Page 3 of Married By Treachery

“The girl is Laban’s only daughter,” Hamor hastened to say. “A virgin at nearly one and twenty years of age, and she was born upon the harvest moon, as required.”

Certainly there are other attributes to recommend me, Raquel thought bitterly, not realizing she’d muttered it out loud.

Someone coughed, but the Bear Prince’s eyes gleamed.

“She’s a good girl, Your Grace,” Laban interceded, though his voice rang unsteady. “She’s loyal and strong, and she will give you strong sons. If that is what you will.”

The Bear Prince smiled. Or, at least, she imagined he did. It was difficult to tell through his thick and bushy beard. “That, I will.” His tone was all mockery.

Raquel felt herself flush, but not with embarrassment.

The Bear Prince took a small step closer, reached out, and pinched her chin between thumb and forefinger. His grip was rough and firm as he jerked her face from side to side, inspecting it like her father inspected their foals.

“I hope Your Grace finds his bride acceptable,” Raquel clipped, unable to help herself.

The Bear Prince stopped turning her face and gazed into her eyes instead. “That depends, daughter of Laban.” He leaned closer, as if to share a secret. “How does my bride find her prince?”

There were words Raquel should have said. “Truthfully, it’s hard to tell through all of my prince’s hair.”

Her father stilled, as did everyone else who had heard, and Lee dropped his head in defeat.

But, surprisingly, the Bear Prince tipped back his head and laughed. It was a great boom of sound that cracked the tense silence.

“The girl means no offense, Your Grace,” Hamor stammered, glaring at Raquel. “Upon my word, she will honor our—”

“She will do perfectly.” The Bear Prince waved his hand, spun on his heel, and strode for the magnificent steed that was less beast than he was. The next moment, a handful of his kith surrounded Raquel. A few seized her arms and began dragging her after the Bear Prince.

“But I haven’t grabbed my things!” she cried out, and when they still did not release her, she added, “At least let me say goodbye!”

But the Bear Prince’s kith only dragged her farther away.

Raquel looked desperately back, trying to steal one last glimpse of her brother and father, but they had been swallowed by the crowd. The Bear Prince’s kith tossed her upon his steed, the Bear Prince clamped his arm around her waist, and they were off. Galloping through the trees and into the mist, away from the mortal world.

2

Raquel could not see anything through the mist except for the Bear Prince and his entourage. They might as well have been galloping through the clouds for all she could see, and a bitter cold pierced her to the marrow.

This must be the veil, she thought.

It was far more expansive than she’d expected. She’d thought it would be like passing through a doorway—a single step from one world and into another—but this was an endless haze of white and cold that only the Bear Prince seemed able to navigate.

“How do you know where you’re going?” Raquel asked over her shoulder, but the Bear Prince did not answer. His grizzly expression fixed ahead, but on what, Raquel could only guess.

“Doyou know where you’re going?” she tried again.

Still, the Bear Prince gave no answer, and before Raquel could inquire further, the Bear Prince slowed their stallion to a halt, the mist thinned, and a great forest spread all around them.

Or whathad beena great forest.

The trees were enormous, but they bent and twisted like old bones, their naked branches gnarled and knobby like arthritic fingers. Black and rotten bark sloughed from their trunks as though they were infected with some terrible skin disease, and the air smelled strongly of compost. Like sour earth and dying things. Even more startling was the color.

There was none.

Well, that wasn’t completely true. It was more that everything appeared…dim. Raquel couldn’t explain it any other way. It sort of reminded her of when she’d walked Harran’s streets late, after spending long hours tending her father’s horses. When the sun had dipped below the horizon but the night had not settled in completely and contrast gave shape to shades of gray.

Raquel had not expected this.

All her life, she’d been told that Canna—the kingdom of Forest kith—was unparalleled in its vibrance and glory, full of life and tingling with magik. All of which Raquel had believed, especially when one considered the unusual elegance of the Bear Prince’s kith every time they’d ridden into Harran.

---