He helped her dismount, and she staggered to the nearest tree, bracing herself against it while her body remembered how to be still.The nausea passed slowly, leaving her shaky and embarrassed.
"I'm fine," she said before he could ask."Just—the motion.I'm not used to it."
Chinedu, still in Ragnar's arms, sniffled."Is the Akwaugo sick?"
"No."She straightened, forcing composure back into her spine."The Akwaugo is perfectly well."She gagged."We should return."
They found Nnenna at the edge of the forest, wild-eyed and frantic, surrounded by servants who had clearly been searching.The moment she saw Chinedu, she broke into a run.
"My baby!"
Chinedu tumbled into her arms, and for a long moment there was only the sound of a mother weeping and a child's hiccupping sobs.
When Nnenna finally looked up, her eyes landed on Azul, and her body froze.
"The Great Khan saved him," Azul said evenly.
Nnenna's arms tightened around her son, heart thumping."I—I don't know how to thank you."
"Keep him close.Don’t let this happen a third time."
A third time.
Nnenna's face twisted, fear washing over her features as she found herself unable to keep looking into her eyes.
Azul turned away; she had a feeling the Third Wife would not visit her courtyard anymore.
Ragnar walked her back to the shrine.He didn't ask why she didn't return to the hunt, why she needed to lie down, or why her hands were still shaking slightly.He just walked beside her, leading his horse, silent and steady.
When they reached the courtyard, he stopped.
Azul watched him take it in properly for the first time—the weathered stone, the sagging roof, the faded hangings visible through open windows.The desolation compared to the rest of the palace must’ve shocked him.
"This is where you live," he said.Not a question.
"Yes."
He was quiet for a long moment."You're to be my Khatun, and they put you here?"
She shrugged."It's far from the main palace.They don't have to look at me."
He turned to face her."How did this happen?"
Which part?She almost asked.The isolation?The starvation?The attempts on my life?But she knew what he was asking.
"The Igwe needed a substitute for his daughter—the real princess is...too sick to marry.I am the right age and appearance.So they bought me, gave me a title, and put me here."She wished to twirl, but another wave of nausea hit her."Now I’m stuck here until I get married."
Ragnar's expression was unreadable behind his mask.
"The night I was drugged," she continued, "the man who you killed was sent by the Ugoeze.He was supposed to find me helplessly willing.Then she'd have proof I was a whore.The marriage would collapse.I'd be executed.Perhaps my awful fate started when I was destined to marry you."
Ragnar’s fists clenched.The idea of her being this unwilling to marry him if not for her precious position had crossed his mind on the journey here, but he hadn’t felt so oddly guilty about it till now."When our contract is over," his words were stiff, "and you have fulfilled your debt… I will let you leave.I did not realise you would despise the idea of being my wife so deeply."
Azul smiled at him, and his eyes drew away from her lips."My Lord, I don’t think you realised no woman is crazy enough to want to wed you.Your reputation as the Punishment of God instills fear in all men, women included.It is a famous saying that a warlord’s wife is a hostage by another name; she is a symbol of conquest.Her home is a war camp, her life bound to violence, abuse, and absence.Only slaves or the utterly desperate marry warlords.It is not a burden any father who loved his daughter would wish upon her without absolute necessity."
He flinched; a minute tightening could be seen around his eyes.His fists clenched at his sides, the leather of his gloves creaking.He could not argue.It was the truth of what he was: a man whose home was the saddle and whose legacy was written in the blood of battlefields.The alliance had seemed strategic: to obtain a wife, to establish a safe trading route, to avoid Sisi.There was no drawback to marrying a Borjigin princess.He had not considered the human cost to the woman who would become its linchpin.
"And do you…" he started, stopped, then forced the words out."Do you see only the warlord?"
