Page 6 of Onyx Cage: Volume II

I nodded, sensing dangerous ground.

“Which means that he initially requested you for this…” he paused, scanning the terms of the contract. “Relatively advantageous alliance.”

His gaze flitted toward the family wing where he believed the princess to be, the implication as clear as the suspicion sparking in his cobalt eyes.

“He did,” I responded evenly. “But I put forth Taras so that I might remain open for another alliance, should the need arise. Mikhail does still have his niece.”

Who I had no intention of marrying. Then again, I didn’t have any intention of marrying at all while he was alive—though I could hardly tellhimthat.

His expression cleared a bit, but not entirely. “Is that who you want? Lady Galina?”

Was he leading me into a trap? I would have thought so, but for the barest edge of something foreign softening his stern mouth.

Concern? Curiosity?

Maybe that’s what made me ask him a question in turn, one that should have been rhetorical but wasn’t, not quite.

“Does it matter what I want?” My tone was low, my features as casual as I could make them, while I deliberately worked to not think about wild curls and a too-loud cackle and a slim hand wrapped confidently around the hilt of a borrowed sword. “We both know I will always do what’s best for the clan.”

Following that statement, I couldn’t keep myself from hearing the soft sound of Rowan’s retreating footsteps while I turned my back to let her walk away, and for the first time in my life, the words tasted like a lie.

My father’s eyes met mine for a long, inscrutable moment until finally he released a sigh, the sound strangely close to…disappointment.

“No. I suppose it doesn’t matter.” He dipped his quill in his ink, signing the contract before stamping it with his seal in a practiced motion.

“It’s a good alliance,” he said, handing the contract back. “You’ve done well.”

I might have taken pride in his words, were they not the same ones he used so often after I returned from slaughtering his innocent people.

Since, as so often was the case, I could hardly say that, I only nodded as I took the proffered parchment. It was a relief to leave his presence. Sometimes, his lucid days were even worse than the ones when he was confused.

It was too easy to remember that there was a time when he had been a father. That in another life, he might have even been a good one.

CHAPTER FIVE

Pavel returned a few days later, informing me that the princess and her party had made it safely to the tunnels. He swallowed hesitantly after finishing his report, and a muscle ticked in my jaw knowing that he was about to impart news that I was not going to be pleased about.

“But?” I pressed.

He cleared his throat. “Lord Theodore met her there, along with her cousin.”

We hadn’t yet had time to hear back from Taisiya’s contact, so I tried to feel a sense of relief that Davin was no longer in the control of Elk, instead of the molten fury rising up from my stomach.

“Did he, now?” Did he take that time to profess his undying love for her all over again, now that she was safely where he wouldn’t have to fight to get her back?

“Good work,” I said in dismissal.

Pavel nodded, leaving while I paced from my room to my study, considering the implications of Korhonan’s presence at the tunnels.

Did Iiro know that he had gone? If not, he would soon, since Theodore kept nothing from his brother, as I well knew. Andif Iiro knew that Rowan was returning to Lochlann, that his brother had helped her return…

Der’mo.

My eyes flitted to the balcony where Rowan had stood barefoot and shivering as she told me about her last argument with her mother. Her parents wanted her to marry for love, not politics.

Her father had barreled into the enemy kingdom himself to save her, had stayed his hand from killing me at a single plea from her.

They would let her marry Korhonan and damn the consequences, if that was what she wanted.