Page 203 of A Bond in Blood

Words that were not Leif’s, a fool I now realized who was as much of a pawn in the king’s game as I had been. No, it had been Ulrich.

I leaned back, staring at him. In his sleep he was peaceful. Still terrifying with the harsh features of a towering man, but he was beautiful. Someone I could see who had kindness in his heart. Someone that had written that kindness in ink, addressed only to me.

I stared until I could no longer keep my eyes open. Until I could barely believe I had seen the face of the beast.

Who I realized was the man who also held my heart.

I stood, leaning over him with the candle in my hand, kissing the scar at the top of his right brow.

“I love you, Urich,” I whispered. “I may also hate you and what you do.” My voice shook. “But Gods, I do love you.”

He smiled at my words and my heart cracked at the peace on his face.

I stood again then heat ran down my fingers and I jumped in pain as wax fell from the candle. Wax that had not melted since I’d lit it.

It hit his cheek and his eyes sprang open, staring into mine.

“What have you done?” he shouted, jumping to his feet. “What have you done?”

A shrill laugh filled the air, and I screamed out in shock. I stumbled, trying to get away from the rage—no fear, in Ulrich’s eyes. His hand reached for me, but it snapped back, grotesquely, unnaturally.

I let out another shocked shout, retreating further. My feet slipped on the wax, still falling from the candle, and my legs went out from under me. Causing me to slam my head into the wooden floor, knocking myself unconscious with the sound of an enraged roar guiding me into darkness.

Chapter 39

Sunlight and the smell of a smoking, extinguished fire woke me. I groaned, sitting up and holding a hand to the back of my head. My eyes scanned the room, and I tried to remember where I was and why I was naked.

It all flooded back.

Letters.

Lies.

Love making.

I stood quickly finding myself alone, but Ulrich’s clothes were still piled where he’d discarded them when we’d entered the cottage the night before. I turned in place, trying to decipher what could have happened when I found his mask laying on the table near the smoking fire.

Something was wrong.

I threw my gown on quickly. Metal clattered onto the ground with the movement, and I watched the gold coin roll toward the hearth. I did not know why I brought it. What prompted me to pull it from grandmother’s box, but it had come with the candle, and so it came with me.

For a moment I considered picking it up. Then a more cynical part of me stared with contempt. That damned candle had burned him. That damned candle had been tempting enough for me to be foolish.

I didn’t need the omen that would come with the coin.

I turned on my heel, leaving it by the hearth and I threw my cloak around my shoulders. When I ran out of the cottage, I found my mare no longer tied to her post. But a trail of blood led away from the cabin.

“Fuck the Gods,” I sobbed, running down the mud road where my village lay in the distance.

Where had he gone? What had happened?

His rage when we’d make eye contact—I thought he was going to kill me on the spot. His hand… Why had his hand snapped back so grotesquely?

I kept running until my sides ached and my lungs burned. When I made it up the hill the white bears usually crested, I let out a sigh when I saw it on the horizon: the tip of his ship, barely peeking past the neck of the fjord leading out to the sea. Hiding. Waiting for me.

A bird circled above me, squawking annoyingly but I threw my hands up, trying to shoo it away. The movement caused me to trip on my gown, sending me tumbling down the hill. Covering myself and my body in mud and debris.

“Princess!” a startled man yelled from his garden I had landed beside.

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