Chapter 53
Fifty-Three
SENAN
Princess Leeri of Nimbiss and I are married by special license at dawn. Besides the sunken-eyed priest, Boris and Minister Donnell are the only two witnesses present. The circumstances surrounding the ceremony are bound to cause an uproar, but none of them seem to give a shit. Leeri and I stand at the end of the aisle in the temple’s tallest tower as the sun rises above the pastel clouds on the horizon. The gold ribbon the priest uses to bind our hands together feels heavy as lead draped around my wrist. My vows never falter, lies spoken in earnest, a game I realize I cannot hope to win.
Not while men like Boris Vale hold all the power.
Instead of sharing a meal as is customary after such a “joyous” occasion, we are flown straight back to the castle and locked inside my chambers. There is no point trying to escape via the balcony. There are guards posted at every exit.
I draw the curtains with heavy hands, and when I turn back around, I find Leeri starting to unfasten the buttons at the front of her white-feathered gown laced with silver.
“Come, husband. Let us get this over with. We travel to Nimbiss in a few hours.”
How can I leave without knowing whether or not Bell was successful in retrieving Allette? Maybe I can convince her to delay our departure. “We’ve both been up all night. Wouldn’t it be better to wait until later today, or even tomorrow?”
Her lips press flat. “You cannot fault me for being anxious to return home. This visit has been most disappointing.” Her gown slips to the floor, revealing a set of lacy white undergarments beneath. I avert my gaze, staring instead at the patterned rug.
“If we are to consummate our relationship, you will need to disrobe as well,” she says matter-of-factly, no affection whatsoever in her clipped tone.
My wife is such a romantic. How did I get so lucky?
I clamp a hand over my belt buckle. She’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers before I remove a stitch. “I’m too tired.”
Leeri lets out the most unladylike groan I’ve ever heard. “Why must you fight me every step of the way? Do you think I want to be here with a man who cannot stand to look at me? We are bound by duty to our kingdoms. Let us get this over with so that I can leave this awful place and return home.”
She catches my wrist and pulls me toward the bed.
The thought of fucking this woman makes my body go soft as butter left out in the sun. I won’t be able to rise or shine even if I try. “I can’t.”
Ice frosts over her tight expression. “Need I remind you what is at stake?”
Even with Allette’s life at stake, my body recoils every time Leeri’s skin meets mine. There has to be a way to talk some sense into this woman. “You clearly have no affection for me, and I have made my feelings for you quite plain. There is no need to continue this farce. You have your documents saying we are wed. Let that be enough.”
Her lips twist into a derisive sneer. “While I may hold no affection for you, my father has made it abundantly clear that as a useless woman born without wings, I must produce an undisputed heir. One with wings. And seeing as you and your family have the purest Scathian blood in all the realm, that is where you come in.”
“Find someone else. I’m sure any number of those guards would be more than willing to?—”
“Enough!” She slaps my hands aside. The sheer force of the strike sets me off balance. She may be a wisp of a woman, but damn, can she hit. “Unlike your Tuath maid, I am not some common whore. I am a princess of Nimbiss, and one day, I will be queen. And as your queen, I demand you fulfil your husbandly duties at once, or I will send a guard straight to the pit with an order to execute your mistress. Do not test me, Senan Vale.”
I wouldn’t put it past this witch to do just that. What a fucking disaster my life has become. I can’t think of any way around this, and above all, I hope that Allette will forgive me for what I’m about to do.
I close my eyes and kiss the princess, pretending her lips belong to another woman, one I have loved with my whole being for so long. She makes a noise low in her throat, and I expect her to push me away. Instead, her nails dig into my shoulders. Everything about this feels so fucking wrong, but I don’t stop until the princess is pinned beneath me on the bed, her bare legs locked around my hips as she grinds her center against me.
“What now?” she whispers through swollen lips.
My stomach revolts; bile climbs my throat. “You’ll have to take off your undergarments.”
She does so without hesitation. Too soon, she is bare beneath me, and instead of growing harder, my body has no response to her nakedness. She could be a fucking pillow for all the attraction I feel toward her.
“Now?” she asks, her breasts rising and falling with each ragged gasp.
If she doesn’t know what happens next, maybe I can use her inexperience to my advantage. “I need to take off my clothes as well.”
She nods earnestly, watching as I strip out of my shirt, her eyes darkening to a lustful hue. But when I climb off the bed, she lifts to her elbows and frowns. “What about your trousers?”
“All in good time. There is something I’d like to do first.” I unbuckle my belt slowly, racking my brain for some sort of plan. I could always stab her, but that feels unnecessarily cruel when she doesn’t want this any more than I do. When I rub my clammy palms down my thighs, something rolls inside my pocket.
The stardust Boris gave me after dinner.
Leeri tugs the quilt across her bronzed skin, hiding her nakedness. “What is taking so long? You’re meant to ravish me.”
That word brings back memories of my day in the library with Allette.
I’m coming, my love .
Hold on a little longer .
I’d sooner ravish a fucking serpent than lay a finger on the princess. “Is that what you want, then? A ravishing?”
She nods.
I gesture toward where Leeri clutches the sheet. “Hands up.”
Leeri lifts her hands above her head, letting the sheet slip, uncovering far too much skin. I open my bedside drawer and feel around for the razor blade hidden beneath a handful of scorched blue feathers.
Please let this work…
Please.
When I climb onto the bed, Leeri lets me straddle her hips, keeping her pinned in place as I ease forward and catch her hands. “I’m sorry, Leeri.”
Her brow furrows, but by the time she realizes what is happening, I’ve already cut her palm and dragged the vial of stardust from my pocket. Her hips buck and thrash, and I nearly lose my grip but manage to pop the cork with my thumb and dump the glittering liquid onto her open wound.
“You fucking bastard!” she snarls, fighting like a rabid animal, gnashing at me with her teeth. I watch the light slowly overtake her veins, stretching its golden fingers all the way to her heart.
Her head lolls back, and a blissful smile paints her face. I sincerely hope the vial wasn’t tainted, but I’m afraid I had no other choice.
Now to figure out how the hell to get out of this fucking castle?—
“What do we have here?” a deep voice drawls from the servants’ entrance, where Jeston waits with his arms crossed, staring not at me but at the princess in my bed.
“It’s not what it looks like.”
“No? Because it looks to me like you’ve drugged your wife.”
All right. Maybe it’s exactly what it looks like.
From his pocket, he withdraws a small, clear bag containing five blue vials. My heart leaps with hope.
“You know, you really had me convinced,” he says, swinging the bag against his thigh. “I thought you actually cared for her.”
Leeri laughs to herself, a throaty, almost sensual sound.
Jeston’s head whips toward her, and his eyes narrow. I step into his line of sight. I may not like Leeri, but she doesn’t deserve to be ogled in such an inebriated state. Gods, I really hope that dust wasn’t tainted. “They arrested Allette and took her to the pit. The only way to save her was to marry the princess.”
Jeston finally comes inside and places the bag in my outstretched palm. “Then I suppose you should probably go and save her.”
If only it were that simple. “I can’t. I’m locked in.”
Jeston’s grin widens as he withdraws a notebook from his breast pocket and a golden dagger from his belt. “I think I can help you with that.”