Chapter 29
DAHLIA
Itry to catch Maeve’s eye while servants follow her in with a tin bath, but she keeps her gaze to the floor. I want to run to her, let her know her brother is outside the palace waiting for her, but I can’t say anything with Lord Elheart breathing down her neck.
He only leaves her side to walk up to me.
Fists clenched, I step back.
“You needn’t be afraid, little one.” He passes me to sit down on the bed.
My breath stills. I can’t see my sisters hiding beneath it, but I know they’re still there.
“I merely wish to discuss a few things I found odd about your arrival, as delightful as the surprise may have been,” he purrs.
“I’d really rather have a bath and change my gown first,” I laugh nervously. “I am in such a state after my journey through the woods.”
“Of course. Don’t let me stop you.” With a grin, he leans back on the bed. Water sloshes into the bath behind me. When Maeve steps up to my laces and begins untying them, what’s about to happen suddenly hits me.
I jump away from Maeve. “My lord, you cannot be in here while I bathe!”
“Why ever not?” he chuckles. “You’ve come here to marry me, haven’t you?”
“Yes, b-but…” Maeve continues unlacing my gown. But she’s slow, like she doesn’t really want to. “It’s just not exactly proper for you to see me before—”
“Enough with the nonsense. Lying doesn’t suit you.”
I look up to see his grin long gone. “My lord—”
“I said enough,” he snaps. “I know why you are here, Dahlia.”
Goosebumps cover my arms.
“Tauren sent you here, didn’t he? You didn’t escape. You’re a princess!” he laughs cruelly. “Princesses don’t survive on their own in the woods. My guards would’ve dragged you to my throne room in pieces. There’s barely a scratch on you.”
“I stole a horse,” I blurt. “We didn’t stop once.”
“Your wedding was over a week ago. You didn’t stop to eat or sleep all week? What about those berries you claimed to have eaten? Or did they magic their way into your saddlebags?”
My throat tightens. Damn it.
“You do not need to look so afraid, dear child.” His voice softens.
Maeve slides the gown from my waist, and I instinctively cover my breasts.
His eyes harden on them anyway. “Really, it does not matter if Tauren sent you here as some sort of last ditch plan to ‘rescue’ his sister.” My breath catches.
“I will still marry you regardless. You’re here now. That’s all that matters to me.”
I hug my bare chest tighter. When Maeve moves to untie my bloomers, I twist my hips away and shoot her a desperate look.
The look she returns is just as desperate.
“You must undress for your bath, bride.” Elheart’s voice cuts through me.
“Fine.” My eyes water. I drop my hands from my breasts to remove my bloomers myself. I don’t have a choice. If Maeve does it, she’ll find my hidden daggers, and I can’t risk her reaction giving us away.
Fingers shaking, I slide the concealed belt over my hips at the same time as my bloomers.
When I look back at Maeve, she’s holding back tears.
“It’s alright,” I whisper to her. “I know he’s not giving you a choice here either.”
With Elheart’s gaze searing into my skin, I don’t waste a second to lower myself into the bath. The water laps around my shoulders. It’s warm, but it does little to stop me shivering.
I keep my gaze low while Maeve applies lotions into my hair. She’s slow again, and I wonder if she’s deliberately taking her time in the hopes that Elheart will get bored and leave.
He doesn’t.
“I wonder,” he purrs once I’ve been dressed in a soft blue gown and moved to an oak vanity. He’s still on the bed, having done nothing but leer at me this past hour. “Did Tauren ever tell you the full story?”
Maeve slides a brush through my hair. “What story?” I rasp.
“Our story. Sweet Maeve’s and mine… I can’t imagine he did. If he did tell you, perhaps you wouldn’t be so afraid right now. You’d be thanking me for trying so hard to get you out of there.”
I try to catch Maeve’s eyes through the mirror, but she won’t look at me. Whatever he’s got to say, I’d rather hear it from her, but I doubt I ever will. Whatever he did to take away her voice made sure of that.
“Tell me,” I growl at him.
“I’m not the villain, Dahlia. No matter what Tauren may have told you.”
“He told me nothing,” I lie. Then again, all I know is that Elheart stole Maeve from the demons. A horrible feeling settles over me at the thought that maybe there is more to this. I glance at Maeve, but there’s nothing but sadness in her gaze.
“Maeve is… well she’s precious to me,” Elheart’s voice cracks. “We were in love. I loved her. Still do. Though she may not say the same anymore.”
I say nothing to that. If Elheart’s definition of love is forcing Maeve to bathe an unwilling woman in front of him, then he clearly doesn’t know what love is at all.
“And Tauren, you see… well Tauren didn’t approve of our love.
” Can’t imagine why. “He said I wasn’t good enough for his sister.
So he and Maeve argued, and argued, and argued,” he sighs while my eyes narrow.
