Page 151 of A Bond in Blood

Olen’s expression strained with unrecognizable emotion, and his head glanced up toward one of the hallways then back to me.

“I do not know princess.”

“I cannot stop it,” I cried. “And I do not always know if I want to.”

Olen turned toward hallway three and I looked up, finding Ulrich at the end of the hallway I’d come from. His hands trembled at his side while he met my eyes.

Then I was carried away, watching the Unseelie King disappear in his shadows while a rage-filled shout, one that I wondered may have been regret, followed me and the man who carried me. Reminding me why I could not fall completely into the madness.

Even when my heart wanted nothing more.

Chapter 31

Two weeks.

It had been two weeks since I told Ulrich my decision.

He had done nothing.

I laid on the bench in thelooking glasswhile my hands stroked Olen’s fur. His snoring lulled my anxious mind when Adie appeared before me. I smiled at her, cocking my head at the wild grin on her face.

“Is there something you’d like to tell me?” I asked, sitting up while Olen yawned.

Adie glanced at him nervously before nodding her head. “There is a gift waiting for you on your bed.”

I froze.

“For tonight,” she continued.

“Tonight?” I asked, glancing at Olen.

“The party,” he replied with another yawn.

“I thought Ulrich was done with parties,” I responded.

“He can’t stop us from throwing a birthday celebration,” Olen said.

I stood. “Birthday?”

“A birthday ball,” Adie squealed. “It is abigevent, one he has not allowed to happen inyears.”

I eyed her. “How big?”

Olen laughed loudly. “It is not a Rite, princess. It is a party. While there will be plenty of moving bodies, this will be nothing like the Rite.”

“Your gown is waiting.” Adie smiled. “You only have a couple of hours.”

“Why wasn’t I told about this?” I questioned Olen.

His head pulled up from the floor. “Because Ulrich realized you spent your birthday in a cell in his dungeons and he wasn’t about to have that argument with you.”

I startled, stepping back.

“I didn’t think it would cross his mind.”

Olen’s snout bumped my calves. “We had not realized the day of. Gods, even in the months after.”

I brushed him away. “As long as I get to go home by my birthday this year.”

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