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I wanted to jump. I wanted to dive into that ocean blue. I wanted to be unshackled from everyone’s expectations for just one godsforsaken moment.
Jackass. Margot gasped. Father’s jaw clenched. Damn. I guess I’d said that out loud. Well, he was a jackass for laughing.
If the Guardian’s glare had been a test, the prince’s was a promise. I was going to be his wife.
“Your informants were wrong, Majesty.” The Guardian’s cruel smile widened. “Seven female marroweels were slaughtered in the Krisenth Crossing. All by the prince himself. According to the Chain of Sevens, the prince can demand a bride prize.”
The moment the pendant rested against my skin, it warmed. The metal seemed to absorb my body’s heat faster than gold or silver.
should have stayed in the water earlier. I should have let the currents sweep me into the depths of the Marixmore and let the monsters of those ocean waters claim my flesh. I should have kept swimming.
“Morning, my queen.”
The air around us changed. Charged. There was a buzzing against my skin, but it didn’t feel like Voster magic. It didn’t have the same crackling bite.
A smarter woman would probably have shied away. Taken that sensation as the warning it was to watch her mouth. But I was too tired and too hungry, and this
man had crawled under my skin.
“What is it that you want? To embarrass me? To intimidate me?” “Perhaps.” Well, at least he was honest. I glanced over my shoulder to the marroweel. “Then I guess I’m trapped between two monsters.”
I’d learned a long time ago to live without his affection. His love. But damn it, no matter how hard I tried, I wanted his trust. His confidence.
This was not an adventure of my choosing, but it was still an adventure.
My adventure. Was I happy with this situation? No. But if nothing else, maybe I could find joy in this journey.
“Don’t you have anyone else to pester?” I asked as he came to stand at my side. “No.” And there came the smirk. It was more arrogant than ever.
large man threw the weapon in the air, as if to send it through the Guardian’s chest. But the Guardian caught it in his fist, spinning it into position at the exact moment the marroweel surged again.
He might be a jackass, but at least he was handsome.
There were worse things to behold at the end of a life than a nice face.
oh, he was pissed. “Leave us,” he barked to Brielle and Jocelyn.
The silver in his eyes swirled to melting metal. He bent into my face, leaning in so close our noses nearly touched. “When I give you an order, you obey.” “I’m sorry.”
“If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to hide, you hide. If I tell you to hop on one foot and pat your hair, then you. Fucking. Hop. Do we have an understanding?”
I’d spent twenty-three years taking orders from men who thought they could dictate my every move. And I was done.
will listen when it’s a matter of safety for myself. For other people. I will do my best to ‘stay the fuck out of the way.’ But I will not bend to your every whim. I will not humiliate myself because you deem me insignificant. If you wanted me to stay quiet, then you should have let that marroweel kill me. I am not one of your warriors to lead. I am not your wife to command. So no, we do not have an understanding.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Shall I consult with you first the next time you’re nearly devoured by a marroweel to make sure the way in which you are spared from its jaws is acceptable?”
“Don’t worry, my queen. We’ll keep you safe,” the Guardian said. “Especially if you stay. On. The. Fucking. Ship.”
“Getting tired, Sparrow?” the Guardian asked. “No,” I lied.
“I’m hearing that word a lot from you lately.”
The Guardian moved so fast I never saw him shift until it was too late. One moment, the sword was aimed at his throat. The next, he’d hit the blade, forcing it out of my hands and into the air, toppling end over end until the hilt crashed into his waiting grip. Then the blade was aimed at another throat. Mine.
“Your former fiancé must not have a big sword.” The Guardian’s eyes flashed emerald green, the innuendo dripping from his tone.
see you got my delivery.” “Stop breaking into my room.” “What’s that word you like so much?” He tapped his chin, pretending to think it over. “No.”
Yes, he was attractive, but I could not—would not—let a handsome face and body carved from stone distract me from my task.
“Sore, my queen? We’ll have to add riding to your training regimen. That, or being ridden. I’ll have a word with Zavier.”
“Feel free to wander into mine, Princess.” He leaned in closer. “Zavier likes to share.”
“Praise is for the bedroom, Cross. Not the training ring.”
“Are you angry, Sparrow? Use that rage. Fucking. Fight.”
hate you. If he could read my mind, I wanted that at the front. I hate you. A slow grin stretched across his mouth. “There’s my queen.”
Then the Guardian stalked through the flames, covered in dark blood. It dripped from the ends of his hair and his chin. It trickled down his arms, down the length of his gleaming silver sword.
finger hooked under my chin. I knew whose finger it was before I lifted my eyes. The Guardian crouched before me, still covered in blood. He’d walked to me without a sound, his footsteps as light as feathers. “Are you all right, my queen?” It was the gentlest I’d ever heard his voice. Low and smooth like silk.
I hated him for smacking me in the face with a pillow this morning.
I just want to keep myself alive the next time a marroweel tries to eat me.” “To accomplish that, all you really had to do was stay on the fucking ship.”
He’s a monster. He’s a monster, he’s a monster, he’s a monster. A beautiful monster but a monster all the same. He’d killed Banner’s brother. He was a murderer. And I was married. Married. Married. Married. Shit, my face was hot. The Guardian’s finger hooked under my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. “Need a moment?”
For a man who swore he didn’t trust me, leaving me alone was asking for trouble. He only had himself to blame for this.
flung the door open, spinning inside and closing it quickly. Then I pressed my forehead to the wooden surface, exhaling as I closed my eyes. “This was a horrible idea.” “Agreed.”
breeze drifted in from the open window. And he was livid. “Hello, my queen.”
“I leave you for four days, and you can’t stay put. You are, without a doubt, the biggest pain in my ass I’ve ever met.” His hand dove into his dark hair again, tugging at the roots. “Explain. What are you doing here?”
“I didn’t ask to be married to a stranger and shipped across the continent. I didn’t ask to come to Turah. I didn’t ask to be jailed in a wilderness treehouse. Those were decisions made for me by the whims of men. So you can threaten to take away my freedom all you want, but I will fight you. Every step of the way. Until my last breath. And I will not go quietly into a cage.”
“Why didn’t you ask?” “Wh-what?” I stammered. His voice was calm. Collected. The silver in his eyes began to melt away, the hazel taking its place. “Haven’t you been granted your every request? If you wanted to explore Ashmore, why didn’t you ask?”
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe the door to your cage has always been unlocked, Sparrow? And all you had to do was push it open?”
turned my face into my pillow, my eyes shut so tightly I saw black stars. And then my pillow was gone, ripped out from under my face and off my bed. I sat up in a flash, my jaw dropping as I watched the Guardian toss it onto the floor. “What do you think you’re doing?” He sat on the edge of my bed and pulled off his boots. “You can either have the bed without the pillow. Or the floor with it. Your choice, Cross.”
“You are not staying in my room. Get your own.” He smirked. “And leave my queen unguarded? Never.” Damn that smirk. Damn the way it made my heart trill.
