“You made a bargain with her to deceive me.” I keep my voice low enough that even the priest would have to strain to overhear me. Briar and Killian start down the aisle. Maxine blows me a kiss and darts out a side door, unnoticed by anyone else.
Alistair’s jaw ticks. “Please, Sunshine. I’ll tell you everything once we’re alone.” His grip tightens. Holding me in place. “You’re not running away from me ever again.”
“The time for truth was before we were spoke our vows in front of half the kingdom.” Fine, it was only as many people as could fit into a small, private chapel, but I felt the weight of all those eyes as if the entire kingdom was watching us.
We fall into place behind Killian and Briar. Relenting, I paste a smile upon my face. Isn’t that what I always do? Give up. Give in.
“It’s done,” Alistair growls. “You’re mine forever, Elinor.”
Fury builds in me with every step. I’m tied to this scoundrel for the rest of my life.
I’m determined to make him regret every second of it. This time, I will fight.
25
ALISTAIR
In the vestibule,I stand beside my trembling wife to shake hands with people I barely know.
“What have you done to her?” Killian demands sotto voce as he stands on the other side of me, his bride flanking Briar’s other side. Further down are the Tremaine sisters and their new husbands. Alina coos from the arms of a nursemaid pressed into service for the duration of the ceremony.
Beside me, Elinor woodenly offers her limp handshake to strangers. A storm brews in her bright eyes.
Tears.
Fuck.I swallow back a surge of bile. My triumph at winning her hand drowns in a roiling sea of realization that I should have been more specific with the damned fae witch. She delivered precisely what we agreed upon—an appearance from Tremaine, and his heartfelt apology for what he’d done to her. I never imagined she’d be so eager to be gone that she wouldn’t stay ten minutes past the conclusion of the actual ceremony.
Me and my cursed lying tongue. Have I lost Elinor for good?
No. I refuse to let that be the case.
“I married her,” I grit out, forcing a smile and accepting congratulations from an obsequious earl. She is mine now.
Killian shakes his head. Most of the courtiers avoid touching him, staring with open disdain at the florid tattoos twining their way up his wrists into his sleeves. No one else wears tattoos. Even if they did, they wouldn’t move and change. Kill doesn’t seem bothered. Then again, he is rarely bothered by anything.
Elinor’s stiff, cold anger radiates off her like a cold wind down a mountain. I need to get her out of here,now.
As the line of well-wishers diminishes, a bell clangs out warning.
“Why is there always a fucking dragon ruining my fucking wedding?” I mutter as people scramble for cover. My first and only priority is Elinor. Despite her sadness and anger toward me, I again manacle her upper arm and drag her to the window.
“Dragon?” Briar abandons her post in the line and rushes to a window.
“There’s an old woman riding our dragon,” Killian says, peering into the sky over his wife’s flaxen hair.
“She isn’t ours to command,” Briar says. “But she’s never allowed anyone else near her before. She despises humans. Even you, Killian.”
“Especially me. I hunted her mate.” Regret laces his tone.
Briar puts her arm around his waist and says, “You’ve made amends.”
“That’s Maxine!” Elinor cries out, pointing. “What is she doing?”
We gawk at the sky as the animal and its passenger climb higher with each labored wingbeat. Cold understanding washes over me in a torrent.
“Wily fae witch,” I grit out. Elinor’s worried eyes find mine.
“She’s going home, isn’t she?” she whispers.
