Free King's Throne by Bianca D'Arc Page A

all. And his princess. He’d do whatever it took to make her happy.
    Ducking his head to fit through the small door, he reentered the cabin and shut the passageway’s secret entrance behind him. Gina had moved into the room to sit at the table. They’d left coffee on the warmer and she’d already poured herself a cup. He went and did the same. He could use the caffeine at the moment to give him a little boost of energy. He didn’t want to admit how much that small journey had taken out of him. He was still weak but getting better all the time. He had to be happy with that.
    A few days ago, he’d thought he would die for sure. Now, he had a new lease on life , and it was all thanks to the delicate woman sitting here with both of her hands wrapped around a steaming stoneware mug. She looked worried.
    Mitch got his own coffee and sat down across from her at the table. She looked up, meeting his eyes with a troubled gaze.
    “What just happened?” she whispered.
    Something wondrous. Something magical. Something almost inexplicable. But he had to try.
    “I…changed.” It was the best he could come up with.
    “I don’t think that was temporary. Dad said it might be, when I told him about how some of your fur sprouted white when you were convulsing and your hands shifted. But it was only a little. You were still golden too. But now…” Her voice trailed off as her hand shook, but she took a deep breath and regrouped. “I felt something in the circle. The presence of the Goddess. I’ve felt it before a few times, when Dad’s been doing something up there. But this was you, Mitch. She came for you this time.”
    “You really think so?” He was still flabbergasted by the idea. “I mean, I thought I felt what you’re describing, but it seems so unreal.”
    Her gaze met his and held, but they didn’t say anything more, the enormity of what had just happened lying between them…until the exiled king’s pounding sounded on the heavy wooden door.
    Gina rose to let her father in. The big man swept into the cabin, his coat dusted with fine specks of snow that soon melted. It was flurrying again outside.
    Mitch rose as the tiger king came over to the table, shrugged out of his coat and put a leather pouch that looked very old on the table. Gina took the coat and spread it out to dry before rejoining them at the table. They sat in silence, the weight of the day’s events laying heavily on them all, it seemed.
    Finally, King Frederick reached forward and opened the leather pouch to pull out an antique-looking leather-bound book from within. He passed it to Mitch with great ceremony.
    The language was arcane, but even as he looked at it, the ancient characters resolved into something he could read. More magic.
    “ The Rule of Fire and Ice ,” Mitch read the golden title inscribed in the worn leather of the book. His gaze rose to meet the other man’s.
    “Well, that answers that question. If you were not meant to be tigre blanche , you could not read the ancient script. Only those of our line, or those blessed to become part of our number have the magic to read the ancient words of the Lady, handed down through fire and ice.” King Frederick replied.
    Mitch was across the small table from the king, Gina at the side, between them. She watched them both with equal parts worry and confusion on her beautiful face. Mitch wished he could reach out to her and tell her everything was going to be all right, but he just didn’t know if this bizarre situation would turn out good or bad. The only thing he knew for a certainty was that from now on, things would be…different. Very different, indeed.
    “You must study the Rule, Mitch. Learn the words, passed down from the Lady Herself. Only after you have mastered the Rule, will you be knowledgeable enough to challenge my brother, Gisli.”
    “Challenge?” Gina’s voice rose in alarm, but her father sat back, seeming utterly weary.
    “It is the only way I see this situation