Page 114 of White Raven

Once again, my world flipped over.

I could not speak, my stomach knotting in terror as my mind still scrambled to understand what was before me.

“You like, my queen?” King Helvig smirked.

On my right was my current husband, and down below was my betrothed . . .

Brynden.

CHAPTER 25

My knees bowed, the blow to my system after the rush of ecstasy just moments earlier quivering my legs. I choked in the tainted air, my mind trying desperately to put the pieces together.

“White Raven,” Brynden addressed me, his head bowing. “I knew I would find you.”

Brynden Blaxhall. The man whom, if Onyx hadn’t stepped in, I would be married to. Living a simple life in his village as his wife, possibly already pregnant with his child.

A shiver crept up my spine at the notion. That life, that version of me, was as foreign as this land, as though it was never my fate. I didn’t mourn it, didn’t wish for it instead, yet my life here was in peril at every moment.

My attention shot to Gavric. “What is he doing here?”

“I thought you would like your gift.” A smug smile widened his mouth. “A little touch of home.”

“Let him go.”

“Now why would I do that?” King Helvig stepped up to me, the scent of wine wafting heavily off him. “A little birdy told me he was who your father sold you off to marry.”

I fought to hide my flinch, the truth in his statement. Grinding my teeth, I didn’t look away. “I think of Morrigan more as a rat.”

The king grinned at my comment, his inebriated gaze sparking with my challenge.

“Call it jealousy, but I wanted to meet the young man my wife was intended for,” he muttered to me, brushing strands of my hair back as if he were a loving husband. “Especially since he came so far to claim you back, my dove.”

“What?” My attention shot down to Brynden, his gaze going back and forth between me and the king, his expression a mix of confusion and determination.

“He came to rescue you, like some dreary prince,” the king replied snidely. “He was quite insistent.”

“My father sent you?” I swung to Brynden, hope blooming in my chest.

“I volunteered, my White Raven.” Brynden dipped his head at me. “I told him I would bring you back home.”

“Isn’t that romantic?” Gavric wrapped his arm around me from behind, his tongue dragging up my neck in a clear display. “A knight in shining armor. He must really love you.”

“Don’t touch her!” Brynden snapped, wrestling against his guards’ hold as if he could fight them all.

“My father sent no one else?” I asked.

“No one,” the king purred in my ear. “I had my Night Hunters track and search all day for any others. He came all alone.”

I swallowed.

“I told our fathers I would not give up until I got you back,” Brynden stated firmly. Everything about him came off as naïve and simple. “Bring you home safe. And then we could marry.”

King Helvig’s laughter filled the room. He saw what I did—Brynden was a foolish man.

The flutter of hope singed to ash, dropping dead in my stomach. My father was brilliant and strategic. He would never send in someone so untrained and imprudent to retrieve me alone.

Brynden was being used as a pawn in a game of chess.