Chapter 4 #2
The king sighed. “Guardwin and three ladies saw Sir Gyldford fumbling with your skirts. It was the talk of the evening once both you and he disappeared for the rest of the night.”
“My skirt tore while dancing. Sir Gyldford offered to mend it.” Searching Sir Gyldford for a defense, I found nothing. Only stone as he avoided my gaze.
“Sir, please tell the king what happened.”
But he said nothing.
“How could you be so foolish, girl?” The king ground out.
“Nothing happened between us, I swea—”
“Guardians damn it all to bloody Infernum!” He pounded his fist in rage.
“I meant your marriage for alliance! Protection for what lies past Oakhaven’s borders.
You stupid. Foolish. Girl.” He pounded each syllable into the desk beside him.
“A whore just like your mother.” The final insult punched me in the gut.
“You are to be sent to Gyldmare tomorrow. There you will marry Cedric quietly. Afterward, I never wish to see you again.”
My hands trembled. No. This couldn’t be.
“We will marry at Whiterok,” Sir Gyldford cut in swiftly. The queen turned at that, a strange look flashing through her sharp countenance.
“We do not even know one another, and nothing happened between us.” The words snarled from my lips.
Cedric cleared his throat. “After our evening last night I wish to right the wrongs of my transgressions.”
Anger flushed my face hot.
“What are you implying, Sir?”
He met my stare, a look of pained disgust on his face. “Because I took your maidenhood, we should marry to right our wrongdoings.”
“You fucking liar!” I roared, and lunged forward, ready to beat him into a gory pulp.
Vega caught my shoulder, holding me back.
Cedric only watched me with that look of revulsion.
The king sent a goblet flying with the back of his hand, the metal cup clanging on stone flooring.
We all froze.
“Whiterok, Gyldmare, I do not fucking care! I just want her out of my court and sight as soon as possible. She is your problem now, Cedric.” His eyes narrowed at my governess. “Vega, help her prepare for her journey and tomorrow, you will leave to Aeretha Abbey to await new employment.”
My body surged in protest. There had to be something that could be done.
Something I could say. I would marry whoever the king ordered me to, but I couldn’t lose Vega.
I could not bear the thought of being far from her.
I’d slept with her close, if not in my bed, my entire life. I needed her. She was all I had.
“Please, don’t do thi—”
“All of you out!” the king yelled.
Vega grabbed my wrist and pulled me out the door.
Everything in me wished to fight but Vega dragged me as I begged incoherently.
But no one answered.
No one cared.
Cedric, the queen, and Sir Guardwin followed us out, and the large doors my father hid behind slammed shut.
My ugly, gnarled anger turned on Cedric, now standing in the hall.
“You bastard!” Shoving hard into his chest, I screamed, “You fucking bastard!” But he did not move, his muscles tense.
The big, repulsive aberration. “You Guardians-damned liar! You think I will marry you? You pathetic excuse for a man!” I shoved him again and again, slamming into hard, muscled flesh.
The queen and Sir Guardwin walked down the hall, unfazed at my show.
“Lady Elowyn … Elowyn! Stop this!” Vega said.
Cedric swiftly snatched my wrists.
“You are this repulsed by the thought of being married to me,” he practically hissed.
“You implied I had sex with you to my father.” My voice cracked under the weight of the pain. A whore just like your mother. My mother was no whore, and neither was I. Fuck the king. And fuck this place.
“Did you think I would willingly marry a man who lied about my honor to claim me?” I fought his hold, but it was useless. Defeated, I panted before him. “My mother was executed for less.”
Cedric flinched. “He will never hurt you.” His voice sank low and coarse.
“And your honor has nothing to do with what people say in this place. This is a castle filled with illusions and lies. But you should have learned the rules before you ever attempted to play this ridiculous game, especially if you did not wish to be claimed.” He dropped my wrists and walked past me.
A fire burned within me, inflaming my heart as it surged in my chest, desperate to escape the fate of my flesh.
“Why are you doing this?”
He turned and looked back at me, shaking his head as if in disbelief. “You truly do not understand?”
“Understand what?” I practically yelled, tears blurring my vision.
“I knew you were naive, but I never thought you were foolish enough to not know your worth.”
“My worth? Is that why you’re doing this?
You find some worth in a bastard daughter of the king?
A daughter he cannot stand to look at. You think a marriage to me will raise your status so you can get closer to kissing the ring.
” I let out a joyless laugh. “If I am foolish, then you, Sir, are a complete and utter imbecile about to marry no one of importance. If it wasn’t clear enough, let me tell you now: my father hates me and I am worthless. ”
Those green eyes turned dark as a forest at midnight. “He doesn’t hate you. He fears you. They all do.”
Then Cedric Gyldford, my betrothed, turned and left me.