He stopped and extended his hand, so I offered my palm for him to make the same cut. As soon as my blood appeared, I started uttering my vow.
“I, Prince Ansgar of the Earth Kingdom, swear onto you, Fear Gorta of the Fire Kingdom, that I will help and cooperate to achieve your plan of defeating and killing the Queen of the Fire Kingdom with the oath of safe release of my mate, Anwen Odstar, into the Human Territory. This oath will only remain valid as long as my mate is unharmed in every way during and after her stay within the Fire Kingdom and especially during her release.”
I would not take any chances with Rhylan, but he nodded in acceptance and stood, allowing his blood to continue dripping until he placed his hand over the fire. I followed suit and did the same, allowing my blood to drip into the flames, bonding the oath between us.
“Very well, now that we have such things sorted, you are free to return to training,” Rhylan smiled and pointed a dismissive hand. “You can eat with the soldiers, your mate will dine with me and the royals for the remainder of her stay.”
I nodded, though I hated his terms, which meant I wouldn’t be able to see Anwen at all throughout the day, and now the bastard made it even worse.
“You are, of course, not allowed into the throne room or dining hall and since my future consort,” he pressed the words to spite me, will be otherwise engaged, your presence will not be needed until late in the evening, if at all,” he grinned wickedly.
I nodded and turned to leave.
“And Ansgar?” His voice called me and forced me to look at him yet again.
“I have replaced the items you destroyed. And the couch,” he grinned.
“Son of a bitch,” I barked, but Rhylan only laughed with delight.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ansgar hadn’t arrived by the time Rhylan walked me to the room. When I found the roses on the pillow this morning, I jumped from bed and ran to the sitting room to find him, to apologise for the night before and explain myself.
I spent a terrible night without him, without my heat finding his, unable to cuddle into him or splay myself on his chest, just like I loved to do. I sensed him awake a few times and had an internal battle on whether to wake up and talk to him, but some part of me needed the space, the quiet of the night.
My thoughts had been all over the place and I hadn’t had a few hours to myself, to think things through, to analyse and understand what happened, what was still happening. To me, to him, to us. Nothing I ever imagined could have prepared me for what I found in this dreadful kingdom, the time I'd spent surrounded by dead bodies. I could not deny it, part of me despised that. Even though I was in favour of self-defence, seeing how easily Ansgar erupted with every chance he got gave me the shivers.
I was never afraid of him, but his attitude had begun to be more and more volatile, and last night, his anger turned into possession. I loved him, with all my heart, with everything I was, and I couldn’t even imagine what he had been through during the time we’d been apart, what kind of trauma he gathered.
My sweet soft prince, now reduced to a brutal soldier.
I wanted to allow us that night. To be apart, to think, to try and repair our wounds before becoming one again. I knew I snapped at him and regretted my poor choice of words, but the last thing I needed was to be treated with possession again.
Not after Rhylan had… I forced the memories from my mind, struggling to keep them in check. The last thing I wanted now was to feel like the stupid silly girl Rhylan had accused me to be.
“I am so sick of your spoiled brat bullshit,” he had said. “All you do is cry and beg, squirm like a powerless worm. It’s disgusting.”
“What do you expect me to do?” I had cried out in a fickle attempt to preserve my dignity last night.
“Fight, in the name of the god. I told you, I warned you about this place, but you were willing to give up everything to save him. So I trusted you, I believed you, I put my hopes in you. Only for your true self to resurface at the slightest sign of trouble. You are ruining everything, you silly brat,” his anger had pierced through his expression, tiny specks of his spit covering my face from the wrath of his words.
“And what do you expect me to do?” I still felt my voice tremble at the memory.
“To do as you’re told,” he sighed. “I wish your brother was here. I needed someone strong.” He stopped and looked at me, up and down, twice. “Instead I got you,” his tone drilled into my brain with disgust.The last person I wanted to see that morning was, of course, the one to come pick me up at nine o’clock sharp, while I still nestled in the sheets, hugging the flowers Ansgar had left for me.
“I’m not in the mood for more fighting,” I announced when I spotted Rhylan through the open door of the bedroom.
“Clearly. You had a busy evening,” he stated the obvious, scanning the shards of broken pieces across the room, with a single pillow nestled against the wall, which is where I assumed Ansgar had slept. I felt a clench in my stomach at the sight of it, my muscles trembled with the need to wrap him in my arms.
“Are you going to be more cooperative today?” Rhylan stopped right at the bedroom door frame and leaned his shoulder against it.
“I see your modern outfit is back,” I observed the return of his Boss obsession, a perfectly tailored suit with black leather shoes and an open collar black shirt made him look stunning.
He grinned proudly. “I am adopting my future bride’s style. Fits me like a glove, won’t you say?” The fae had the audacity to turn slowly, parading himself to me, then turned and displayed his best smile. Where I in another situation, were I not already in love, I would have laid myself at his feet and told him to do whatever with me.
I never understood this obsession with Rhylan, the fact that even though I absolutely despised the bastard, something inside of me squealed for his contact at a primordial level. I would never understand it and wanted to stay as far away from that feeling.
“Yes, the lady likes,” he shimmied by the door with a proud expression.
