Page 4 of A Bond in Blood

“I’m no child,” I replied, “and I am not leaving this castle. I am certainly not going anywhere with thatmonsterif neither of you answer my questions.”

“A family secret,” my father replied, not meeting my eyes.

I turned to my grandmother’s pale blue gaze. “What is he speaking of?” I asked.

“Please, Bren, change and we’ll tell you.” Her crooked, aged fingers pointed to the dressing screen in the corner of the room.

I stared down at the blood-stained gown, trying to ignore the foul smell. With a slight nod, I pulled myself upward and silently made my way to the dressing screen.

The sounds of trunks unclasping and rustling fabric filled the room while I slipped off my gown.

I watched it fall to my feet in a sad, destroyed pile, biting back my grief.

The color—a dark, forest green—had been one I’d chosen just for Leif. After countless letters of him telling me his love of the color, specifically the rich color of the pine trees in the mortal lands. I had thought I’d picked the perfect gown for our first meeting. Now it was at my feet, covered in his blood from his cold, dead body.

Possibly as cold as my heart had begun to grow.

A thud against the screen startled me, and I forced my eyes up, finding a muted gray gown hanging over the side.

“For you to wear,” my grandmother said before coughing. “For you to remind the Unseelie King that you’re in mourning.”

I scoffed at the words. My grandmother spoke as if I would have any idea what she was referring to. As if I were to accept this notion of me going with the beast outside to meet the most notorious monster of our world.

After throwing the gown over my head, I stepped out from the dressing screen, finding every trunk clasped and my wardrobe bare.

“How did you do that so quickly?” I asked, sinking against the chair at my vanity.

Hate boiled in my blood at how my father, a man who took ages to walk from one end of our small island to the other, could pack my things so rapidly. It made me wonder if he were glad to be rid of me, and if thisfamily secretwas feigned and I was being played a fool.

“Anxious hands work quickly,” he replied behind me, and I watched through the mirror while he sat himself on the mattress behind me.

My grandmother groaned, pulling a small chair at my back. Holding her palm open, her fingers wiggled. The life-long sign I knew meanthand me the brush.

Reluctantly, I obeyed, passing her the whale-bone brush, staring back at my lifeless reflection while her hands worked the strands of my hair.

“The family secret,” my father began, choking on his words. “I’m ashamed to have never taken it seriously.”

My grandmother’s eyes rolled. “Enok, tell the truth.”

My father’s eyes met mine in the reflection before he dropped his shoulders in shame.

“I was terrified from the moment you were born. Your mother—”

I jumped at the mention of my mother. My father rarely spoke of her. Even when I’d pried. Even when I’d begged, he’d remained silent. But now he sat behind me, speaking of the mother I’d never known, like it was a topic we discussed openly within our family.

My father cleared his throat, continuing his tale. “Your mother—she knew of the secret and when the midwife announced we’d had a daughter, well… I believe her heart gave out that night out of fear and despair.”

I pulled away from my grandmother’s hands, growing irritated. “Will you please get to the point?” I snapped, forgetting my controlled tongue.

“A deal once made,” he whispered. “Generations ago, one of your great-grandfathers made a deal with the Unseelie King. It was almost laughable what the king asked for, but our ancestor… He agreed.”

My stomach sank. I’d heard of thesedeals. Of the havoc they wrecked. Of the pain they inflicted upon those unsuspecting souls desperate to have their prayers answered by silent, inattentive Gods.

“He made a deal?” I asked, holding my fingers to my lips.

“Yes, the Unseelie King would convince Oberon to allow our ancestor to start his own kingdom in between the mortal and Seelie lands, taking a mortal as a wife in exchange for the first daughter of our bloodline born on the first day of the blood moon.”

A confirmation, old and deep, settled over me. Unlocking something within me that had, apparently, been hidden inside throughout my life. A quiet nodding, accepting a secret my soul appeared to recall.

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