Page 122 of A Bond in Blood

Ulrich’s jaw clenched, but he kept my gaze. “Decide his punishment.”

I pulled away from him, stepping back against the wall of fur that was Olen.

“I can’t.”

“Coward!” a loud voice yelled from the crowd.

My hands shook as I clasped them together and my tears fell. “I can’t.”

“Princess,” Olen growled.

I shook my head. “I can’t be responsible for another death.”

Ulrich’s eyes lit with amusement. “He would have killed you.”

I met Bjorn’s eyes, finding him grinning like a madman.

“But he did not.”

“Do you have no regard for your own well-being?” Ulrich inquired. “Not surprising to learn about a beast that has tried to end my own life with her bare hands.”

Hisses filled the courtyard, and I glanced briefly, finding burning eyes of hate all gazing back at me.

“You decide,” I pleaded.

Ulrich was silent. He turned on his heel, picking up his cousin by the bloodied shirt still on his body.

“She’s pathetic,” Bjorn laughed.

Ulrich’s fist slammed into Bjorn’s stomach, causing the man to cough up black blood.

“She’ll know. When the time is right.”

The king turned back to me, waving Bjorn’s sagging body as though he were merely a towel.

“You will choose between death or banishment, Brenna.”

“I—”

The sound of Bjorn’s body hitting the earth cut off my words and Ulrich raised his voice over the whispers of the crowd.

“The princess has two months to decide. If she does not—” he met my eyes, “then the punishment will be death, by her hands.”

“Ulrich!” I cried out.

Olen bit the sleeve of my gown, silencing me instantly.

Ulrich smiled.

“Traitors must always be punished. And you must learn how to be a queen.”

I fell to the ground, frozen in my shock while the courtyard emptied. Ulrich lifted Bjorn’s unconscious body, stalking past me while he returned to the palace. When he was but a few steps away he spoke, forcing my gaze to him.

“This beast will be in the dungeon. I suggest you start to behave, Brenna. I wouldn’t want to provide him with a cellmate.”

My wine-hazed thoughts that the king was more than a monster ran from my mind while I watched him walk away.

There could be no good intentions within a monster determined to break me.

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