Page 19 of Stolen Thorn Bride

Kasia felt the blood drain from her face and clutched at the door for support as her knees threatened to buckle. That had to be wrong. They’d said it would be different with a human. That the risk was only for elves.

Had they lied?

“It will take time to determine what outcome is likely,” Dechlan continued, “and during that time, I’m afraid we have no choice but to make the best of one another’s presence.”

“For how long?” Her voice came out as a near whisper.

“Does it matter?” he responded sharply. “Do you have someplace else you wish to be?”

“Home!” she exploded. “I wish to be home! I have responsibilities! People who are counting on me!”

She saw his head tilt and the muscles along his jaw clench before he answered.

“Again, it seems a misapprehension has been created. Whatever they might have told you, humans who cross our borders and have seen what you have seen are not permitted to return. It is an inviolable law.”

“But, Miach said…”

“His Majesty, King Miach”—Dechlan bit out the words angrily—“has much to answer for in all of this. But there is no question of you returning home. The risks are too great.”

“The risks ofwhat?” she cried, letting the door swing wider as she momentarily forgot her state of undress. “What possible threat could I pose? As your friends are so fond of reminding me, I’m nothing but a pig keeper! What harm could I possibly do?”

His expression only turned hard and bleak as his gray eyes locked with hers. “You could undo a hundred years of pain, sacrifice, and unrelenting struggle,” he said harshly. “Would that be worth it to you?”

She stared back, unmoved by his anger. “I know nothing of your wars,” she said flatly. “Nor can you expect me to. But I have my own battles to fight, and people I care about to protect.”

“Then you should have considered that before you trespassed.” He turned his back and began to walk away. “Two hours until we leave for the Northwatch.”

Three steps down the hall, he stumbled, caught himself against the wall, but did not turn. Did not acknowledge his weakness in any way.

Kasia could only stare after him helplessly and wonder—who was this proud, cold man she’d married, and was there any hope that she could make him understand what she needed to do?

Because law or no law, she was going home. If Dechlan chose to stand in her way, she would go around him or through him, but she would never give up.

Liam, Ellery, and Rordyn needed her, and she would fight through hell itself to get back to them.

Chapter 6

He was a monster, and Aureann would be ashamed of him.

The human, Dechlan had finally concluded, was likely blameless in all of this. At least, that was what he told himself when she wasn’t standing in front of him, all fury and fire and enormous hazel eyes.

Apparently, at that point, he had a difficult time remembering anything.

Aureann would probably have liked her… but he had to stop thinking of Aureann. She’d been gone five years now, lost to a wraith’s icy claws, and he would not be joining her any time soon. No matter what his heart might have preferred.

He was bonded now, and he had to remember what his duty demanded. That duty did not change, even when his bondmate was a bitter and hostile stranger.

Despite his conviction that no one but Aureann would ever touch his heart, Dechlan could not quite stifle the sting of regret that he would never know the depth of love and devotion that other bonded pairs experienced. The best he could hope for was a truce.

But of all the day’s disappointments, the harshest was Miach’s deeply personal betrayal. Oh, the king had tried to explain. But the fact remained that the one person Dechlan considered closer than any brother had done the unimaginable.

And the worst of it was, Miach knew exactly what he had wrought. The two of them had played together, trained together, fought together, mourned together. They knew each other far too well for Miach not to understand how Dechlan would feel about these events.

He’d been exhausted even before the wraith’s fateful attack. Weary and bone-tired of war and death. The fate of the Northwatch had rested on his shoulders since he was nineteen, and though his warriors and retainers were loyal to the end, still the responsibility rested with him.

He would never have run from it, never sought the release of death, but once death found him, he’d been glad to embrace it.

So Miach had found a new way to tie him to life—a bondmate. And to make matters worse, he’d chosen someone who resented Dechlan’s very existence. She had a family—a life on the other side of the Hedge.

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