Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
Sylvi
The cold morning wind whipped against my cheeks as I stood beside one of our supply wagons, adjusting the saddle on Stormchaser for the third time. I told myself it was the frigid air making my body shudder, not the boulder that had been planted on my shoulders.
But how could I shake off the weight of last night?
Not just Jack’s revelation, though his words still haunted me… My mark is not a brand that signals to others that you belong to me. It’s a brand that signals to others that I belong to you.
Something inside me caved, remembering the way he’d looked at me when he’d said those words. It had been so beautiful but also monstrously terrifying.
Especially after everything else that happened.
What the princess had said to me, what was disclosed at the king’s table, the veiled threats, the looming shadows of Yulreth and the Star Court.
It felt like the entire continent would need to brace for war.
And here I was, caught in the crosswinds of duty and my love for a prince I had no right to claim.
This was too much for one person, yet I needed to endure. Protecting the crown needed to be my highest priority.
As I patted Ravin’s mare on the flank, a shadow fell across the snow-dusted ground.
“Captain Isenwulf,” came a honeyed voice. “A word before we depart?”
Princess Isolde stood with her chin high, her midnight-colored cloak draping heavily over her shoulders, hands tucked into a white fur muff.
I hadn’t realized until now just how tall she was.
Statuesque, poised, and impossibly graceful.
Every step she took was too smooth, too measured for someone with the eyes of a predator.
“Princess,” I said with a short nod.
She stepped closer, the air tightening with the low thrum of her magic. “I do not wish to make you my enemy,” she said. “However, I am not blind, nor am I stupid. I see how you look at him.”
“I serve my prince as his captain, nothing more.”
A cruel smile curled her lips. “Right. Nothing more. Yet you reek of him. And I don’t mean just your scent, Captain,” she said, sneering, her nose scrunching in disgust. “I mean your heart. It bleeds for him.”
I met her gaze without flinching. “If you mean to suggest that I would die for my prince, you’re not wrong. I took an oath to protect the crown and its interests, Your Highness.”
Her expression hardened. “You’re just the perfect little soldier, aren’t you? But your place is not at his side, Sylvi. Nor next to his throne. The sooner you accept that, the easier things will be between us. Because if you’re to remain his captain, I need to make sure I can trust you.”
“I assure you, Princess, I am more than capable of leading this envoy. You don’t need to be worried about entrusting me with your safety.”
Her pupils narrowed, but her composure never cracked. “You mean the same way you ensured the safety of those soldiers who died by the lake?”
I swallowed thickly, my eyes widening. I could’ve told her the envoy was not under my command at that time.
That I’d done everything to protect Jack and those who went into that forest after the wraiths, but what good would that have done?
Trying to pin the blame on someone else would never bring those soldiers back.
And the princess wouldn’t care about who was truly responsible, only that people had died.
She smiled, a cold and wicked thing. “Did you think word of the attack on your camp wouldn’t reach my ears? My great-grandfather has eyes everywhere, Captain. I don’t need your assurances. My safety will be entrusted to my brother, General Drigmir.”
I tilted my head. “Oh. I hadn’t realized he was your brother.”
“Half-brother,” she corrected, chin tipping. “Bastard son of my father, but no less loyal to me. He is the only blade I trust.”
“I look forward to working with him, then.”
The corner of her mouth twitched. She assessed me as though measuring my worth and perhaps calculating the most efficient way to destroy me when she had the chance.
I didn’t blink.
“Very well,” she purred. “Now that we understand each other, I pray the gods grant us favor across the pass.”
My lips thinned into a mirthless smile as I gently bowed my head. “From your lips to their ears, Princess.”
She spun with steely grace, her long silver braid slicing the air behind her. Her magic left a faint metallic taste in my mouth, and the shadows around her seemed to deepen as she passed.
Once she was out of earshot, I forced a slow breath through my nose and pulled my gloves tighter to hide the trembling in my fingers.
Gods. That princess gave me the creeps.
“Sylvi.”
My heart jolted, and I turned sharply at the sound of Jack’s voice, a hand to my chest. “Skadi’s grace, Jack. You scared the shit out of me.”
He stood a few paces away, jaw tight, hands curled at his side. His eyes went dark, storm-filled. “I’m sorry. A moment. Please?” he said, gesturing toward the edge of the camp.
I followed him toward the clearing, the wind sharper here near the pines.
