Page 20 of Their Witch Bride

He’s still regarding me strangely as he closes the space between us. He waits, leaning over me, until I lift my eyes to his. Only then does he lean down and brush the lightest kiss against my lips.

Before I even have time to process the way my lips tingle, he draws back, and I feel like I can finally breathe. Prince Rinan takes a step closer to me, and I remember I have to kiss him too. His hand slips into the back of my hair while I resist the urge to run the hell out of there, and then he tilts my head and kisses me far harder than Prince Arlys had.

The kiss doesn’t last long, but it’s fierce. Exploratory. Every nerve in my body seems to hum to life, and then he breaks our kiss and steps back, looking surprised.

That makes two of us. I don’t know if I liked his kiss, but I certainly didn’t mind it.

It’s Prince Drogo’s turn, and I swallow hard. He regards me like an insect he wants to crush under his heel, but Prince Arlys elbows him, and Prince Drogo’s glare deepens as he steps forward. He leans down, and I try not to scrunch my face up as his hard lips capture mine in a kiss that’s cold, cruel, and completely expected.

The damn thing lasts only a second, but when he draws back, he doesn’t go far. Our eyes meet, and I get the feeling that something’s softened behind the hardness of his eyes, but I can’t be sure. He blinks, the softness fading, and he steps away from me once more.

“We’ll be waiting for you outside. We leave tonight,” Prince Arlys says, no gentleness to his words.

As they walk toward the door, all of the shifters follow out of the ballroom door. Their backs are tense, no merriment in their faces. The older shifter finishes talking to my mother, then walks out, flanked by four men.

I touch my lips. Confused. I’ve kissed men before. Two to be exact. And there weren’t any tingles or any warm feelings. These kisses were different, and I don’t understand why.

Maybe because I’m afraid of these men? I almost shake my head. I am, but that’s not why their kisses made me feel so strange.

My mother is suddenly embracing me. “You did well,” she whispers in my ear.

It’s surprising how much I think I’m going to puke. How cold and shaky my body feels. And just how much of my life and my plans are slipping away between my fingers.

I whisper back, my teeth chattering, “Do you love me now?” I have to have earned it now.

But she just laughs.

NINE

Tara

The party carries on. No one looks at me as I pass, racing toward the exit into the castle. Instead, music plays and people dance. I look back at them as I reach the door and see that they’re all celebrating. Celebrating the witches and their new roles. But, mostly, celebrating the peace treaty with the shifters.

It’s as if they think no one had to pay a price for that peace. But I did.

I keep going until I reach another set of stairs. My eyes burn as I slip onto them, and I’m swallowed by the darkness of the stairs. My knees are shaking so badly that I can barely put one foot in front of another. Suddenly, my knees give out, and I tumble onto my knees and palms. A sob explodes from my lips.

“Princess Tara.” Baldemar says my name, filled with worry, as he rushes down the stairs and helps me stand. “I heard what happened.”

Our eyes lock, and I’m looking at him through a veil of tears.

“Come on then.” He wraps an arm around my shoulders, careful of the weapons bag he carries on his back, and I have no idea where he’s leading me until we end up in one of the watchtowers. He asks the witch there to go, and she takes one look at me and takes off. “You’re going to be okay,” he says as he lowers me to the floor.

I’m ashamed, but sobs are building in my throat, threatening to explode.

“You’re going to be okay,” he repeats.

I suck in a shaky breath. “How?”

He’s quiet for a long moment. “I could get some things together and get you out of here. We could head for the furthest covens and try to find a way to survive.”

I realize what he’s saying seconds after he’s finished. He can’t be serious. If we left, they would find us, and they would kill him. There’s nowhere in these lands we could hide from my mother, and he knows that.

“You’re like a daughter to me,” he says, his voice breaking.

Looking up into his kind eyes, I finally have a reason to go. Baldemar won’t let me leave if he thinks I can’t handle it, and he’ll be in danger if he tries to help me. Maybe no one here cares that I was a chip in a bargaining deal with the bloodthirsty shifters, but he does. I need to care about him as much as he cares about me.

“I’m okay,” I say, my voice stronger than before. “It was just shock. I’m going to be fine.”

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