Page 21 of Stolen Thorn Bride

They could eventually establish an understanding and build separate lives. Considering the poverty she seemed accustomed to, life at Northwatch Keep would probably seem opulent and exciting—sufficient compensation for what she’d lost.

A pity he didn’t even believe that himself.

There was no compensation for this. No way to pretend that what had been done could be forgotten or paid for. He could only make her life as comfortable as possible and ensure that she knew his intentions.

He would not trouble her with his company, nor would he expect her to play a part in the life of the Keep. She would be as free as he could make her. Even if the one thing she wanted most of all was also the one thing he could not give her.

With the grim prospect of this unavoidable conversation looming over him, Dechlan made his way to the stables to order mounts readied for the journey. If he could grit his teeth for another hour, possibly two, they could be on their way and out of this place. Perhaps the future would be easier to contemplate once the stink of betrayal was no longer in his nostrils.

* * *

It wasthanks to yet another argument with Miach that Dechlan actually welcomed the sight of his bondmate when she appeared just outside the stables a short while later.

And thanks to Nuala that he nearly didn’t recognize her.

The human was clean, to start, and dressed in elven traveling garb—clinging green trousers quilted at the knees, tall gray boots, a vest of reinforced leather, and a long gray cloak. Her wavy, pale blonde hair was pinned up rather than flying wildly around her head, and the result was striking.

She was too short to be mistaken for an elf, but Dechlan would not have said she was unattractive. Now that he was assessing her as something other than a passing stranger, he could admit that she was reasonably pleasant to look at. Her face was slender, her nose straight, and her lightly tanned skin complemented her wide hazel eyes. When she met his gaze, something vulnerable flared briefly in their depths, but disappeared so quickly, Dechlan decided he must have been mistaken. She carried a pack over one shoulder with ease, and that, coupled with her claim of being a farmer, indicated she was likely strong, capable, and unafraid of hardship.

Perhaps she was not a warrior or a gently born elf maiden accustomed to the demands of a Rian’s household, but she was…

“I told you, I’m not going anywhere except home,” she said, glaring fiercely at Nuala, and Dechlan sighed as he concluded his assessment with “stubborn.”

Miach broke from his standoff with Dechlan to approach the human and say something soothing, which appeared to have no effect whatsoever. She glared at the elf king with as much heat as she had a lowly retainer, and Dechlan was still angry enough to find this amusing.

“You promised,” she hissed fiercely.

Oh really? What exactly had King Miach promised to someone else’s bondmate? The more Dechlan learned, the more the mystery of his current circumstances deepened.

“Only give it time,” Miach was saying, as Dechlan shouldered him aside and pinned him with an icy gaze.

“Enough.” If his magic had not been drained, it would have been shimmering in his eyes and dancing at the tips of his fingers. “You’ve done more than enough here. Leave her be.”

He looked down into his bondmate’s irritated glower. “Our mounts are already prepared,” he said, trying not to take his anger out on her. “We’ll be leaving now.”

“I’m sure you think we will,” she replied, lifting one of her eyebrows in a sarcastic expression. “But there is a tiny fact you may have overlooked when you planned this overhasty departure.”

“Which is?”

A smug little smile began to tug at the corner of her lips. “I’ve never ridden before.”

“You’ve never…”

She spread her arms wide and shrugged with elaborate nonchalance. “Pig keeper, remember?”

On a wraith-cursed battlefield, the first lesson a warrior learned was to keep tight command of his emotions, which enabled Dechlan to chain his temper behind iron bars of self-control.

And to recall that it was not her he was truly angry with.

“Why exactly did it not occur to you to mention this sooner?”

“Andwhenexactly should it have occurred to me to inform you of my lack of experience with riding?” Her head tilted and her arms folded in unmistakable challenge.

“Possibly when I informed you of my intent to leave today.”

Her expression fell somewhere between defiant and an outright declaration of war.

“If you hadaskedme instead of informing me, perhaps I would have had the presence of mind to recall that detail.”

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