Page 13 of Onyx Cage: Volume II
“The first one to disarm me has three days of leave, effective immediately,” I said, walking to the center of the ring.
It took six hours and four waves of men, and I still couldn’t banish the sight of her wayward curls blowing in the midnight breeze the night she walked out of my life for good.
I shouldn’t have been surprised when the bird arrived.
Hadn’t I seen Iiro’s shifty expression? Heard that his precious brother had been at the tunnels when she left?
Hadn’t I known that Iiro would do anything to get the throne and that Korhonan would do anything to gether?
My heart pounded furiously in my chest as I crumpled the letter in my hand. Her bright green eyes flashed in my mind, along with the sound of her laughing with my men, the smile that curled her bowed lips.
Had she been elated when she got his proposal? Begged him to reach out to me?
She sure as storms hadn’t said no, or he wouldn’t have been on his way to Lochlann when he sent the storms-blasted damned bird.
When she left, I had sworn to myself that I would leave it alone. She was safer there. She could make her own choice on who she married, live out her life free from the fear of someone destroying her perfect flesh on a vengeful whim.
But this…
Uncrumpling the letter, I scanned it once more, resisting the urge to throw it into the fire instead.
Dear Evander,
I have been writing to Princess Rowan, and she has agreed for me to visit her at Castle Chridhe to discuss the terms of our marriage in Lochlann. I will be departing this afternoon, likely after you receive this letter, but I am sure you understand my urgency.
Since you were amenable before, it is my hope that you will be open to considering the same agreement to allow our marriage to take place in Socair when we return.
I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Theodore
A muscle clenched in my jaw, and I crumpled the letter once again.
Urgency, indeed. They were planning to force my hand. To marry in Lochlann and use the new alliance to pressure me into compliance.
A dark chuckle hissed past my lips as I tossed the parchment into the fire.
It was exactly something Iiro would do. Perhaps Korhonan was following in his brother’s footsteps after all—or trying to.
I took a deep breath, then another, the thread on my temper more fragile than I could ever remember it being.
Like hell would I sit here while they found a way to destroy everything I had been trying to protect by taking her from the storms-damned Summit to begin with. While they tried to claim what was always going to belong tome.
Without another thought, I began packing my things. Taras was set to leave this afternoon, except even if he did go, he didn’t have the power to stop her from marrying.
ButIdid.
CHAPTER NINE
If Taras had been surprised by my last-minute decision to take his place, he didn’t show it. Instead, he and Mila quietly headed back into the palace while the staff swapped out our luggage. Everything else would stay the same.
Kirill would remain in Bear to help with the running of things my father wasn’t sane enough to manage, while I took Yuriy and a few other trusted men with me into Lochlann.
I cursed the necessity of using a carriage that moved at a snail’s pace all the way to the mountain pass. There wasn’t the same urgency in a carriage as there was on horseback. I lacked the freedom to push my horse faster through the countryside—regardless of the pressing need I felt to hurry—settling instead for the monotonous trek, all for the sake of the trunks we had and the appearances I would be forced to maintain once we were on the other side of the mountains.
Sitting back on the bench, I clenched and unclenched my fists, picturing the many ways the princess was alreadyallyingherself to Korhonan.