Everlasting Bad Boys. Cynthia Eden

kicked her stall door.

      “Shalin!” he snapped, startling her attention back to him. “We don’t eat horses here.”

      “You don’t?”

      “No. These are working animals. Just like the dogs.”

      “Aren’t you running out of food options?”

      He couldn’t help but chuckle. “We make do.”

      “I see.”

      She wandered off, glancing into each stall.

      Ailean took a moment to brush his hand over Black Heart’s snout. “It’s all right, girl. It’s all right.”

      Black Heart clicked her teeth together and motioned with her head. Ailean looked up in time to see Shalin open one of the stalls and step in.

      “Gods, Shalin! Not that one!”

      Ailean shot over the stall gate, not able to take the time to open it, and charged after the dragoness. He stumbled to a stop when he found her petting the enormous pitch-black horse inside.

      “I can see why you enjoy this,” she murmured. “It’s quite soothing.” She looked up at him. “What’s his name?”

      “Nightmare.”

      “Hmmm.” She ran her hands through the horse’s long mane of hair. “He’s not as clean as the others and his mane’s a mess. Why?”

      Ailean smiled at the accusation in Shalin’s voice and crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s because no one else has ever been able to get near him except to give him a little food and water. He’s known for having broken more ribs, arms, legs, and heads than any other horse in my province. He’s mean, cranky, and foul-tempered. No one trusts him and we think he enjoys hurting people. Hence the name Nightmare.”

      At his words, Shalin shrugged. “He seems to like me well enough.”

      “That he does.”

      “I’ll clean him myself, then.”

      “Shalin, wait—”

      “It’s not fair. All the others tended to and not him.” Shalin grabbed a bucket and headed out to get water. “I know what it’s like to feel like an outsider among your own,” she said so softly he almost didn’t hear her.

      “I’ll take care of him,” she said again before disappearing out the stable door.

      Ailean watched her go. It still astounded him Shalin was born a royal. She never acted like it.

      And perhaps Nightmare wasn’t as big a bastard as they’d all originally thought if Shalin found some good in him. Ailean almost believed that too, until Nightmare reared up on his hind legs and brought his forelegs down on Ailean’s chest, sending him flying back into an empty stall. A human might have been killed, but—like Black Heart—Nightmare knew exactly what Ailean was and how much he could take.

      As Ailean tried to get his breath back, Shalin reappeared with a bucketful of water and one of the stable boys to assist her. She glanced down at him.

      “What are you doing?”

      When he didn’t answer, mostly because he still couldn’t, she shook her head. “So lazy, Ailean the Wicked.”

      6

      It took her several hours to groom the horse to her particular standards. In the time it took her to do one, Ailean and the stable hands had done all the others. And while she groomed the horse, her puppy ran around and around until he’d drop wherever and sleep. Only to snap awake a little while later and do it all over again.

      In all honesty, Shalin had never been so entertained before while doing absolutely nothing. She and Ailean never really spoke unless they asked each other specific questions, and yet she thoroughly enjoyed his company.

      “You doing all right over here?”

      She smiled as she ran the brush through Nightmare’s mane, yet again. It took her hours to get all the brambles and things out of it, but it was worth it. “Aye.”

      “It shines.”

      She patted the horse’s neck. “As it should.”

      Ailean pulled open the stall door. “You missed dinner.”

      Surprised, Shalin looked up. “I missed dinner?”

      He nodded. “You’ve been out here hours. Didn’t you notice you’re the only one left in here?”

      “I guess I missed that.” Her fingers slid easily through the horse’s mane. “Such a simple task and yet so…soothing.”

      “Are you hungry, Shalin?”

      “I am.”

      “Then come. Madenn has food for you.”

      Shalin stroked Nightmare’s forelock, which fell across his forehead. “He’s a fine horse, Ailean.”

      “He’s your horse now.” When Shalin only stared at him, Ailean shrugged. “No one else can handle him, Shalin. No one else wants him. I tried to sell him once and he nearly bit the man’s hand off. You are the only being who has ever been able to get this close to him. He’s chosen you, so you might as well accept it.”

      “I can’t take your horse.”

      “He’s not my horse. He hates me. He’s always hated me. And to be honest, I hate him, too. It’s a mutual hate.”

      “I don’t understand you.”

      “You sound like my kin. They never know what to make of me, either.” He held his hand out. “Come on, then. He’ll still be here in the morning.”

      Shalin nodded and patted the horse’s neck. As she walked out, the puppy charged past her and out of the stables.

      “Where does he disappear to?”

      “To play with his brothers and sisters. He’ll return when there’s food.”

      Ailean locked the stall door, and together they walked out of the stables.

      “The rains stopped,” she said, feeling the need to say something.

      “Hours ago. You really do get lost in what you’re doing, don’t you?”

      He didn’t sound mocking, merely curious. “There’s always noise and such at Devenallt. In order to get any work done, I’ve had to teach myself to shut it all out. To focus only on what’s important.”

      “That’s a fine skill. No wonder you handle my family so well. You simply ignore them.”

      Shalin laughed. “If it works. But I’m sure you have the skill. When you’re in battle.”

      “In battle I become aware of everything. I can’t afford to shut anything out except my own fear.”

      “You don’t seem afraid of anything, Ailean.”

      “I have fear. Anyone with sense has fear. You simply have to focus it where it’ll do the most good.”

      “That first night we were here, your kin talked of going to Devenallt Mountain.”

      “They did.”

      “To—if I remember correctly—raid it.”

      “Aye. That was what we in the family call a Twin Battle Plan.” At Shalin’s frown, Ailean elaborated. “Anything that requires us to go into the most impenetrable fortresses in the land and kill everyone not friend is called a Twin Battle Plan. Because the twins are usually the ones who suggest it.”

      “There’s a reason they’ve never been invited to Devenallt Mountain, isn’t there?”

      They paused at the steps leading into the