Ella gave a twitchy nod — that was truth, he had been wrong, in too many ways — and he nodded too, strong, fervent. “I shall understand,” he continued, his voice hitching, “should you wish to never forgive me, or again see me, or even speak to me. But I shall never stop missing you, or dreaming of you, or longing for you in the night. I shallneverstop loving you, my sweet lass.”
It was truth, stark and bare in his eyes, and he gulped for breath, blinking hard. “And I shall never fail you thus again,” he gasped, “I shall never again hurt you or harm you or betray you. I made a pledge to you, and I shall keep it, as you kept yours to me. I shall keep yousafe. I swear this to you, with my whole soul. From henceforth,always.”
Ella couldn’t speak, but it was truth, shouting from his eyes to hers, streaming power in its wake. Natt meant this, with his whole soul.
“You shall be mine,” he continued, hoarse, vehement. “You shall always be mine, and I shall be yours. And we shall laugh and run and play together, and I shall speak only truth to you. I shall show this to you, I shall please you, I shall teach you I can learn this lesson. If you should grant me trust once more, I shall guard it always. I pledge this to you. As your Speaker, and your friend, and your mate.”
He was fully weeping now, the wetness streaking down his scarred face, but his glittering eyes were still here, still bright, still true. Ella’s Speaker, her friend, hermate. Speaking a new pledge, before all these watching eyes.
And Ella believed him.
She felt herself nodding, nodding, saying yes,yes— and there was a hoarse, growling sob from Natt’s throat. And then a sudden, jolting burst of movement, of heat, as his powerful arms clutched Ella close again, wrapping around her, squeezing so tight she thought she might break.
“Ach,” he whispered, thick into her ear. “My brave, lovely lass. Who sees me, and speaks truth to me — and hassavedme, this day. I love you more than aught else upon this earth. My own Ella, of Clan Grisk.”
Ella was gulping into his neck, her entire body clinging to him, dragging in the warm powerful safety of him — when behind them there was a telltale sound. A voice. Alfred’s voice.
“Howdareyou beasts do this to alord,” it was insisting, and when Ella finally angled her blinking eyes to look, Alfred was sitting up, rubbing at his head, and then spitting out one of histeeth. “This is utterlyunconscionable. Do you fools not realize you’ve just broken your treaty, and broughtextinctionupon your doorstep? Do you not realize that at this very moment, half this realm’s provinces are coming together to prepare forwaragainst you?!”
He spoke with a cruel, malicious satisfaction, sending a sudden tension flaring through Natt’s body against Ella — but across the way Grimarr had raised a meaningful hand toward Natt, and gave a hard shake of his shaggy head.
“We have broken naught,” Grimarr said, his deep voice radiating power. “As my brother says, we have used reasonable force to prevent a woman’s being taken against her will. This is all.”
“Reasonable force my ass,” Alfred hissed back. “You will pay for this, you great lout. You’ve just given me so much cause for war that even your fool ally Otto won’t be able to deny it. Which means, after today, I’ll have the combined armies of six wholeprovincesat my back. Thousands uponthousandsof men. Ready to slaughter youall.”
A hard jolt of fear chased down Ella’s back, but behind Grimarr Jule had rolled her eyes, and stalked out from behind him. “Oh, don’t be a fool, Alfred,” she snapped. “No one’s going to war over this — most of all Otto, when you haven’t given him any actual reason to risk his hide, or his coin. You haven’t been seriously hurt, and you’re the one who’s blatantly breaking your own laws, before dozens of witnesses. We’ve been trailing you ever since you left the mountain, and we heardeverything.”
“Ooooh,orc witnesses,” Alfred snapped back. “And the word of a few compromised women, against the sworn statements of all these well-born, well-spoken men. Who do you think gets heard in this scenario?”
Jule briefly closed her eyes, looking visibly pained, and turned toward Grimarr. “Can we just kill him? Please? I really think Nattfarr could make quite a show of it for us.”
Alfred shot a rather gratifying look of sheer terror toward Natt, who was already baring his teeth, his growl vibrating through his chest — but Grimarr slowly shook his head, entirely unmoved. “We have one more witness, whose word ought to weigh well against yours,” he said. “Olarr?”
Everyone seemed to look around at once — and there, indeed, back near the trees, stood the massive Bautul battle-captain Olarr. And standing beside him, his handsome face wholly unreadable, was aman.
The man only came up to perhaps Olarr’s chin, but that meant he was very large for a man, and his broad, muscular form wore well-fitted riding-clothes, his dark head bared to the sun above. And he was someone Alfred clearly knew at a glance, judging by the way his body twitched, his hands clenching tight into the mud beneath him.
“I am Aulis Gerrard, right hand to Duke Warmisham of Preia,” the new man said, his deep voice carrying. “I have answered Lord Tovey’s summons to this council at Khandor on the Duke’s behalf, and I wished to, ah” — his eyes betrayed a brief, telling glance toward Olarr’s bulk beside him — “review how matters here stood for myself. And I can confirm, Lord Tovey” — he gave a sharp, disapproving glance toward Alfred’s muddy form — “all that you have said and done here today.”
Alfred was looking even more aggrieved than before, while Jule glanced back and forth between the newcomer and Alfred with an expression of pure glee lighting her face. “Oh, DukeWarmisham,” she drawled toward Alfred. “I’m sure he’ll be delighted to hear all about this from his mostdeeplytrusted general. Especially when the Duke has been so generous to your lord father these past months, given your straitened financial situation? Though I did hear some talk of excessive debts owed, and expectations of imminent repayment, but” — Jule thoughtfully tapped her chin with a finger — “surely that’s all past now?”
Alfred gave a visible grimace, his slim shoulders rising and falling — and without warning, he lurched up onto his unsteady feet, staggering sideways. And then weaving around to limp toward Natt and Ella — which immediately prompted Natt to set Ella to her feet, and ease his big form in front of her.
“Indeed,” Alfred said, the word sounding thick and slurred, and Ella was unnerved to see that it was because he now seemed to be missing both his front teeth. “In truth, this is all just a foolish misunderstanding, isn’t it, Ella darling? I was only trying to rescue you from these vicious orcs. I was trying to keep yousafe.”
Ella gave an unladylike snort, and glared at Alfred over Natt’s shoulder. “You wanted no such thing,” she shot back. “You were trying to force me to marry you. And failing that, you were trying tokillme, and use my body as a justification forwar.”
Alfred gave her an alarming, toothless smile, and lurched a step closer. “Again, a misunderstanding, darling,” he said. “I was only looking out for your future. If you don’t marry a man of standing within the next three weeks, you’re about to loseeverything.”
He kept giving that awful smile, and there was a vicious, vindictive satisfaction in his blazing eyes. “You’ll lose your inheritance,” he hissed. “Your father’s house. Your precious ancestralhome.”
Ella winced, but Alfred only came a step closer, still giving that horrible smile. “And without all that,” he said, “I guarantee you thatthey” — he gave a clumsy wave at the orcs all around — “disappear too.Hedisappears.”
He meant Natt, eyeing him now with a pure, triumphant hatred — and Ella quashed down the surge of whispering doubt, and raised her chin. “Natt,” she said, “do you care about my inheritance? The truth, if you please.”
Because this was a truth they’d never spoken of before, something that had never seemed to come up — and in this moment, Ella realized that she hadn’t wanted to bring it up. That she’d been afraid of what Natt’s answer might be.
But Natt’s hard, purposeful eyes had immediately snapped back to hers, without the slightest hint of hesitation or unease. “Your hoard means naught to me,” he said flatly, “beyond what it means to you. It belongs to you, by rights. No one else.”
