Puss in Boots (Timeless Fairy Tales Book 6) by K. M. Shea Page A

you think well of myself and Lady Gabrielle.”
    “I do. Safe journeys, Roland.”
    “To you as well, Your Majesty.”

    “Look out!” Steffen said, yanking Gabrielle out of the way of a mean-looking bandit with a cutlass as fat as Gabrielle’s arm. She hit the bandit on the back of the head, sending him tottering into two villagers.
    “Is it just me, or does this feel like a tavern brawl? Ouch!” Gabrielle yelped when a bandit grabbed her by her wet hair and pulled. She applied her hoe to his gut, making him release her. Steffen plucked the bandit’s bow from his fingers and kicked him in the chest, knocking him into a puddle. Three village women descended on the bandit, trussing him up like a baby in swaddling clothes.
    “It’s a brawl,” Steffen agreed, grimacing when a bandit landed a glancing blow to the side of his head. “And madness,” he added.
    “We’re not outnumbered, but it’s too chaotic,” Gabrielle said as the rain poured from the sky. She swung at a bandit who had a woman slung over his shoulder and whacked him in the backs of his knees, toppling him.
    Steffen pulled two bandits off a villager and smashed their skulls together. “Here, stand at my back,” Steffen instructed, pulling Gabrielle away from her fallen foe.
    “What? Why?”
    “It’s too dangerous to go with an unguarded back in this crowd. You watch my back, and I’ll watch yours,” Steffen said, moving close enough so his back brushed Gabrielle’s shoulder blades.
    “This is incredible,” Gabrielle said with a reckless smile as she adjusted her grip on her slippery weapon.
    “ What ?” Steffen said, swinging around to face her before he remembered himself and repositioned his body, fending off an attack from a bandit. “What would ever cause you to think that?”
    Gabrielle laughed, an infectious sound that made the villager standing nearest to her grin. “Don’t you feel alive?”
    “I feel that I could be impaled if I make a mistake,” Steffen said, disarming a bandit and kicking him to a group of villagers waiting with rope.
    “I’m sorry for your sake. Life is more interesting when it’s an adventure,” Gabrielle said, her soaked skirts sticking to her legs.
    “Are you mad ?” Steffen demanded.
    “No,” Gabrielle said, lifting her hoe as she eyed a bandit. “I’m free .” She hurled the hoe—hitting the bandit square in the head. He held his head and yowled, and several villagers descended on him.
    The fight lasted several minutes. Some of the bandits tried to run, but the villagers and Steffen’s soldiers chased after them through the rain and mud like bloodhounds.
    “I’m impressed,” Gabrielle said, wiping rain from her brow when the fighting was over. “I thought you were a soldier, but you’re a halfway decent fighter,” she said, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet with unspent energy.
    Steffen squinted at her. “You weren’t joking, were you? You really enjoyed that.”
    “Of course,” Gabrielle said, wringing water from her hair even though it still poured.
    Steffen shrugged as he bent to tighten the knots of a bandit’s restraints. “You were more helpful than I thought you would be.”
    Gabrielle snorted.
    “I mean it,” Steffen said, wiping mud from his thighs when he straightened up. “You handled yourself well.”
    Gabrielle’s smile was quieter as the rain seeped through her clothes, chilling her. “Thank you. You were right: it was better to bring the fight into the village so your men could help us.”
    “As much as I appreciate the acknowledgement, I must admit I thought we would find them much sooner,” Steffen said. He tried to restore order to his perfect blond hair, but it appeared to be a useless endeavor. In the sputtering light of the lanterns and torches, with his perfect looks rain spattered and mussed from the fight, Steffen looked much more… real . His clothes were smeared with mud, and he had a cut on his cheek, but his face wasn’t