Page 41 of A Bond in Blood

I stared up at him, wishing I had the courage to rip the mask off his face. To get under his skin. To prove he didn’t have as much power as he believed himself to have.

“If you were half the kind of royal I’d expect you to be, you would remove your face from my personal boundaries.”

To my surprise, he stepped back, gesturing to the table once more.

“I will be on my best behavior.” He grinned.

I scoffed. “I doubt that.”

But I relented and returned to my seat. He did the same, sitting slowly with his shoulders straight. His face returned to that kingly expression of disinterest.

“Your grace,” I said with a sneer. “You said we have a predicament.”

“Yes, yourhighness,” he replied. “I’m not sure what to do with you.”

I straightened in my seat. “That sounds like a personal predicament, yourgrace.”

He smiled. “I don’t argue, but it does put me at a loss of what I’m to allow you to do.”

The stiff position I held began to ache down my back and my resolve slipped slightly while my shoulders slumped. I leaned back, hoping he hadn’t caught my weakness peeking through. Instead, I hoped he saw a princess acting as casually as a king.

“I do not see how it’s my duty to help you come up with a plan.”

“I’ve whipped you publicly,” he replied.

My hands fisted the skirt of my gown. “I know,” I said through gritted teeth.

“My people can’t see me allowing a punished traitor freedoms. Not this soon.”

The realization that I truly had no knowledge of how many days it had been since that public humiliation dawned on me. Instantly enraging me.

“How soon has it been?” I decided to ask.

His unphased expression faltered for a moment before he cleared his throat.

“Just less than a fortnight.”

“How?”

I was shocked, not understanding how nearly fourteen days had passed. There was no possibility that I’d been in my haze for that long.

“You were in my bed, stinking up my space for nearly seven days. Today marked the third day since you’ve been in the bedroom I graciously allowed you to rest in. Ten days, just less than a fortnight.”

I stood, my heart racing. “You’re a monster,” I said calmly. “You laid your hands on me so brutally that I’ve lost close to fourteen days of my life. Days I will never get back.”

“Brenna do not insult me by acting as though you don’t understand that hand I was forced to enact.”

“Excuse me?” My voice rose. “Is this how you believe kings behave? How I would act if I decide to take the queendom of my island?”

Ulrich said nothing.

“I’ve seen a just king. I’ve seenqueensrule their people with love and kindness. I could write to them. Tell them you’ve injured their subject. Watch the wrath of Oberon, Mab, and Titania come down on this fucked palace.”

The room shook and whatever magical wall he’d had holding back his power unleashed. His shadows crawled up his shoulders, creeping toward me, covering the walls of the space.

The candles faltered then extinguished and the red of the blood moon replaced the light. Layering a gruesome filter over us.

I shook in my place watching Ulrich stand, his hands went lax against his thighs.

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