Bride of Ashes (Kingdom of Shadow and Ruin #1)

8. Merrick

8

MERRICK

“ W hat’s she like?” I asked Lorant, watching his face, though his expression gave very little away. Perhaps only to me, but I’d quickly learned to read him if only in the nuance of his words and the way he took care to think before he spoke.

Reyla was not only in the suite across from mine, but we were also married. A whirlwind of emotions twisted inside me, excitement tangling together with apprehension, leaving me more unsettled than I’d been in years. I felt vulnerable, exposed, yet intensely alive, my body perched on the edge of something immense. My life could topple either way at the whim of this one person.

Lorant’s lips twitched, but his eyes . . . What I saw there made the world shift inside me.

“She’s gorgeous,” he finally said.

Jealousy I had no right to feel gouged through me. He got to meet her first, and that burned.

“Did you kiss her?” I blurted out.

“I’ll remind you that she has spent most of her time on the ship vomiting.”

“Before that. To seal the marriage.”

He huffed. “I completed it as was expected.”

“That’s not an answer.”

His gaze dropped from mine, telling me I wouldn’t get one no matter how hard I pressed.

“You wanted to.” Look up. Let me read your thoughts.

He did not glance my way. “You’ll meet her soon enough and if kisses are needed, you can deliver them. I’m sure she’s feeling like her old self again. As for what she’s like, she’s relentless. Determined and fiercely protective. I doubt anything can break that woman’s will.”

My smile rose. “You like her.”

Eyebrows lifting, his sardonic gaze met mine. “I didn’t say that.”

He didn’t need to.

“She’s maddeningly impressive,” he said. “I doubt she backs down from anything or anyone. I can't stand how she . . .”

“How she what?”

His shoulders dropped but only for a second before his ramrod strength tightened his spine once more. “Alright, she unnerves me.”

“Good.”

“ Not good.” The jerk of his head told me he hated admitting even this much to me. “She’s frustrating and captivating. Hard to ignore.”

I stifled the oddly possessive feelings surging through me. We weren’t in competition. But we were vastly different people, and he got to meet her first. How would she see me compared to him?

Where I could control how I spoke and what I said, and intelligence wasn’t the issue, those around me didn’t fear me like they did Lorant. I’d always ached for his sharp wit, for the way he could make people jump when he stepped into the room. I didn’t want my people to fear me—not too much—but I did need to command respect.

I’d had to earn it.

Lorant used precision in everything he said or did. He could slice through someone with his words alone. I could barely touch the sly way he manipulated those around him without them realizing it was happening.

“Describe her for me,” I said. Why hadn’t I asked for this information when Lydel Court replied that they would send me a willing royal fae bride? Because Reyla’s appearance hadn’t mattered. This was one step among many along a steep cliff with an even more treacherous path. Who she was could make or break me, and that was what I’d focused on back then. “Paint me a picture of her.”

“I’m no artist.”

“Don’t deny it. And you know what I mean,” I said. “Show me in words. You can do it if you dig deeply enough.”

“Her reddish blonde hair is long, beautiful.” His husky laugh rang out as he stared inward, picturing her like I longed to do. “It’s as wild and untamed as her.”

I’d bet anything he ached to tame her.

“What else?” I asked.

“Her hair caught the moonlight as it stroked across her shoulders.”

How would it appear in sunlight? I couldn’t wait to see, to touch it to discover if the strands were coarse or fine.

“It fits the rebellious gleam in her brown eyes,” he said.

Brown, eh?

“Those strands are a rebellion all on their own. They danced like flames. She’ll be a daring queen.”

My queen. “There must be more to her than gorgeous hair and brown eyes.”

“So much more . . .” He frowned, staring down at the floor before one corner of his mouth cricked up. “Would you believe she showed up on the ship wearing black leathers and not a gown? Pants that showed off her curves and a snug tunic that did nothing to hide her full breasts.”

“You looked at her breasts?”

His eyes lifted, darker than night. “Couldn’t miss them.”

Each word he spoke jabbed at my ribs, and a hollow ache expanded inside me. I wanted this. I needed it, but that didn't make it any easier to hear.

“It annoyed me how I found something appealing in her rebellion.” His brow drew together, and the skin around his scar pulled taut, emphasizing its tortuous path across his face. “Reyla is anything but weak.”

“Is she strong enough for what’s coming? ”

He shrugged. “She’ll have to be, won’t she?”

“Not again.”

“We may have no say in it.”

“We always do.”

Lorant grunted, though it wasn’t agreement or denial. “She’s a fierce spark that will burn out fast if she isn’t careful. Her breasts irritated me.”

My laugh erupted from my chest. “Why?”

“They’re a distraction I neither want nor care to indulge.”

