Page 127 of Onyx Cage: Volume II
I forced my tone to be even as I explained the rationality of the only reasonable decision we could make.
“If he wants to stop this alliance, the last thing we can do is show up just as he expects us to with a target all but painted on your back.”
Her jade eyes narrowed, her chest rising and falling with her quickened breaths.
“I am not staying here while you go back to Socair, back in danger.” Her jaw was set in a familiar display of obstinance, but this was not a battle I could afford to let her win.
“I’m not in any danger,” I assured her.Not truly. Not yet.“He isn’t going to infuriate the other clans by harming an heir.”
“Or a Clan Wife,” she fired back.
“Which you aren’t yet,” I was forced to remind her.
And might never be if I can’t get home to ensure my father’s continued support, knowingly given or otherwise.
“So, all I need to do is stay safe until then.” The burgeoning panic in her voice sliced at something inside of me, but my resolve didn’t waver, not when the stakes were her life. “We can get married right after I get back. It will be fine.”
Her voice nearly broke on the word fine, and I took her hand in mine, as much to comfort her as because I needed tofeel her warmth when my own was being edged out by the cold rationality I was forced to live my life with.
The brief reprieve our time here had offered was officially at an end.
“You might not make it past the border at this rate, Lemmikki.” I hated myself for saying it. Hated Iiro even more for making me. But between the dissension in Lochlann and now the whole of Socair, I wasn’t going to risk her safety by carelessly walking into a trap that Iiro had undoubtedly set.
“Even Iiro isn’t brash enough to risk the wrath of Lochlann,” she replied, answering my unspoken thought. Fire raged in her eyes, a challenge burning through the fear that had been there before.
How I wished that were true.
“Iiro doesn’t care about anyone but his own family,” I corrected her. “All he needs to do is close the tunnel and Lochlann would have to go through Bear and Wolf just to get to him. Even if I could work around my father’s orders, Wolf is never going to stand by and allow Lochlann to march through their territory, and Iiro has plenty of allies to further bar the way.”
“So, what?” She yanked her hand back and spun in her chair to glare at me. “You just want me to sit here in a bubble while my husband goes back to a war? What happened to fighting at your side?”
Not this kind of fight, not until you have even a fraction of the protections my position affords me.I debated explaining the difference to her, that this was more akin to sending her into battle without armor, but I settled on the part of the question that might actually bring her around.
“There is no war yet,” I reminded her. “And no, I don’t expect you to sit here indefinitely.”
The idea was not without its appeal, but she would eventually be in more danger if our half marriage continued. Finalizing her status as a Clan Wife was the only way forward. I just needed time to gauge the situation at Bear first.
Rowan didn’t look terribly appeased by that, but her mother interjected before she could argue.
“What do you propose?” she asked. “It sounds like you have a plan.”
Though the question was for me, she didn’t take her eyes off Rowan, willing her to be silent long enough for me to answer. She wasn’t the only one curious.
The Lochlannians and my men alike had their attention fixated on me.
I took a breath, choosing my words carefully. I needed my wife’s family on my side if she refused to take her own safety into consideration.
An idea had been brewing in the back of my mind since we first got the news.
“We finalized the trade agreement,” I reminded the table. “If I have a two-week head start, I can make sure everything is put in motion to assure safe passage for the caravans. No one is going to decline trade with Lochlann again when their people need food, not to mention, the agreed-upon dowry will be coming through.”
So far, the king and queen were both nodding. A small bit of the tension between my shoulders eased. This plan would work, and they could help her agree to it.
Never mind what it would feel like to walk away from her now that I knew what it was like to have all of her. To give her all of myself in return. But better this than losing her.
“In the meantime,” I went on, “I can ensure our wedding comes together. Our marriage is hardly a secret, but as long as no one knows where Rowan is—” I paused to look at the womanin question, willing her to understand how crucial that part was. “—they won’t be able to interfere. She can come in with one of several caravans, so she won’t be the only Lochlannian in the area, and she can arrive just in time for the wedding.”
“No.”