“It broke me apart to see her so upset. To the point that I begged her to let me go, to forget about me. I just wanted her to be happy, even if it meant I had to lose the woman I loved.”
I glance up at Maeve again, only to find her blinking tears back at me. “Is this true?” I whisper.
She nods, and my heart lurches.
What?
“But Maeve believed in us.” Elheart shakes his head.
“More than I did at the time. So one night she ran away from his castle.” My throat constricts.
“When she arrived here, I tried to send her home. I didn’t want her to fall out with her family.
But she begged me to let her stay.” His voice cracks.
“So I did… The salt barrier was for her protection, to keep Tauren and his soldiers from storming the palace and dragging her back to them.” My lips part.
“Though I doubt Tauren told you that part, did he?”
“I don’t understand…”
“What’s not to understand?” He sighs. “Tauren is a jealous monster who tried everything to keep us apart. We were in love and he couldn’t stand it.
No one touches what is his.” His pale eyes glitter.
“Which is how I know that you, my dear, did not leave his palace without his approval.” He smirks.
“Especially considering how possessive he was of you during my messenger’s visit. Or so Lady Urma tells me,” he chuckles.
Anger crawls up my throat. “Your story makes no sense. If this is all true, then why am I here now? Why have my father send me here to be your bride if you’re so happy with Maeve?” But one look at her tear-stained face tells me they’re not happy. Not at all.
Elheart’s grin falls. “We were happy,” he sighs. “Things change and I made… mistakes.”
Maeve’s fingers catch in my hair as she sniffles.
“What mistakes?” I steady my breathing.
Elheart adjusts the collar of his tunic, wincing. “Another time, maybe. For now, I think, sweetheart,” he addresses Maeve, “my bride is ready for me.”
Her lower lip wobbles as he rises from the bed, but she doesn’t let me go to him. Instead, her hands tighten on my shoulders.
“The truth is, Dahlia.” I can barely hear him through the blood roaring in my ears.
“I need an heir. A human one. I’m sure you’re aware that demons do not exactly have the best reputation, even after Tauren issued his ban on soul-eating, and if I wish to rise above my status I need a human family to win the approval of powerful men like your father.
No amount of love can change ones’ species, after all.
” He runs his fingers through Maeve’s curls almost lovingly.
“I’m sorry,” I stammer. “I can’t—”
“I’ll be gentle with her. Leave us now.” He pries Maeve’s hands from my shoulders before turning to me. “Our wedding can wait. No need to rush into anything until you are pregnant.” I hold back a gag. “But you are young so it will not take long—”
He stumbles backwards, and it takes me a moment to realise that it was Maeve who shoved him away.
He glares at her. “I told you to leave us.”
I bolt up to her side, my chest heaving. “Touch her and you’ll have us both to deal with!”
Maeve passes me a surprised look, but doesn’t back down.
“Now, girls.” He holds up his palms. “There’s no need to make this difficult. Dahlia, you will lie down on the bed for me. If you’re so nervous, you can keep your gown on.”
“In your dreams,” I spit at him.
Elheart curses. Then, before I can stop him, he lunges at me and grabs my wrist.
“Get off me!” I scream. He picks me up, my legs flailing in the air.
“Relax, child. I will be quick. This will all be over before you—” He drops me.
I scramble across the floor away from him. Eden gathers me into her arms; I didn’t even notice she’d crawled out from under the bed. But I do notice Maeve, the vase from the dresser now clenched in her hands. The blood-stained base drips blood onto Elheart’s body.
After a few moments, she drops the vase and crumbles to her knees.
Blossom hurries over to her. Maeve ignores her as tears roll down her face.
“He’s still breathing,” Blossom gasps. Maeve grabs his hand, sniffling.
“We need to leave,” I say to everyone. “Before he wakes up. Maeve?” I crawl over to the girl. “Maeve?”
She ignores me, clutching Elheart’s hand.
“She still loves him,” Eden murmurs. “We didn’t know any of this… I thought she was just a handmaid.”
Maeve presses a kiss to Elheart’s hand. It’s strange. She looks so young. Demons age differently, I suppose.
“We have to go,” I tell her. “You don’t have to come with us.
But if you want to leave here, we have to go now.
” For a moment, I wonder if she’ll insist on staying.
Despite what Elheart said about ‘making mistakes’, there’s still so much love in her eyes.
Maybe Tauren really is the villain in their story.
The salt barrier was for her protection.
We were in love and he couldn’t stand it.
An ugly feeling stirs in my heart.
Elheart groans in pain, shuffling.
“Come on. We need to go!” Blossom urges.
I keep my focus on Maeve. “Are you coming?”
Conflicted, she wraps her arms around Elheart as my heart sinks.
Then, she takes my hand.