Page 2 of Wings of Cruelty and Flame

“With Xiu,” I replied, like that was any explanation. “We shouldn’t keep the royal family waiting.”

Faking a courage I didn’t possess, I breezed past him, my heart hammering a warning against my ribs. But however disgraced Varidian was, however deadly his magic, at least marrying him would get me out of this household.

“This should be covered,” my father muttered, pinching a lock of hair and pulling until pain flashed across my scalp.

“Xiu advised me not to wear a scarf,” I said evenly. I’d had years of practice to hide little pains like these. He never used his fists or thrown an outright hit, but he was well-versed in finding subtle ways to hurt me. His favourite weapon was language, an art he and Xiu shared.

She didn’tadviseme not to wear a headscarf. She cut me straight to the bone with two sentences.

If you think wearing a hijab will make you one of them, you’re deluded. You will always be your mother’s daughter.

I didn’t show how much the words hurt, or how the reminder that my mother abandoned me still stung even when I was twenty-five. I didn’t know her name, didn’t know what city she came from, didn’t know why she sailed thirty days to end up here in Ithanys.

“Xiu doesn’t know her own wisdom,” my father muttered. It was one of his favourite phrases, delivered with scorn. “Hurry up, you’re holding the ceremony up.”

I could point out that weddings always waited for the bride, or let out my anger at not even meeting my husband before the celebration day, but what was the point? He’d probably ignore me. It was his favourite pastime, after all.

It should have beenmysignature on the document, beside Varidian’s. I wondered if my husband was as maddened by that as I was. What would he be like? Rumour had called him fierce and scowling for as long as I’d known of his existence, and when he joined the legions flying on the border, stories abounded of his bravery and miraculous luck.Varidian Cheats Death,one headline had proclaimed, about five months before his reputation was blackened. My husband had a knack for surviving skirmishes that should kill him.

Stubbornness, I thought, or skill. Now, everyone knew the truth. Hence, damage control in the form of a bride.Look, he’s not so scary, he’s a married man with a shiny new wife; see, see!

I flattened the smile from my face as I followed my father down the golden hallways of our home, wending to the back of the villa where the gardens were decked out in elaborate opulence. I’d sneaked a look at the garden at dawn on my wayto prayer. Rows upon rows of chairs sat on either side of an aisle I would be carried down, the seats elaborately carved like the arabesques adorning our home. Lanterns hung from tree tops and would cast the garden in shades of butter and gold when the sun began to set. As befitting a royal, jewels and gold and silk had been shoehorned in everywhere possible, and the whole garden smelled of honey and orange blossom.

It was far prettier than any celebration I’d imagined having. If I hadn’t been marrying a king’s son, no doubt the celebration would take part in a closet.

My father’s voice cut through the tense silence as we walked, low but as honed as any blade. “Do I have to remind you what will happen if you embarrass me today?”

“No, baba,” I demurred.

Kidnap, mutilation, and murder at the claws and teeth of Kalder’s armoured tigers. A lovely thought for a woman’s wedding celebration.

“Good,” he said firmly. It wasn’t just embarrassment he was trying to save—it was the money, the power, and the higher gentry position he’d bought by handing me over. He probably thought the king would take back the hefty case of gold he’d already sent if I did something disastrous today.

Part of me wanted to wreck the day on purpose. But then I’d never get out of this house and never stop hearing my little sister’s screams.

Varidian Saber wasn’t the only one looking to leave the ghosts of his past behind.

I was distracted by thoughts of my husband, and didn’t notice the halls we’d passed through until my father murmured, “Make me proud.”

I lifted my eyes and, lo and behold, there were people within hearing distance. Make me proud was Falael Jaouhari speak fordon’t fuck this up or you’ll be tiger food.

Understood, father, loud and clear.

“I will,” I said, the low, scything tone emerging as something like a threat. His eyes widened in surprise, but there were witnesses and he’d never do anything untoward while we were watched. Normally, there’d be consequences in private later, but I would marry the king’s son and go straight to his home in Red Manniston. Which meant there were no consequences. No thoughts I couldn’t voice.

It was a heady kind of power. A freedom that made my lips curve into a smile.Try bruising me when I’m Varidian Saber’s wife.

“It’s been a delight living under your roof,” I said. Translation: it’s been a living nightmare, and I hope you rot here.

“We’re ready for you, a-lalla,” a well-dressed man with deep skin and bright amber eyes said, inclining his head in respect.Oh,this was new. I didn’t even try to dim my smile. The word princess tangled my stomach in knots, but it was immensely satisfying to watch a vein throb in my father’s forehead.

Yes, darling father, don’t forget that while you’re getting an upgrade in rank to high gentry, I will be higher.I hope that truth tasted like sour lemons. I hope he choked on the taste.

I kept my head high as I followed the polite man towards the luxuriously decorated litter where I would sit and be carried through the wedding guests, where I would see my husband in person for the first time.

I sent up a selfish prayer as I delicately climbed into the litter.If he’s going to be dangerous and brutish, at least let him be good looking.

CHAPTER TWO

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