Page 133 of One True Love (Love Mark 1)

“Hush,” he murmured, smoothing my hair. “Everything will be okay.” He climbed off me and stood before holding down a hand to help me up as well. “Just knowing you actually want to be with me is enough.”

“It may be enough for you,” I answered moodily as I brushed sand off my skirts. “But I want it all.”

His laugh was full of joy. “Greedy woman,” he teased, sifting his fingers over my arm to help me dust off more sand I had missed. “Don’t you see we do have it all? I just learned I have your heart. What more is there? We love each other. No one can steal that from us.”

I paused to look up at him. His eyes were warm and happy, and I couldn’t help but experience some of that emotion with him.

“You’re right,” I said. With a grin, I swept some sand off his cheek, and a warmth glowed from inside me. “Knowing I have your heart can keep the hope alive, the hope that someday I can show you physically how much I treasure you.”

“And until then.” Urban winked. “We still have—”

“The dreams,” we said in unison.

When a resounding wail of a horn echoed across the land, we both frowned at each other until our eyes sprang open wide with panic.

“Is that…?” I started.

Only for Urban to finish, “The royal alarm.”

Oh, no. There was trouble at the castle.

“Shit,” he hissed, grasping my hand. “This can’t be good.”

“Do you think the bearer of dark magic has struck again?” I asked, my limbs trembling with sudden anxiety.

Anniston, Nicolette, Yasmin, all the men were still up there, inside the iron walls.

Urban shot me a worried glance. “I don’t know, but we need to get back. Right now.”

We ran the entire way, out of breath and panting by the time we reached the secret door in the woods. Through the dark of the tunnel under the moat, we rushed until we were able to hear the muffled long, wailing moan of the warning horn as soon as Urban rolled the door open into the wine cellar. He helped me out of the tunnel in the dark and closed the door behind us. It didn’t even occur to me to hide the fact we’d been together as we raced toward the Throne Room side by side to find out what had happened.

“What’s going on?” Urban demanded as we sailed past the guards there, without waiting to be announced, and burst through the doorway together.

Everyone was already present: the king, queen, Soren, Allera, Brentley, Nicolette, everyone. They turned to us, their expressions more worried than suspicious. Not even Soren seemed to care that I’d arrived with Urban.

“We received a pigeon message from the kingdom of Far Shore,” Caulder announced solemnly, holding up a tiny rolled piece of paper. “They’ve stolen from us.”

“Far Shore?” Urban repeated, shaking his head over such a random place.

I looked up at him, only to glance back at Caulder. “What did they take?”

No one answered at first. When they all looked away, dread coiled in my stomach. “What did they take?” I asked more insistently.

Immediately, I catalogued what was most important to me. Everyone in the room, grandfather, Elliott. I knew they were all safe, everyone except for—

Oh God.

“They took our daughter,” Soren grated out.

I blinked, staring at him, and then shook my head. Because… “What?” I rasped. “No. She… She’s…” She was fine. Anniston was fine. I’d left her with all that protection just this morning, just before I went to meet with Nanny Wynter. She’d cooed and smiled at me and gripped my fingers as I kissed her cheek and told her I’d be home soon.

But that had been hours ago. Probably too long. The longest I’d ever been away from her. My breasts were heavy and full of milk because of how long I’d been gone. I needed to go up to my room and feed her. She had to be up there, safe and sound, waiting. She couldn’t be…

I shook my head again, my equilibrium making my vision go light and faint.

“Vienne,” Urban said, reaching for me as his eyes widened in horror.

Except he never caught me. He only seemed to tip sideways, slipping away, before the world went dark.

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