Page 51 of A Bond in Blood

“I—” I stared at the creature. I had no idea what she was. Despite that, I knew she was awful. A monster I would never want to meet in the night.

“She does not know, my master,” Sigrun cooed.

“Sigrun is—or was—a changeling,” Ulrich answered, not allowing me to admit my lack of knowledge. “We made a deal, centuries ago. She received beauty and a new life with a Seelie fae family, replacing their child. When she had grown to accept Seelie adulthood, she would work forme, providing me details of the Seelie fae court. She’s failed in her duties.”

“Oh my poor king,” Sigrun laughed. “Upset I didn’t get you what you wanted?”

Ulrich’s hand gripped her face, and I shuddered at the crunching sound of her jaw beneath his hold. “Sigrun,” he sneered. “I was content to allow you to fail in your duties for centuries more. I knew you would fail the moment you left my sight all those years ago.”

He threw her down to the ground, circling her while she laid curled around herself.

“You werecaught.” He put emphasis on the last word as it echoed around us all.

“It was not my fault, master,” the creature cried out. “Oberon is on a tyrant’s path now. Determined to find us all.”

“Us?” I whispered then yelped when Olen softly bit the tips of my fingers. “What in the Gods?” I muttered.

“Shut your mouth,” he ordered.

I straightened, holding my pulsating fingertips to my chest.

“How many?” Ulrich asked, his eyes moving to Olen beside me.

I turned my gaze back to the beast, watching his body rise and fall with slow breaths. When I raised my eyes back up, I found Sigrun sneering at me once more.

“Oh, my master,” she hissed. “I’m one of many. He will require the demise of us all. Placing your duty before your people once—”

Shocked screams filled the courtyard when Olen suddenly lunged, ripping Sigrun’s head off. Stopping her from finishing her biting statement.

He stayed above her, his body heaving while he appeared to consume the gore of her insides.

I stepped back, holding a hand to my mouth. Not understanding what I’d just witnessed.

Oberon? Deals?People?

I met Ulrich’s emotionless gaze, finding Sigrun’s greyed blood splattered up his bare torso. He didn’t move as he stared back, his chest barely moving with his breaths.

I turned back to Olen, still consuming the body, sure I had seen a trick of light while his fur lit with silver for only a moment. Then he stood, grey blood dripping from his jaw, dipping his head to Ulrich’s feet.

“A deal has been claimed,” he snarled.

“Yes,” Ulrich replied, patting Olen’s shoulder. “Yes it has.”

He addressed his right hand but his eyes staring into mine told me all I needed to know.

He was warning me of my future. Of the demise I was fated to receive if I did not hold up my end of our bargain.

Chapter 13

Ilaid in the dark room, listening to the sound of running water from the bathing chamber. My hand reached for the empty space in the bed beside me.

I still hadn’t gotten used to it, after a month of lying beside his large frame.

So, any moment when I was under those heavy covers alone, was a gift given directly from the Gods.

The water stopped and my hand returned to my chest.

Blinking through the darkness, my breaths grew heavy while the sounds of the king’s footsteps filled the chamber. The bed shifted with his weight, and he let out a content sigh.

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