Silence. The longest stretch of silence I’d ever had to endure.
“Alright, if that is your assessment, I agree. Tell Joslyn I’ve chosen her and start tracking her monthly cycles. We can be married in a moon’s time. I’ll deal with Arwen.” His words simultaneously broke my heart and sent a chill down my spine.
I moved quickly out of the hallway and back toward my rooms.
He’s going to marry Joslyn.
The safe bet.
I should be happy for her, for him, for my sister and all of the dragon-folk who would be saved by the heir they would create, but I was also angry. He didn’t love Joslyn. He wanted a child and was just marrying her out of duty in order to protect her purity and image. I guess she should be grateful he wasn’t just taking her as some mistress whore. For some reason, hearing them speak of Joslyn and I in terms of magical rank really rubbed me wrong.
But could I blame him? His people, all of the dragon-folk, depended on him to have an heir. Would I do the same in his position? Probably. But for a moment it had sounded like he’d wanted to pick me, and that had made me excited. Sure we screamed at each other, and he’d imprisoned me, but… there was something there with him. A deep connection I couldn’t explain, something I never experienced before.
Forgetting my earlier desire to go to the library, I went into my room and curled under the covers of my bed instead. Any minute now someone was going to come tell me I was going home or going to be hung, I was sure of it.
Now I knew what the king had meant when he’d said he’d deal with me. He was thinking on whether he should marry me for my magical dragon womb or kill me because I had the power to kill him.
I’ll deal with Arwen. His words haunted me. What did that mean? He wouldn’t really take the advice of that man, would he?
I threw the covers off of my head and burst to my feet.
He was going to kill me. He was totally going to kill me. Just one more dragon to take out like his grandfather had, and then he’d have no more problems.
I raced across the room, searching the drawers for my hunter’s outfit that my mother and Kendal had made me. I found it in the bottom drawer of the dresser scrubbed mostly clean, with my hunting blade on top.
Thank you, Narine.
I grabbed it, shoving it into an empty shoulder bag, and then tucked the knife into my waistband. Running to the small kitchen off my living room, I threw some dried fruits and cheeses into the bag as well, and filled my canteen. Maybe if I could steal a horse I could make it out of the main gates before they realized I was gone and sounded the alarm.
Slipping out of the door to my living quarters, I hurried down the hall, trying not to look like a fugitive fleeing.
When I passed Annabeth, the lead housemaid, I gave her a wave. “Good day for a stroll,” I said.
She smiled and nodded. “The gardens are beautiful this time of year.”
Yep, going to the gardens, nothing suspicious about me. When I reached the end of the hallway that led to the outside, I pushed the doors wide and broke into a run.
I was a bit discombobulated at first. I’d only been out here a few times and it took me a moment to get my bearings. The stables and horse barns were to the right, so I aimed that way just before I heard a shout behind me.
“Arwen, stop!” the king commanded.
Pure terror ripped through me as I ran past a stable maid and then veered to the left, spotting a labyrinth of high hedges I could get lost in. I sprinted across the yard and burst into the protection of the tall hedge, but the sound of the footsteps behind me was too close.
Reaching behind me, I grasped for my hunting knife just as a body slammed into me. I tripped over my own feet, spinning in midair as King Valdren’s arms came around my shoulders. My butt hit the ground first, and then my back, and finally the thud of my skull. Luckily, it was soft grass, but that did not save me from the giant man who landed on top of me, making a whoosh of air leave me in a rush.
His thighs pinned my hips to the spot, and I hated the heat that crept up my body at his touch.
“Were you about to pull a knife on me?” He looked down at me incredulously, his eyes wild and dark hair strewn about.
Our bodies were smashed together, pressed fully against each other, and I could feel my cheeks redden from the close contact. I’d never been like this with a man…
He seemed to pick up on my dumbfounded loss of speech, and rolled off of me, taking my hunting knife with him.
With the absence of his body, I could breathe and think. “I will defend my life if attacked, yes,” I told him, and sat up, looking up at his giant form, which now blotted out the sun.