Page 6 of A Bond in Blood

“Is this why you’ve kept me away?” I asked. “Why I’ve never been allowed to visit our Seelie family and Oberon’s court without you there? Why I’ve always had to deny Titania’s invitations to spend summers with the court?”

I turned to my father while my hands balled my dress at my thighs. I was sure my heart was breaking. Sure everything I knew and loved had been a lie.

“You may lean closer to your mother’s mortal blood, but you know how superstitious the fae can be. I couldn’t ignore the ominous warning of the secret. Even if I didn’t fully believe it,” my father replied.

“So now I’m supposed to board that moving casket and disappear for a year without fighting back?” I asked, meeting his dark brown eyes.

“Bren,” he dropped to his knees before me, grasping my fisted hands. “If he doesn’t get his full year, our kingdom is gone. Everyone and everything you love will be ripped apart by his monsters.”

My disgust grew and I ripped my hands from his. There it was, the words he did and did not say. Myduty. My expectations as this island’s princess.

Even though I knew the stories and the horrors of what the Unseelie fae could do to mortal kingdoms, I didn’t want the future of my kingdom to lay on my shoulders. Not when I hadn’t asked for this. Not when I’d been given this knowledge so suddenly.

I stood, crossing the bedroom before turning back to my father.

“I agree, but when I return…” My eyes scanned my little room, out to the blue waters of the fjord lapping against the shore mere feet from my home. “I get to leave. I get freedom. I get to decide whether or not I will continue to live in this kingdom created by selling my soul to a demon.”

My father’s eyes grew wide, but I lifted my hand, stopping him from responding. My eyes darted to the small clock on my bedside table.

“We’ve wasted our time; the monster is expecting me.”

Chapter 2

“You’re late,” Olen growled as my foot hit the dock.

I glared up at him, coiling back with disgust at the returning smile I received.

“I’m a princess, I arrive when I wish.”

Olen laughed loudly; his silky fur shook with the movement. “I’m sure my king will appreciate your attitude.”

“Usually, I’m told I’m a rather pleasant person. But that changes when I’m beingkidnapped,” I replied, glaring into its black eyes.

“Your father never told you?” Olen asked, his eyes darted to where my father stood at the edge of the dock.

Betrayal and anger burned on my tongue while my shoulders slumped with defeat. “Can we please go? If I’m forced to leave my home, I’d rather not elongate my goodbyes.”

Olen stared back at me, one canine protruding from his lips before he nodded.

Turning my back, I made my way across the dock, heading straight for the gangplank. I couldn’t have forced myself to look back if I had wanted to. Not when I knew what was behind me:A tearful grandmother and my handmaids, holding each other; people of our kingdom staring in shock at their princess leaving with an Unseelie monster, and my father with a blank expression to mask his shame and guilt.

I climbed over the threshold of the massive vessel, still in too much shock to process that I was truly leaving for a year. Every plan I’d thought I’d made was now a whisp in the breeze, heading toward the cruel amusement of the Gods. It mocked me with every step that Leif’s arrival had only produced a feigned hope of control over my life.

But there was still that small kindling of fire deep inside of me, burning with hope at what awaited me at the end of this insane journey.

A year—and then I was free.

I would get to travel the world. See the courts freely on the Northern Seelie island. Possibly even explore the fellow small mortal islands littering our seas. I could travel to the West island, the main mortal island, and meet family I’d never had the chance to know.

The ability to put my long half-fae lifespan to use.

Yes, a year. It was nothing for a woman who had lived nearly one hundred and fifty years. If I could survive that long on my tiny island home, then I could survive a year in the depths of the Unseelie court.

Perhaps even less if I were able to complete the plan now circling in my mind.

I walked through the deck, avoiding the inquiring eyes surrounding me until my foot hit something wet. Glancing down, I bit back my cry when I spotted the sack from before, cast aside as if it were meager everyday trash. Like Leif’s life had meant nothing.

My heart lurched while I tried to push aside the image of his dull gray eyes staring up at me when I’d pried that bag open. Ofthe stench of rot, evident the king had removed my betrothed’s head at least several days before. Of the blood, now stained forever on the dress I’d left on my bedroom floor.

---