Page 186 of A Bond in Blood

I wrapped my arms around my body, scanning the city streets, trying to find the black carriage amongst the buildings. Wondering if the king would send me off himself or if that had been our goodbye.

One of tears, hate, and blood.

Fitting really, when I considered it.

Chapter 36

Ulrich did not send me off. He did not arrive at the docks. He did not walk me up the plank or order my trunks to be carried.

Olen, however, was tasked to ensure the black vessel went to my island home and my island home only.

I laid in the cot of the ship, my stomach rolling with the waves, watching the sun high in the sky. My eyes went heavy, now used to sleeping during the day, knowing this hour was well past my usual hours of sleep.

The cabin door creaked open, and I turned to find Olen in beast-form staring at me.

“How are you feeling?” his voice rumbled.

“Like I'm going to be sick,” I laughed. “I’m not sure how I’m going to travel in my life if I can barely handle the sea.”

Olen’s canines came over his lip with his smile.

“May I sleep in here? The crew quarters are disgusting.”

“Olen you have been inside of me. Yes, you can sleep beside me.”

His eyebrows rose with amusement and his laugh rumbled throughout the cabin. “Gods, will I miss you.”

I shifted on the cot, patting next to me.

“I won’t fit there,” he laughed.

“We can fit,” I replied. “Please, I have grown accustomed to someone sleeping next to me.”

Olen dropped his eyes but nodded and his massive body climbed onto the cot, pressing me against the wall with the small window.

“Will you be able to sleep?” he asked.

I shifted, turning my back against his, facing the window.

“Yes, actually. I will.”

His breathing slowed quickly, and his light snores picked up, filling the cabin with the sounds. I held my hand to my chest, listening to him. Appreciating his comfort, but wishing I was back in a large bed, in a room in a stone palace, lying beside the man I shouldn’t want.

“Princess.”

I glanced up from the book I’d pulled from the small shelf in the cabin and found Olen at the door. My hand went to my barely aching foot, thanks to Frode’s salves and care instructions.

“Yes?” I asked.

“You’re home,” he whispered.

I threw the book, rising from the cot. I ran through the cabin door and out to the deck of the ship. Wincing at the pressure on my scarred sole.

The sun was bright above the deck and then I saw it, my beloved fjord. The end of the small neck of water we traveled down, opening to the blue my home faced.

I ran to the edge of the ship, leaning over, and watching my village appear.

“Gods,” I sobbed. “Oh my Gods.”

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