CHAPTER 1 #3
Father was speaking again, but my attention was lost to images of seafaring monsters burning villages and murdering innocents.
“—by forging alliances that will best serve the kingdom.” He motioned to Merria and Naton, still arm in arm.
“Your union will be blessed by the Creator. Lord Ingleton and I have drawn up betrothal papers, which we will sign this very night. Our alliance with the Ingleton dukedom will bring trade, supplies, and strength against the encroaching enemy, benefitting us all.”
Merria smiled, dipped into a curtsey, and said, “I am honored by you, Father.”
Then, he turned to me. “My dear”—he never addressed me this way—“your part is the most crucial of us all.”
My voice escaped me. I stared open-mouthed as my mind blanked of all thought. Finally, I managed, “I don’t understand.”
He nodded to Tam. “Your betrothal—” My heart squeezed as a thousand doubts pressed in. What was wrong with me? Being married to this man, who was both my friend and lover, should have felt like a gift from the Creator. “—must change. Think of it as a delay, nothing more.”
The words rang around in my head, refusing to take shape. “Change?”
I glanced between them—my mother, the other two ladies, Merria and Naton, and even Tam. Every face in the room looked grave.
“A messenger will arrive within the hour. I will demand our arrangement be put in motion at once. Within a matter of days at most, you will be off, my girl.”
“Off?” Merria gasped. “She’s to leave?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Naton placing a hand over Merria’s shoulder. She fell silent.
“You’re headed straight into the heart of our oldest enemy, for the greater good of us all.” Father held my stare, but it was only the margrave who spoke to me. “You’re to be betrothed to Eldreth of Rihtlond, the dane’s heir.”
“It’s what the Rihtlondish savages call their king,” Lord Ingleton added. In the firelight, his prominent nose and deep-set eyes cast an ominous shadow across his face.
I looked between the two men. My throat clenched, which was a good thing, as it kept the bile rising from my stomach at bay.
Rihtlond was a land of brutality and death.
Their danes rarely lived long enough to produce heirs before they were killed by usurpers.
They were known best for the way they kidnapped and killed our border villagers for sport.
And this is where my father wanted to send me—into the maw of death itself?
“You must be joking,” I said at last.
The margrave moved. His steps echoed on the wood flooring, then muffled when he reached the rug. He stopped in front of me, his looming form filling my vision. His eyes were severe. “It’s a betrothal in name only. There will be no wedding.”
“I should say not!” I cried out, rising from my seat and forcing him back a step. “I won’t marry a Rihtlonder, I won’t.”
His arm twitched, and I flinched. But he stopped himself, no doubt for the benefit of the other lords. He had never stilled his hand for my benefit before. Thanks to my rogue tongue, I knew all too well the sting of the back of his hand across my cheek. “You will do as your margrave commands.”
I nodded. Anything else with this audience would only make things worse.
“Do not let yourself be ruined by them. I’ve done my part to ensure it, but you must do the same.”
Every pair of eyes in the room turned to me with expectation. A strangled whimper escaped my throat.
“We must put that brain of yours to use. While there, you must learn their ways and become accepted by their people. As you gain their trust, you must document everything you see. Their ports, their numbers, their military actions, their ships—everything. We need to root out their weakness if we hope to stand a chance at surviving.”
My mind was numb. His words oozed through me like hot wax.
“I’ll teach you a secret code that will help keep your messages safe should they fall into the wrong hands.
All your correspondence should be addressed to Merria.
Tell them how dearly you miss your sister, and writing back and forth will seem natural.
Anything you can’t send by code you will detail in a journal to send back with your maid.
We will have to work in secret, using what information you give us, to extract you.
You must be ready in a moment’s notice. There will be no warning when the time comes.
Do all this”—he paused and glanced meaningfully at Tam—“and you’ll earn your reward. ”
“You would sacrifice me just as you did Bale,” I whispered and slipped back down to my seat. My legs shook, and I gripped my knees to still them.
“Play your part, girl,” the margrave went on. “Remember your family. Remember your king. Do as you’re told—and all will be rewarded to you tenfold.”
I had always known the esteemed Margrave of Cavendaffe believed he owed no explanations for his actions, least of all to his daughter.
So, I tried not to react. I did not bristle as he offered only commands, soft-spoken though they were.
There were a great many of them—things that I should be listening to and remembering.
The conversation moved to speculation from the lords while the women remained silent.
“We’ll use the extra manpower against the encroaching Volaachi…”
“Once we have the truth behind their newfound strength…”
“…trouble will be getting her out.”
“How long?” I asked.
My words hung in the air, unanswered. Lady Ingleton appraised me with solemn scrutiny.
Lady Fethersen looked at me with sorrow.
My mother’s eyes held only tears, as if I were already lost alongside her son.
All three remained speechless while their husbands schemed and planned, ignoring the rest of us.
“How long?” I repeated more loudly.
My father was the first to turn at the interruption, his face hard and mouth pressed into a firm line. “Less than a year. A matter of months if we’re lucky.”
I shook my head. I had meant to ask how long he had been planning this treachery. It never occurred to me to ask how long I would have to endure it. Did it matter, when trapped with an enemy? Would not even one day be too long to stomach? Dread boiled in my gut as the fire of hope died away.
Play your part, girl. It echoed in my ears long after I was brought back to my room.
The margrave had repeated my instructions until I could recite them all back.
When Gerta returned, she stripped and bathed me while I was trapped in a trance.
Even when she dressed me and tucked me in bed, I hardly took notice.
Bide your time. Tell him you’ll give him a son.
At some point late in the night, Tam slipped into my room and bed. He said nothing as he reached for me beneath the covers. For a long time, he just held me close.
Keep your eyes open. Hide in plain sight.
When the room was thick with twilight, before the first rays of dawn, he finally moved against me.
To my surprise, my body responded. I was desperate to feel anything besides this terrifying numbness.
In moments, we were ripping off each other’s nightclothes.
Tam’s mouth was everywhere on my body. He brought me to climax with the desperation of someone who feared this time might be the last.
Maybe it would be.
I pushed the thought aside as I straddled him and took him deep inside me.
Still, I needed more. I slammed my hips down until my walls began to flutter and the tight coil in my core began to let loose.
In a fluid motion, Tam flipped us and drove into me at a punishing pace.
I bit my hand to keep from crying out as my final climax ripped through me, leaving me a boneless heap in his arms. With a great groan, he found his release, pulling out to spill on my stomach, then finally stilling above me.
He stayed there, with his arms wrapped around me and my legs gripping his hips, until after I fell asleep.