic on my body."