Page 4 of Fragile Oath

“The ones she probably paid off to help her?” She scoffed. “I’m sorry, Dav, I really am, because I wanted her to be someone different for your sake, and there was a moment…” She trailed off, and I saw something underneath her anger. Betrayal, the barest echo of my own. Her voice softened when she continued. “But she keeps showing her colors and you keep ignoring them, both of you.”

I cleared my throat, the truth in her words a serrated blade that sliced through me. That might have been the worst part of her denunciation, that I couldn't reasonably argue with a single thing she said.

So I didn't try.

“Be that as it may,” I responded quietly, “we can’t risk the rebels getting a hold of her.”

My eyes went reflexively to the last line of Galina’s letter.

You promised me that I had a choice. If you meant that at all, don’t come after me.

Gwyn made a sound of protest, but I held up my hand.

“If not for her sake, then for the rest of ours,” I said in a louder tone.

Galina might not have wanted us to come after her, but she had apparently forgotten everything that was at stake. She could go to the stars-damned border for all I cared, once she was in a position to get there without getting herself killed and endangering both of our kingdoms.

“He’s right,” Uncle Finn spoke up before Gwyn could argue again. “But first, you’ve delayed long enough. You need to deal with the magistrate.”

Of course I did. It wasn’t enough that Galina had left me. I also had to go face an accusation of murder.

At least, I assumed that’s where my conversation with Ward would go since Tavish had been inconsiderate enough to be murdered in my home, right after I threatened to do said murdering.

If only.

Sighing, I cleaned the rest of the blood from my hand before moving toward the door. The sooner I spoke with Ward, the sooner I could find her. Then, I could finally put this entire mess behind me.

For good this time.

ChapterThree

GALINA

Dread pooledin my stomach as I turned Alexei’s words over and over in my mind.

Some small, naïve part of me had thought there would be time to get away once my parents were safe. That he would want to wait until Socair for the wedding, to make it legal and binding.

I hadn’t consciously relied on the hope of being able to explain things to Davin one day, to escape, to work out another plan, but now that the option had been taken from me… I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to search for a fragment of the determination I had felt only hours ago.

It was gone, though, along with the last shred of hope I had been unknowingly clinging to.

My fingers danced along the charms on my bracelet as I tried to use it to ground me, but there was no escape. Even if the rebels attacked us now, Alexei’s death would mean the death of my parents.

Not that he would ever allow my escape to happen, nor his death.

My gaze flickered over Alexei’s massive frame and the sword strapped to his back. He had a vicious reputation on the battlefield, both for brute strength and strategy, and he wouldn’t have come all this way without a plan to keep me safe.

He had certainly accounted for everything else, from getting me out of Lithlinglau to providing me with a trunk full of traveling clothes. Surely, he had considered our security in an enemy kingdom.

After all, he was the only one allowed to hurt what was his. That’s why my uncle had given him the power topunishme.

My thoughts drifted back to the last letter I had received from Socair. Was there something in there I had missed? Uncle Mikhail said he was coming to fetch me, but he had to have left Socair well after Alexei did.

“Does my uncle know you’re here?” I found myself asking, though I should have known better.

I didn’t have time to lie or expound on my question in a way that didn’t sound impertinent before Alexei responded. He wrapped his hand around my wrist in a warning, digging the charms on my bracelet into my already bruised skin.

“You think me so weak? I do not answer to other clan leaders.”

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