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“Surely that makes the Ragoru children of the Mother.”
“We are all children of the Mother, but some are favored, and others are but a tool to test us and ultimately be destroyed as we rise in Her favor,” Edwar stated coolly from the doorway.
“That is the stupidest, most ignorant thing I have ever heard,” Arie returned.
A dark shadow descended over Edwar’s face as he strode forward and wrapped his long fingers around her neck. He squeezed and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. She thrashed from side to side, her one free hand clawing at his fingers. A sadistic grin stretched over his lips as he watched her slowly suffocate. Black spots swam before her vision when he released her. She drew in a tortured breath as he leaned in closer so that his lips brushed her ear.
“You will learn to obey, wife. A woman who does not obey is one who is punished. Believe me when I say I can afflict great punishment on you without leaving a mark where anyone in passing will see it.”
Edwar stood up and fixed his red marital jacket, his smile once again one of cool charm. “Get her ready,” he directed the maids. “The ceremony will begin upon the hour. Now if you will excuse me, Lady Vera, I have things to see to before the joining.”
He bowed low and Arie watched her grandmother flush with pleasure and curtsy as he strode by. She was still smiling at the closed door when one of the maids cleared her throat.
“Yes, what is it?” Vera snapped.
“Ma’am, it would be easier to get ready if the miss was unshackled,” the maid whispered, her eyes firmly on the ground.
Vera sighed. “I suppose we must release the little beast if we are going to get anywhere today.” She left no doubt in Arie’s mind exactly what her grandmother thought of her if she hadn’t had a good idea already. In her grandmother’s mind, she was no better than an animal.
Arie couldn’t help but ask, “Why do you call me that? I am not a beast. I am your granddaughter. I would have thought my own grandmother would have had some compassion and caring for me.”
Her grandmother halted at her bedside; her lips pinched together angrily. “You are the unwanted spawn of the mongrel of a man who joined with my daughter against my wishes. The only saving grace is that you were born a woman instead of a man, and therefore of some use to me. I have been celebrated for all the sons I have born when sons are rare, but among all women there is only you who is Lady Anwar. That you chose to mate and breed with monsters makes it clear that you are as much an unnatural creature as that thing within your womb, but at least I still have a use for you.”
Arie met her grandmother’s pitiless eyes. There was not a hint of softness in them, at that moment they looked as hard as chips of onyx. In those depths, an image flashed. Arie saw her grandmother standing alone, and all around her the sons she’d born lay dead, with nothing but her own sorrow for company. Arie shook her head. “You are a hateful woman, Grandmother. I almost pity you, because at the end of all things you will have nothing except the graves of your progeny stretched out all around you.”
Vera froze and then her face twisted. “Cruel, awful girl. You would wish something like that upon me?”
“Perhaps in truth I am your granddaughter then, for any cruelty must surely have been bred true since you are the epitome of it, with every action you have done against my person.”
“If not for me, you would have been taken to the village and sentenced. You should be grateful for my intercession.”
“I am not so certain that would have been a worse fate!”
Arie watched her grandmother’s face go rigid.
“You get whatever fate you deserve, girl. Now get you will get ready if I have to have the guards hold you down while I dress you myself,” she snarled as she pulled a key out of her pocket and approached the bed.
The guards by the door instantly became alert, no doubt instructed to take extra caution once she was released. Arie smiled grimly at the thought. With a twist of the key the shackle released, and she rubbed the feeling back into her wrist as she stood. She steeled herself as the maids approached, her eyes never leaving the crimson dress that seemed to shine as an unhappy beacon.
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
Rager looked up at the large dwelling in the fading light of the day. He marveled at the human excess that felt such a den was necessary, but he couldn’t ignore its grandeur, just as he couldn’t ignore the comforts of the human Citadel. While he knew from Arie that life in the sanctuary villages wasn’t one of ease, he wondered if their mate would even willingly leave the Citadel for the simple life of their den. Warol jabbed him with both of his left-side elbows, pulling him out of his morose thoughts.
His brother nodded his head at the high wall in front of them. It had taken absurdly little work to leap the property fence, and although the den itself seemed to reach into the heavens, Rager knew it would take little effort to scale. His task was to infiltrate from a higher window to descend upon the ceremony while the Guild burst through the doorway with Warol and Kyx. They would effectively have the huntsmen trapped between them. He only had to make sure he wasn’t seen.
That was why it was his job. Although light spilled from the windows, his dark coloring would conceal him well in the shadows as he made the climb.
“I still think I should accompany you,” Warol muttered, his yellow eyes narrowing to slits as he looked up at the higher window.
“We both know why that is a bad idea,” Rager said, tugging at his brother’s silvery scruff. “You will be too visible.”
Warol chuffed without humor. “And I won’t be coming through the front door?”
“That part of the plan doesn’t rely on subterfuge. You will be the necessary distraction while I move down to locate our mate.”
His brother bared his teeth, clearly affronted to be regulated to “the distraction,” but it couldn’t be helped. Rager began to scale the stone walls of the human den, ignoring the four gleaming yellow eyes watching him from below. The Guild had sent their own to scout the den, providing valuable intel on the structure they called “the mansion.” It was with this information in mind that he climbed until he reached the first roof. He crouched, observing the window just below the upper roof that led to what the Guild had called the fourth-floor attic.
