Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
“Fine, but you’ll see. I’m going on a long journey.” I round the final curve and my tower is close. It’s tall and dominates the countryside. It’s been my home for almost four years.
It is my prison.
“She didn’t care about me. Not really. I think that’s what hurts worst of all.” I watch for a moment, trying to figure out if anyone is in the tower. I think not. The phooka claimed the others are all still in the village, waiting for the best time to flee back to the Unseelie plane.
The wolf sits beside me and gently nuzzles my hand as though asking me to continue.
“You’re a weird wolf or dog or whatever you are.” I stand up and start to move. I only need one thing, really, but I’ll change clothes, too. I need the knife. I can’t leave without it.
The wolf barks, an impatient sound. Well, maybe the phooka isn’t the only strange creature I’ll meet today.
“I’ve spent almost half my life with Gillian, and I just found out she never cared about me at all. Not the real me. She only saved me because she wanted me to marry her brothers. She told them to impregnate me so their claim would be indisputable.”
The wolf growls low in her throat.
I stop and look around for the threat. The courtyard is completely empty. Then I realize why the wolf growled.
“You didn’t like the sound of that. Did you? I didn’t either. They used me. Gillian pretended to care about me and protected me from men only because she wanted me to be a virgin when her brothers took me.”
There it is again. The deep growl.
I get to one knee. I’m not sure how, but this wolf understands what I’m saying and seems to empathize. I’m pretty sure no one else will. Everyone else will say this is what royals do. They trade their daughters and sons in exchange for treaties and alliances and land. My own brothers’ engagement was made in an attempt to bring Maris’s family’s great wealth of resources into the Finn family line.
“I know I should have understood that any marriage I make will not be one of love, but I’ve lived as a peasant for far too long. I’ve watched the way they live and how many choose mates based on love and affection.” I reach out and stroke the wolf. Maybe it isn’t so bad to have a companion, even one who can’t talk back. “The real problem is that I’ve loved those men all my life, and I didn’t even know they were real. I loved them. Never wanted anyone else. And all they want from me is an alliance.”
The wolf seems to shake her head, but then she growls and gets to all fours, the hair along her spine standing straight up.
I stand to face whatever is coming my way.
Niall. He walks out of the tower, placing something in his pack. The guard changed into what looks like traveling clothes, divesting himself of his armor and cape. He wears suede pants and a tunic, with boots covering his feet.
He’s quite the master of disguise. He looks like a peasant now, and not a particularly dangerous one. He can likely make his way on the roads and survive by smiling and looking helpful and proclaiming “long live King Torin.”
My memories of the day are vague and fragmented, but I remember him. He saved me, and then he dumped me when I became troublesome.
He walks down the lane as though he didn’t steal into my home and take my things. The bastard took my knife. In those last moments when I could still speak, he asked about the knife and I told him where it was.
“Calm down, wolf.” I put a hand on my new pet. “We should get answers out of him before you eat him.”
The wolf stops and stares at me for a moment and then begins to bounce up and down in apparent glee. Well, at least my new pet is on the same page. The wolf’s tail thumps against the hard dirt, and she watches her prey with anticipatory joy.
I wish I had a weapon of some kind. Anything, really, but my brand-new husbands didn’t see fit to arm me. They preferred me without clothes.
The feeling of their skin wrapped around mine assaults me, and for a moment I can feel them. Their panic. It flares to life in my brain, and I can’t breathe until I slam the connection closed. I can’t afford it. No matter how nice it is, I’m not going to allow myself to be used to gift the Unseelie royals with my brothers’ throne. Until I see their dead bodies for myself, I’m not going to give up. I made up my mind to stand and be the princess my people need me to be.