Page 53 of To Tame An Angel

“I have two more days,” I said as I walked to her. My stride was as strong as I could manage.

She didn’t deign me with a response. Instead, she caressed the neck of the mare, taking time to form an opinion on the animal. The silent minutes were long, and I felt sweat pool at my spine. I wouldn’t balk.

“Mother,” I tried again. “I have two more days.”

“To do what, child?” she asked. Her voice was deceptively even.

“I’m not a child,” I snapped.

This made her turn her head. Her eyes were cool and detached, her demeanor mechanic. She moved towards me, and it took everything in me not to balk, not to cast my eyes to the ground. I was a woman now and I wouldn’t cower before my own mother. When she stood before me, so close I could see the fine lines spreading from her lips, she smacked me.

The sound resounded in the empty stables and all I could hear were the neighing horses, startled by the slap. To my credit, I didn’t fall. I clutched my cheek, cupping the pain and seething as I breathed through my nose. A burning, violent fury nearly made me hit her back. I met her eyes, those cold detached orbs that held no pity. Not even for her own children.

“You think that because you’ve gotten a cock in you that you’re grown?” Her tone was low and deadly. “You think that man up there is not willing to whisper sweet words to you, making you believe he cares? Just so that you’d loosen his reins, drop your guard, and strangle you in your sleep?”

The words of denial were thick in my throat, and I had to hold myself back from denying her. A childlike need within rises, a justification, an explanation. I held it in. She’d just use it against me. Against Tannor.

“My daughter,” she took a sharp breath. “Is not a cunt to be fucked.”

She gripped my chin, pulling me in as I struggled against her. I felt her magic sparkling from her fingers. I feel the electricity she used when we were children to put us in our place.

“I did not risk everything for you to fall for some blue eyes and a thick cock,” she hissed. “You want two days? You’ll get two days, I’m good at my word. We shall see how good you are with yours. If I must kill him to show you what life is truly about, I will. And you may hate me, but I’ll ensure you live. Because you may not believe it, but I loved you from the moment I knew you were in me, and I’ll not witness your death. I cannot take it. You hear me?”

She let go of me and I stumbled back, shocked at her treatment. She’d never behaved as such, and I felt my body trembling violently. The fear was mingled with such anger I could scarcely think.

Slowly, she slid on her gloves even as the magic still sparkled from her fingers. She was angry, so angry, but it was hard to know. Not a hair was out of place.

“I shall return to inspect him in two days with the queen’s guards. If he’s not tamed and branded, you can bid your lover goodbye.” She paused and into her eyes came a gentleness, but it felt wrong on her. Like a piece of clothing rarely worn. “What I do is to save you, Nalla. Everything I do is for my children. Everything. For every one of you. And if you think I’ve not been in your same position, then you’re wrong.”

I felt a thickness like tears well up in my throat and all I wished to do was destroy the stables with my own hands until I was nothing but an exhausted girl on the ground.

Mother’s green eyes lingered on me and her mouth slightly parted. “You bear a striking resemblance to your father. Did you know that?”

Her voice was faint, like a brushstroke that ran out of paint. Then she turned on her heels, snapping her fingers to her men, and stormed out of the stables.

I was left without breath or strength. I couldn’t even move. The day felt normal. Balmy air filled with the smell of the horses’ feces and the sounds of chirping birds. The world continued, and I was left at a standstill. The desire to retreat upstairs and seek refuge in the room, embracing Tannor and letting everything else fade away, is strong. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t be brutal for the sake of being brutal. It gave me no pleasure.

All I could think was Tannor was right. We needed to leave. But mother… she would find us. To the ends of the world. She would only stop searching if I was dead.

We would know no peace. No respite.

Mother left behind a battalion of two dozen of her soldiers. They littered the ground of my home, making it impossible for me to leave without me being stopped. I realized I was just as much of a prisoner as Tannor was.

The only reason I didn’t stay away from Tannor longer was because he awaited me. Chained. When I stopped my trembling, I made it back to him. He sat on the bed and was instantly at his feet; the chains rattling loudly.

His eyes were wide and concerned. “Nalla—”

“I’m fine,” I said quickly and walked to him, holding out my hand for the key.

He removed it from his mouth and handed it to me, watching me as I unlocked the chains. The moment he was freed, his hands were on my shoulders, and I sighed into him. I clasped his waist, feeling an overwhelming sensation of dread.

“What happened?” he asked into my hair.

I closed my eyes and willed myself to forget. But time was already passing, and the day was already ending.

“We’re going to have to work hard to convince her and the queen’s guards,” I murmured.

He pulled back and stared at my face, his eyes going to the bruise which was surely forming on my cheek. His eyes darkened and his lips snarled in anger.

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