“I can fix it.”
“No, Alistair, you can’t,” he says wearily, kicking aside a piece of broken wood. “But you will pay for it by marryingthe wealthiest woman you can find, even if she is an Isanthian princess. I stand by my edict. You are not fit to lead a country when you cannot even lead your bride down a gods-damned aisle. I will not step aside for you. Abide with the knowledge that you will spend the years between now and the day I die repairing the damage you have wrought.”
“What if I bring them back?”
“What if you do?”
“We’ll have her monsters. Briar can control them now…” I trail off. I used her preferred name. Why any woman would choose an ugly name over a beautiful one baffles me. Rose matched her face…but I must admit Briar matches her personality. Prickly as all hell.
Clearly her judgment is hopelessly flawed if she chose Kill over me. I wish them joy of one another.
For as long as it lasts.
I will get Briar back. I will tame her and her monsters, and I will lead the greatest army that ever existed to victory over our enemies.
And I will strangle Killian with my own bare hands for the way he’s humiliated me.
This time, when I march on the enchanted castle, it is with an army.
Yet despite a hundred soldiers hacking at the wall of vines, I can’t get past them. They grow back the instant my men cut through them, so fast their thorns impale one man through the thigh. I wonder if he, too, will turn black and rot from the inside the way Killian did.
I don’t miss him. I refuse to pine for the company of a supposed friend who stole my bride. Who went behind my back.
Fucked her in my own castle, the little whore. She could have been a queen. Instead, she is nothing.
I knew she didn’t want me. I never expect any woman to desire me for myself, for I have nothing to offer. But how dareshe refuse my title? She is a lost princess. We belong together, whether we like it or not. That’s not how our story was supposed to end.
After struggling for an hour, we find that the white stone pathway winding up the mountain is barred by a gate made of briars. Two red roses in full bloom sit in the center. It does not open.
“Briar Rose!” I shout. I don’t care if it’s undignified. I’ll burn this cursed thicket down if she doesn’t let us in. I will not be denied a second time.
I order the men to set their torches. Smoke billows up, acrid and choking, yet the vines do little more than smolder and scorch before growing back stronger than ever.
Enraged, I start hacking at the gate itself with my saber. It’s sharp but more ceremonial than useful, and dulls quickly. My arm aches from striking blow after blow long after the edge is blunted, but such is my rage that I can’t seem to stop.
Did Killian’s arm ache this way when we came up here together?
I shove the thought aside and back away. Sweat pours down the small of my back and under my arms. I’m filthy, disgusting, and all out of patience. I slit my eyes to peer between the thorns while keeping enough distance to avoid being stabbed in the eyeball. I don’t doubt the living magical barrier would love to slap me in the face with its thorns after the abuse we’ve heaped upon it all day.
At first, they’re too small to make out details.
But the figures grow larger with proximity; harpies swoop overhead. My men stand their ground for all of five seconds before dashing off in search of safety.
Cowards.
I stand firm, hands clasped at the small of my back before I remember that I’m not doing that anymore. I fold them over my chest instead.
The sight of Briar Rose scrapes my stomach hollow, but it’s Killian I can barely stand to look at. She is dressed in a plain gown that shimmers faintly in the sunlight. Her loose golden hair blows gently in the breeze, and a thin gold band adorns her left ring finger. She pushes open the gate just far enough to step out, and my jaw hardens at the sight of her rounded belly.
Pregnant, already.
Her blue eyes are as hard as topaz. “What do you want, Alistair?”
“I have come to reclaim my castle.”
Killian chuckles. I resist the urge to throttle him, choosing to ignore him instead.
He looks…good. Better than ever.