She unsettled him, and I wasn’t sure if I should be glad for that or snarl and tell him to avoid her for the rest of the journey.

“When she arrived, everyone on board stared at her,” he added. “No one could look away. Her pale skin almost glowed against the black leathers. She’s primal strength and femininity in one tiny bundle. The way she moves disrupted everything. There’s a gracefulness to her stride that counters her fierce demeanor. She’s perfectly in tune with the ground beneath her feet yet she gives the impression she’s a wild creature ready to bolt.”

“You wanted to pursue her.” I struggled to maintain a neutral expression, though inside, admiration for her churned with resentment for him. This strange possessiveness I felt, this blurred line between irritation and want, only added to my annoyance. I found it a challenge to breathe.

“You’re the king, her husband. You’ll do the pursuing,” he snarled, grunting out a breath. “Her lips, full and pink, curled into a smile that didn’t come across completely innocent. You want to kiss her or avoid her at all costs. Either track could lead to your destruction.”

A fist snapped around my heart that beat too fast, my guts simmering in a way I couldn't control. He appeared oblivious to the irritation roaring through me, savoring the memory of her image while I stood in the periphery, a shadow who was unable to see.

“Those leathers . . .” He shook his head, his chest rumbling. “I taunted her about being pure fluff, but it didn’t take me long to see that she hasn’t been sitting in a pretty parlor all day, drinking tea and gossiping with high ladies. Life and hard work have carved her into . . .”

“Into what?” An electric current ran from my fingertips to my feet planted solidly on the wooden floor. I wanted to lash out—to make him stop talking. But I made myself remain in place, listening, craving her already based only on his description.

“She’s used her body as a weapon,” he said.

“You sensed this or—”

“She tried to poke me with her sword.”

“What?” I snapped.

“Stab me. Whatever. I took it from her, naturally.” A sly smile lifted his lips before they thinned again. “I’m curious to see if she knows how to use it, though I bet you anything she does.”

“The most recent missive told me she’s a high lord’s beloved younger sister,” I said. “A lady born and bred. Not a warrior.”

His steely gaze met mine. “She’s a warrior through and through, though she’s also got a haughty, queen-like demeanor you’re going to enjoy. The fates know I savored making her spark and snap.”

“Enough,” I growled.

His mocking gaze met mine.

“What’s she like inside?” I asked.

“She’s prissy, and she’s . . . No, that’s not right. I thought she was prissy, but she isn’t. I haven’t figured out what she’s like inside, actually.”

“Snarled at her too much, did you, in addition to stealing her sword?”

His snort echoed around us. “I couldn’t help but snarl. It’s me. You know that.”

“That it is.” I was his complete opposite, yet we’d been friends for what felt like forever. “I’m glad she’s feeling better. Thank you for helping her.” Pure longing came through in my voice. “If only I could’ve met her first , done this for her myself.”

“With what’s going on, this was the only way. You two are married, and the course is set.”

“Can she . . .”

“We’ll soon see, won’t we?”

He was right about that as well. “Tell me more. She came on board and—”

“I followed her from the moment she left the manor house the Lydel High Lady and her husband, High Lord of Weldsbane, own near the harbor.”

“You didn’t introduce yourself to them?”

“Would you?” he asked.

“Naturally. I’d love to meet the High Lady.”

“And the High Lord? ”

“His reputation precedes him.”

“Earned, from what I discovered. Perhaps that’s where Reyla gets it. It’s bred into her. Many say the Lydel High Lady has tamed the Beast.”

“A good thing,” I said. “It never pays to place too much power in half the courts of a vast kingdom and now two of them are allied by marriage. If she can control him, it’ll provide balance.”

“Better two allied kingdoms than one divided into three warring forces, like ours.”

“I’m not giving up.”

“We may have to.”

“I’m surprised to hear you say that.” I watched the twitch of his jaw and the way his scar pulled tight. “You’re much too fierce, too driven, to allow this to happen.”

“We should’ve acted sooner.”

“No one would agree.”

Lorant’s grumble rang out.

“We have enough time.” The fates knew I’d done all I could to avoid what was coming. Like those who’d traveled this route before me, I’d fight it to the end. I’d never succumb, not until I was dragged off the edge of the world and swallowed. “Perhaps my queen will soften you.”

“No chance of that,” he said dryly.

We’d see.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“She’s befriended a nyxin. Brought it on board with her.”

“Interesting. It may mean nothing.”

“And everything.” He filled me in on the few, court-related things, catching me up on what I’d missed, though it hadn’t been long since we’d last spoken.

“I wish you all the best,” he finally said. “It’s done and there’s no turning back.”

“We’ll both do our parts.”

“We have no choice. In fact—”