Page 209 of A Bond in Blood

Olen shoved the body down when he’d finished his demented meal and he bent down, offering me his uninjured hand.

I stood, letting out a sob when I found the gangplank lifting on Oberon’s ship.

“Olen, you better get me to that ship. Immediately.”

Olen threw me over his shoulder, like so many times before and he ran. Just as fast as Ulrich had run to the cottage the night before. I held his shirt, watching the blood from his injury trail alongside Ulrich’s black blood.

We reached the dock, and Olen dropped me. His breathing was heavy, his eyes full of pain.

I dove then, like a foolish mad woman, into the frigid water, pumping my arms through the waves. Believing I could catch them.

Oberon’s ship, while not nearly as fast as Ulrich's, moved through the water faster than any vessel I had at my disposal.

My arms began to burn with my movements. Begging me to stop. To relent my foolish attempt at catching up.

I stopped, kicking my feet beneath me while I slammed my arms against the surface of the water.

A hand gripped my gown, pulling me back while I screamed, watching the ship sail away. Olen deposited me onto the dock, sopping wet and heaving down my sobs.

He grunted behind me.

“What is happening?” I whispered

“Princess,” Olen groaned. “It was a ruse.”

The word,ruse, it turned me into the monster Ulrich’s court liked to claim I was. I jumped to my feet, whirling around and I slapped him.

“Tell me,” I demanded.

Olen was silent, for seconds too long. I slapped him again.

He grunted out in shock holding my challenging gaze. Both of us breathing heavily, knowing Ulrich was being taken further and further away.

Olen relented, telling me Ulrich’s plan. How he made an ancient deal. How he sent letters. How he unintentionally developed feelings for me. How he had forced Olen to be part of it all. Part of this game of manipulating me.

Turning me into a piece in their fucked up game.

I stopped the right hand, not understanding his words and what Titania had said in the palace.

“You were a beast with me!” I cried, keeping my eyes on the ship.

Olen shook his head, and I jumped when bright light blinded me and Ulrich was standing before me. Then more bright light and the beast I’d spent hours beside was before me. More light, another shifting, and Ulrich before me once more.

No mask, his long hair dangling, his green eyes staring at me with shame and guilt.

Only it wasn’t Ulrich. It was Olen.

Evident when he shifted again, back to the face of the man who I’d believed had been my protector this whole time. But he was without that damned scar I now realized was and always had been Ulrich’s.

The shock was too much. My mind could hardly fathom what I was being shown. Olen could shift. To anything andanyonehe wished.

“Oh my Gods,” I sobbed. “What is this?”

“Think, Brenna.” Olen shook me. “Each time you were ever harmed by Ulrich, who was always at your side?”

I blinked.

“You as a beast.”

---