Page 58 of The Stolen Bride

“Very well. I will preface this by saying I dislike discussing it. But you are…you. So I will.” He didn’t give me a second to process his amazing words before rolling full steam ahead. “That was Deco’s wife, Lena, from once upon a time.” He grimaced slightly. “The three of us grew up together in Deco’s palace. Before her romantic relationship with Deco began, she and I shared a dalliance. But when I confessed my love, she did not return the sentiment.”

Ouch. Rejection hurt, no matter which way you sliced it. “Please. Go on.”

He shoved a branch out of our path. “She didn’t want Viktor, the bastard child of a courtesan, but Deco, the king, and she won him. They married before he turned sentinel, and he loved her dearly.”

Viktor’s resentment over his human lineage rang loud and clear. “Who we are born to physically doesn’t make us what we are.” Keeping pace beside him, I reached out to tap his chest. “It is what’s in here that counts. And besides, your mother lived in a time when women had few options. It sounds like she did everything she could to ensure you not only survived but thrived.”

He swallowed. Then swallowed again. “You defend my character. And hers. That isn’t something anyone has done since...”

His words trailed, but I knew what he’d almost said. No one had defended him since Deco, all those centuries ago. Perhaps no one but Viktor himself had ever justified his mother’s actions. He’d lost so much, and now, the bulk of his pain revolved around what happened to Lena.

“Until becoming a sentinel king, I hadn’t realized Lenacared only about power and status. When I seized my crown, Deco served asmysecond. Jealousy ate at them both.”

The pain in Viktor’s voice tore at my soul. “My ex was that kind of guy. Jealous of anyone with more than him.”

“I will kill him for you. I’ll make it as painful as you wish.” His childlike eagerness to please struck a chord in me. “Nem. Allow me to rephrase. I’ll make it as painful asIwish.”

“That’s so kind of you. Truly. But he’s irrelevant. I’m more interested in you.” Heat scorched my cheeks. “I mean, your past. And Tor, if it makes you feel any better, Lena and Deco were miserable the entire time they were hating on you. No one can be happy with that kind of mindset.”

He thought for a moment, nodded. “Lena’s envy fed Deco’s. Days and weeks and months of whispering in his ear, vilifying me at every turn. When she struck, we’d never been so divided.”

Once two best friends, closer than brothers, suddenly enemies on opposite sides of a war. “Tell me what happened next.” Oh, I remembered Vik’s vargbane root induced dream, but I had no idea what led up to Deco storming Viktor’s way. The pair shouting, swiping and snarling at each other in a wild frenzy.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Lena lured me into a private area off the ballroom and admitted she loved me. She claimed she had always loved me, but had feared angering Deco and sentencing me to death. If I would slay him, we could be together. I rebuked her and told her I would endherif ever she threatened his life again. That I would watch her closely and if I suspected she so much as pondered Deco’s demise, I would take action against her.She said I didn’t know what I was missing and started stripping.”

“Oh, Viktor. That’s awful.”

“Ja.” His lips compressed in a grim line. “She knew what I didn’t. Deco hunted for me, intending to challenge me. She’d finally convinced him to try. He came upon us while I attempted to stop her seduction, which ensured he raged. You saw what happened afterward. But I’ve never ceased hoping…”

I could guess. “You think Deco and the others can be saved, though it’s never been done.” That was why he hadn't attacked the shifters unless they’d attacked us first. He couldn’t save them if they were dead.

“I know they can be recovered. I only need my key. The Valkara told me ten keys arrived at the same time as the Starfire, landing in different parts of the world. Each of the original kings were to find ours and return them to her. I found mine, only to lose it. As soon as I discover it again, she can use it to revert turul-shifters to their natural state.”

Well. No wonder he was so determined to have that key in his possession. And yet, something prodded at me, ringing an internal alarm. “I don’t want to burst your bubble, but that sounds a little too good to be true.” A scam in the making. A long con. “You’re confident she’s on the up and up, even though she threatens the life of your firebrand?” I’d asked before, but maybe phrasing it a new way with this new info would get him thinking along the right line.

“Youseem too good to be true, yet here you are.”

Then. That moment. A part of me fell a little in love with him. But just a little, so it wasn’t a big deal. I’d probably get over it in a day or two.

As we continued forward, I linked our arms and restedmy head on his broad shoulder. I’d let the subject of Valkara rest for now. “I need to tell you something.” He’d trusted me with his past. Now, I would trust him with my future. “I’ve had a recurring dream most of my life. Juniper has, too, though I’m not clear on the details of hers.”

He stiffened but said, “I’m listening.”

Here goes. “In mine, I’m standing in the sky, surrounded by fog. I kneel before a powerful warrior. You.”

His eyes lit with interest. “Now I’mreallylistening. Kneel, you say?”

Men were such simple creatures. “Yes. In the dream, I tell you I’m doing what I’m doing for the greater good. You say the same. You’re holding a sword and you lift it as if to remove my head. Just as you swing, I wake up.”

His hold on me tightened. “I meant it when I said I wouldn’t harm you, Love.”

“And I believe you.” Now. “But the dream means something.” I winced and gave voice to my most awful suspicion. “Even if I’ve been seeing Juniper all this time.”

“You don’t have to worry. I won’t harm your twin, either. As for the meaning of the dream, give me a day or two to ponder.”

Between one step and the next, our surroundings transformed. The air lost the crisp bite of winter, replaced by muggy heat scented with lush greenery and blooming orchids. The landscape changed, too.

Where once empty branches stretched toward the cloudy sky, now dense foliage and towering trees did their best to block out a bright golden sun. The crunch of snow and dead leaves was replaced by buzzing insects and the melody of birdsong.

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