Page 5 of Married By Treachery

Raquel’s returning smile was mirthless. “One might also recall the abrupt manner in which thisfair maidenwas strippedfrom her family, hardly affording her any parting opportunities, like ridding herself ofan itemsuch as this. A hasty oversight on your part, I’m sure.”

Tension charged the quiet, and one of the Bear Prince’s kith sidled closer, clearly not appreciating the tone she had taken with his prince.

In a lightning-quick motion, the Bear Prince had Lee’s dagger at her throat.

Raquel stiffened, head raised and neck stretched, all of her senses focused on the cold metal edge pressed to her skin.

The Bear Prince’s eyes narrowed. “Your other leg.”

Raquel ground her teeth.

He leaned closer. “If you did not wish for them to be found, my bride, you should not have fastened them where they would snag upon your skirts. A hasty oversight on your part, I am sure.”

Raquel’s cheeks burned hot.

“Well? Do not make me wait, mortal, or I shall scandalize you further.” Mischief danced in his eyes. “Or perhaps that is what mybride prefers…”

A few of his kith chuckled at this.

Raquel fumed, still glaring at him as she lifted her skirts to withdraw the dagger she’d strapped to her other leg. One kith cleared his throat, but the Bear Prince’s eyes remained fixed on hers. Even as she begrudgingly set the second dagger into his massive paw.

“Andyour boot.”

At this, Raquel gasped, now feeling truly scandalized, but before she could do a thing about the blade in her sole, a piercing cry echoed through the forest. It sounded like a great bird, but there had been an eerie quality to it that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

Because it had sounded marginallyhuman.

Suddenly, the Bear Prince was grabbing her boot and pulling free the tiny blade she’d hidden in the heel. Before she could comment on this strange and irritating ability of his, he tucked the blade inside his coat alongside her other two, jumped onto the saddle behind her, and kicked their shared steed into a full gallop.

Thunder erupted as his kith followed behind at a pace Raquel was not comfortable with, especially in such low visibility.

On second thought, if they collided with a tree, perhaps it would solve a lot of her problems.

That strange screeching sounded again—closer this time—and she was suddenly grateful for the Bear Prince’s haste, for whatever hadhimrunning was not something she felt particularly keen to engage.

“What is making that sound?” she asked.

Again, he gave no answer, but the mist grew thicker, the forest darker, and she could have sworn the branches were slowly twisting and reaching for them, like serpents. The Bear Prince muttered a word—a word she felt with her soul more than heard with her ears—and the mist around them thinned, and the branches stopped reaching.

That otherworldly screeching sounded again, farther away this time, and then they were galloping through the narrow gate of a tall palisade wall and into what appeared to be a large outpost.

Not a magnificent palace as Raquel had expected.

Even more curious was that the mist did not touch this place. This outpost appeared encapsulated within a dome of clear air. Within the wall, Raquel counted a handful of wooden structures, including a watchtower with armed Forest kith standing guard, while more Forest kith emerged from the lower structures to see who had arrived.

The Bear Prince slowed their steed and dismounted even before the horse halted completely, and a male Forest kith approached. This kith wore his soft brown hair long and woven into dozens of tiny braids, the subtle taper of his ears just visible, and his clothing looked as though it’d been fine once, a very long time ago.

The Bear Prince acknowledge him with a clipped, “Marix.”

Marix bowed low before his prince, though not before glancing at Raquel with marked interest. “Your Grace. We were beginning to worry. The colony is moving north of—”

“We heard,” the Bear Prince cut in sharply. “Did you not place the bark as I said?”

“We did, Your Grace; however, it does not seem to be having any effect on them. Not without you.”

The Bear Prince glanced toward the gate, his thoughts far away, but then his focus sharply returned. “Hopefully you managed to ready my bride’s bedchamberwithout me…?”

The reprimand was duly received, and a muscle twitched in Marix’s face. “It is ready.”

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