Page 31 of The Stolen Bride

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when a faint noise woke me. Blinking open my eyes, I tuned my ears.

“Find, destroy, happy. Find, destroy, happy.”

Thoughts flickered to life, reminding me of my situation. I stiffened, gaze darting. Viktor. The tent. The storm. It still raged, rain pummeling the cloth walls. Since none leaked inside, I figured the material was waterproof.

“Find, destroy, happy.”

I repositioned to take stock. Viktor stretched out on his back, fast asleep. Light glowed from a lantern he must have lit at some point, giving me a full wattage glimpse of his eyes rolling behind his lids and jerking body. Was he trapped inside a nightmare?

My chest constricted. Poor berserker. “Hey, hey,” I said, gently patting his cheek. “Wake up for me, Snarls.”

He caught my wrist as his eyelids popped open. “Clove. Clovie. Lovie.”

Working out nicknames? “Whatever you call me, your treasured firebrand is here,” I responded, trying not to adore the final selection but failing. More proof something was wrong with me.

His lips folded in between his teeth. “I dreamed of the Valkara.”

I stiffened, not quite as nonchalant about her as usual for some strange, unknown reason I couldn’t begin to fathom. “I’m listening.”

“The key must be found.” He scrubbed a palm over his face.

Or what? He’d be miffed? Total world annihilation would come? “Tell me about it.”

“Nem.”

I didn’t press. Yet. “Tell me about your friendship with Deco then.” Maybe I’d glean details about the shifter I could use to my advantage.

Fine! I was simply curious.

“You wish to know more about me, hmm?”

I didn’t think I appreciated Viktor’s smugness. “Why wouldn’t I? Knowledge is power.” The best response I could manage.

“I will be kind and tell you how we met.” Viktor relaxed into the blankets, toying with the ends of my hair again. “Deco was a royal, while I hailed from a court courtesan. We shouldn’t have crossed paths, but I snuck into his classroom to learn from his tutors. He spotted me, insisted I join him, and we soon grew as close as brothers.”

My brain buzzed. And not only because Viktor was doing this to win me over without trying to hide it. I’d mentioned liking acts of kindness, and now he provided one.

A courtesan mother suggested he might not know the identity of his father. Had he lived his life the way I’d lived mine, always wondering? When the rest of his words registered, I blinked. “I think I misheard you. Did you say he was a royal, not you?” I couldn’t imagine Viktor as anything but a leader. The one dishing the orders.

“Unlike most other sentinels, he and I started as humans. He was my king.”

Wow. So unexpected.

“My mother kept me at court to teach me how to blend with the upper class. From the shadows, I mingled with the sons and daughters of the peerage.”

I sensed sadness in his tone and guessed he’d felt out of place, as if he hadn’t truly belonged. “You never thought of yourself as part of the crowd.” I flattened my palm over his pectoral. His heart pounded hard, greeting me.

He nodded his confirmation. “I spent much time alone at a marble fountain in the royal gardens. I enjoyed it, at least. The sculptures were intricate, each telling a different story of the kingdom’s past.”

I pet him, loving when he released apffof breath. Something else we had in common—an interest in history that stemmed from the uncertainty of our own. “Tell me more.”

“One day, a group of older boys came up behind me and pushed me into the water. Two held me down.” He puffedhis chest, seeming to seek deeper contact with me. “The others cheered them on as I drown.”

I sank my nails into his skin, as if I meant to pull him from the water even now. “They tried to kill you?”

“Probably only to scare me. To remind me of my place,” he said. To my surprise, he clasped my hand, brought it to his mouth, and traced my index finger around his lips. “But as I’ve learned through my beast, feeding an urge like that only strengthens it, especially in the heat of the moment.”

I ached to comfort the boy he’d been and praise the man he’d become. Oh, how I hated our no making a move rule. Because I wanted so badly to replace that finger with my mouth. “Then what happened?” I asked, desperate to know.

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