“I want to talk about last night,” he said gently.
“I can’t,” I replied, voice tight, about to turn back to camp. “Not now.”
“Syl—”
“Jack, please. I haven’t even begun to process what happened between us, let alone the shitstorm that unfolded at the king’s table. I need to stay focused—the envoy’s safety depends on it. I can’t afford to be distracted. I promise…once we’re back in Isenheim, we’ll talk. We’ll figure it out.”
He looked down, pressing his hands to his hips. “This can’t wait, I’m afraid.”
I stepped closer, hesitant. “What’s the matter?”
“Now that the princess is officially traveling with our envoy as my betrothed…”
I shook my head. “No. I’m not doing this with you, too. She was just here trying to warn me, or threaten me…maybe both. I don’t need another reminder that I’m beneath her. I’m not some lovesick fool who doesn’t know how to do my job. I will protect her. That’s all you need to know.”
“Syl, I don’t doubt your capability. But that’s not what I came to say.”
“Then we’re done here.” I moved to walk past him, but he caught my wrist. I didn’t resist.
“I don’t want to lose you,” he murmured.
“You won’t,” I whispered back, my heart splintering.
He pulled me gently toward him, our bodies so close I felt the heat radiating off his skin, his scent trapping me in his aura. He reached up, cupping my jaw, tilting my face toward his. My heart thrashed. I didn’t want to look at him, but gods, I couldn’t help it.
“There are rules. Expectations,” he said, voice low, thumb grazing my cheek. “Things will be asked of me…things I won’t want to do.”
His eyes held mine, and I knew. Knew he’d be expected to act the part of a doting fiancé and that I would hate every second of it.
I turned my face away, trying to keep my composure, but he tilted my chin back toward him again.
“My mark is true, Syl. And it will never fade. No matter what you see. No matter what you hear. Please accept that as my only truth.”
I wanted to believe him.
His face drew closer, lips parted, our breaths becoming one, hot against the cold air. The taut, magnetic pull between us throbbed with such intensity I thought we might melt the ice around us. I didn’t push away…couldn’t.
I wanted to crash my lips into his and damn this whole world if it couldn’t accept us.
Every part of me ached to touch him, to taste him, and I didn’t care that we were out here in the open where anybody could see.
I leaned even closer, daring him to prove himself. Daring him to punctuate his mark again.
Jack inhaled as if he’d been drowning, his blue eyes going molten silver. He was about to claim my lips when the soft crunch of boots against the dirt broke the spell.
“Astrid’s asking for you, Captain,” Ravin called out, voice too loud, too convenient.
I stepped back as if Jack’s touch had burned me, the ache in my chest hollowing me out. What in Náldrún’s Hel were we about to do? I’d just finished telling myself I needed to focus on keeping the envoy safe, and one look into his sparkling cool eyes and I’d forgotten all about my oath?
Being this close to him could only spell disaster. Yet I couldn’t stay away.
Jack’s hand dropped, his face turning to stone and ice.
“I should…leave,” I started.
“I know.” He lowered his gaze.
He didn’t move as I walked away. But I felt his stare like flames licking between my shoulder blades, even as the cold wrapped itself around me like a cloak. And I wished for it to snuff out the consuming fire he’d just ignited inside me.
But I knew better. This…this thing pulsing between us wasn’t a fire that could ever be put out. It would only burn and burn until we both turned into nothing but silver ash.
We’d been crossing the pass for three days, and still, the mountains loomed around us like the titans of old, reminding us that our grueling journey was far from over.
The wind snapped harder each day. Tempers were fraying at the seams, supplies running low, horses skittish, sleep harder to come by.
Still, we pressed on. We knew what hid in the dark forest of the Wildlands. Pitching tents had been out of the question.
Until tonight, when the Unseelie Princess demanded we stop. “I will not dine in the mud, or sleep in a wagon,” she had said, brushing the frost from her cloak like a bored noble swatting flies. “We make camp here. I require proper rest.”
I’d tried to argue. So had Jack.
But when the soldiers glanced our way, bone-weary and hollow-eyed, it was clear they needed the reprieve.
So Jack gave the order. By sundown, camp had been set in a pine-flanked clearing just off the main trail. Fires crackled. Smoke curled from cookpots steeped with spiced meat and vegetable stew. For the first time in days, laughter, real laughter, rose from the guard posts like warmth from a hearth.