Page 137 of The Vampire's Bride

Jaryd shakes his head. “The thing that does worry me though, is the Order of Mages. Now there’s a scary lot if you ask me. Apparently, they’ve declared war upon the human kingdoms of Florin,” he says. “If not for the new treaty between them and the Dark Elves of Ithylian, Florin would have been conquered like Snowhelm.”

I stare at him, stunned. “In Aralon, we heard that the Dark Elf King, Varys, took the Princess Inara of Florin as his captive bride in order to take over her brother’s kingdom.”

“That’s… quite a bit different than what I heard.” Jaryd says. “Then again, what do I know of the state of the world? I get most of my news from travelers like yourselves.”

When he leaves, I turn to Reyla. “What do you think about the mages? What have you heard?”

“That the Dark Elf King, Varys, married the Princess Inara of Florin to make peace between their two kingdoms.” She pauses. “Not that he’d captured her and forced her to be his bride.”

I hope the story Reyla’s heard is the one that is true. I met Princess Inara of Florin once. She was very kind. It would be awful to think she was forced into a marriage she didn’t want.

Now that we’ve eaten, all we can do is wait. Sitting on one of the chairs by the fire, worry nags at me. “Do you think Valaric and the others are all right?”

Reyla rests her hand atop mine. “We cannot give up hope, my Lady.”

“I haven’t,” I told her. “I simply… I just—” My voice hitches. “I know he would have already returned to me if he could. The fact that he has not means that something—” I swallow hard, not wanting to give voice to my fears.

“When we married, I never expected to feel so strongly for him.” I shake my head softly. “All the things I’d heard about Vampires… I thought the worst of him at first. But I was so very wrong and now”—a tear slips down my cheek, but I quickly brush it away—“he could be gone and I have not told him what he means to me, Reyla.”

“I believe he knows, my Lady.” She gives me a pained smile. “And I have faith that he will return to us.”

Gently, she squeezes my hand. “Let us try to get some rest. Over the years, I’ve learned that worrying about things over which I have no control never does me any good.”

I nod.

I move from the chair to the bed. Despite my resolve to remain awake, my exhaustion pulls me under and I fall into a restless sleep.

It feels like mere moments have passed when a knock jolts me awake.

I stand from the bed as Reyla rushes to open the door. Everything inside me immediately goes tense as she releases a startled gasp.

“Is this one yours?” A deep voice booms as Thulrak steps into the room, dragging something heavy behind him.

Fear shoots through my veins when I realize it’s a person. Their head is covered with a cloth sack, their arms, legs, and wings bound tight as they growl and thrash against their bindings.

Another Orc steps into the room, his broad shoulders taking up almost the entire door frame. My heart slams in my throat when I notice two more Orcs in the hallway behind him.

Thulrak rips the sack from his captive’s head and Reyla releases a sharp cry when she sees Lysander, his eyes blazing with anger.

Fear trips my heart, but I force myself to hold Thulrak’s gaze, not wanting him to see that I’m afraid.

“He came here looking for you both,” Thulrak grumbles. “Claims that you know him.”

“Let him go,” I demand at the same time that Reyla rushes to her son.

“Unhand him, you brute!” she cries out.

Thulrak turns to the Orc behind him and nods. The other Orc bends down and looks Lysander in the eyes. “I’m going to let you go now, and you’re not going to cause me or my friends any trouble. Understand?”

With his mouth gagged, Lysander growls, seething with rage.

The Orcs carefully begin to undo his bindings. As soon as he’s free, Lysander moves with his vampiric speed, knocking three of the Orcs to the ground before he rushes Thulrak and pins himagainst the side of the doorframe, his sharp claws poised at his thick neck, ready to cut his throat.

“Who are you? Why are you here?”

“My name is Thulrak. I thought you were here to hurt them.” He jerks his chin at me and Reyla. “When you asked about them downstairs, I thought he’d sent you, like he tried to send me.”

“Who are you talking about?” I ask.

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