Page 8 of Oaths & Vengeance
Lord Morgunn was horrible in many ways, but he ensured his people had little reason to turn against him. Maintaining travel paths, ensuring everyone had enough to eat, and keeping them safe were his top three priorities. He might bully some of us, but he appeared benevolent and kind to most others.
The people of Therress often sang his praises. Considering that more crops were failing and food was becoming less plentiful across Zadrya, they knew how much worse it could be. I wasn’t even certain how he pulled it off since perhaps half of our harvests managed to survive the blights spreading through Therress’ lands. We should have had shortfalls.
It was a relief when he and Elgord disappeared through the gates. After the meeting in his office the day before, I’d gone straight to my room. I’d sobbed and thrown up my breakfast, then thoroughly washed out my mouth. Once I felt calm enough, I spent some time with my cousin, whose condition hadn’t improved like I’d hoped.
My uncle hosted a formal dinner in the Great Hall last night, where I nibbled at my food while having to sit across from my “intended” at the table with my entire family in attendance. Baron Elgord kept running hisfoot up my leg, making me shift in my seat. My cousin Ulmar must have figured it out because he smiled knowingly each time, enjoying my torture. Tadeus had the decency to give me a sympathetic look.
It was a good thing children weren’t allowed to eat with the adults until after their magic ascended, or we would have had to make excuses for Rynn not being there. Even my Aunt Kailin had attended, though she hardly ever left her room. She managed to mumble a few words to please Lord Morgunn since it was a rare moment he remembered his wife's existence.
I hurried back inside Ivory Castle, maneuvering past the numerous servants who worked tirelessly to keep the huge place clean and well-maintained. They had to toil hard, but at least they had a choice about their marriages. Only the high-born could be forced into one.
Along the way, I spotted my aunt wandering the corridor listlessly. After last night, I’d figured I wouldn’t see her again so soon, but she often came out of hiding when my uncle left for a journey. I heard she used to be vivacious and cheerful when they first married, but he’d slowly broken her over the years. All I’d ever seen was the quiet shell who never said a word unless someone spoke to her first.
Lady Kailin didn’t meet my gaze, and it was like seeing a ghost. Her strawberry blonde hair was dull in a loose braid down her back with numerous wisps hanging free. Her gray dress was clean but worn with no frills or anything to indicate she was the lady of the castle. During my early childhood, when I visited with my parents, she was quiet but still made some effort to dress nicely and speak to others. There was color in her cheeks then as well. Now, her skin was so pale I didn’t think she’d seen the sun in years, and her voice never came out above a whisper.
My uncle didn’t prohibit Kailin from looking nice or going out, but she’d given up on life since her youngest son died of faebor fever. While her husband’s verbal and physical abuse wore her down steadily over the years they’d been together, that loss was the last blow. With her being a little over a century old, she could live for many more decades as only a shell of her former self.
Would I become like her after being married to Baron Elgord for a while? The thought horrified me as I passed my aunt. I gave her a small smile, butshe didn’t see it with her gaze locked on some point ahead of her. We passed like silent ships in the night.
Before I knew it, I was at Rynn’s door. Briauna opened it and gestured me inside. My cousin was asleep on her bed, making low keening sounds. The sight of her broke my heart. I sat on the edge of the mattress and picked up her left hand, noting that the black now covered all her fingers. A quick check of her feet proved they were also almost entirely darkened. Two days ago, only her fingertips and toes had shown any signs.
“I give her no more than a week,” Briauna said quietly.
My world was falling apart in more ways than one. Rynn lay there, deathly ill with all the life and vitality taken from her, and my only option to save her was to turn to my enemy. “Do you really think there is a chance Darrow will help us?”
The healer sighed. “Yes, though he’ll want something in return.”
“Of course,” I agreed. The Veronnian wouldn’t do it out of the goodness of his black, murderous heart. “But what? I don’t have nearly enough gold to bribe him or much of anything valuable that I can give.” I refused to consider some of the precious items of my mother’s that I’d inherited after her death, since I didn’t dare allow those to get into the wrong hands.
“You have your gift,” Briauna said, coming to stand by me and rubbing my shoulders.
She already knew about my engagement and was sorry for me, though she couldn’t do anything about it, either. We were both so powerless when it came to our stations in life. She was a distant cousin with one highborn parent and one lowborn, leaving her somewhere in the middle regarding fae ranking.
I gave her a questioning look. “You mean offer to open portals for Darrow?”
“Why not?” She shrugged. “Just stipulate your conditions on when and where, but I’m certain he has no one half as powerful as you in his land. It’ll be a generous offer.”
I let out a hysterical laugh. “If he doesn’t kill me before I can propose the idea.”
“He won’t,” she said confidently.
“How would you know?” I asked.
“I only saw him once briefly when he was a very young man, and I can’t say I could judge him from that meeting alone, but I know my sister. He wouldn’t be her favorite if he were all bad. There must be some decency in him, and he didn’t kill you the other day—that’s a good sign.”
Oh, yes. If a man doesn’t kill you at first sight, they must have a good heart.
I lifted my brows. “We were too far apart from each other for him to kill me.”
“From the stories I’ve heard, he can kill anyone he sees clearly, using his power.”
“But he lifted me high into the air.” I tugged on my braid. “And manipulated my hair around me like it was child’s play, but he didn’t hurt me, so I assumed he couldn’t.”
“You’re alive because he chose to keep you so,” Briauna said, shaking her head.
Could she be right? I’d been so certain that he wanted me dead and simply couldn’t do the deed from a distance. Then again, how hard would it have been to break one neck from half a mile if he could pick up six men at once from fifty feet away? I still wasn’t sure.
“I suppose I have nothing to lose by trying.” It wasn’t the worst-case scenario if Darrow killed me, considering I wouldn’t have to marry the baron. He’d be saving me from a horrible fate.
