Page 20 of Bride of Ash & Dust

Malrik laughs. It’s hard and sharp, like a dagger.

“Now,” he replies.

My mouth falls open. I close it. Malrik smiles at me like a fox smiles at a mouse.

“I hope you and your wife had a memorable night together,” he says, with a grin that tells me he knows perfectly well where I spent last night.

Gods, I feel sick. I force myself to come to my feet. My head feels like it’s being crushed in a vise.

“I’ll bid her farewell and be on my way,” I tell him, with a bow.

“You do that,” the king replies.

He waves his hand over his breakfast, and I am dismissed.

I walk to the kitchen, where I’m far from the first to beg a mug of willow bark tea from the harried cook, then through the gardens. By the time I work up the nerve to approach my quarters, the sun has climbed above the garden walls and the air holds the faintest promise of spring.

The door to my new quarters is slightly ajar. I wait in the hallway until a servant appears, holding the bedsheet with its reddish-brown bloodstain proudly displayed. Hussen, the priest who tied me to the princess of Marion for the rest of my life, emerges next.

He nods as he sees me. It’s a secret, proud sort of nod, like he’s congratulating me on a job well done. Hells, he was probably the one watching us last night from the secret passage behind the mirror. I clench my jaw against the bile rising in the back of my throat.

At least they’ll have no reason to send Lilias back to Marion now. Hussen will bring that bloody sheet to King Malrik as proof of my wife’s ruined virginity, and that should outweigh any secret whispers about her damned tutor.

Hussen leaves, slamming the door closed behind him. I stand in the empty hallway, alone with the dull throb of my hangover, until the desire to punch something recedes.

Chapter 13

Lilias

NO FRIENDS INSIDE THESE WALLS

“Are they done?” I whisper to Anura.

She nods, and I exhale with relief. Anura woke me up this morning with hot tea and buttered toast, then led me into the adjoining room for a hot bath. I panicked when I heard voices through the closed door, but Anura assured me they were just there to inspect the sheet.

Of course. Memories of last night come back in sharp flashes, like shards of broken glass. The snake on his knees, making the bed shake and squeal beneath him. The flash of his knife. The dark spread of blood on the sheet.

I was supposed to bleed. I had bled, a little, after the first time I pushed Blayne past the stopping point. But Blayne assured me that Prince Laurance of Ethiria wouldn’t care about such technicalities, that his kingdom had moved past the primitive custom of displaying the bloody sheet for the king’s approval.

I didn’t marry Laurance.

So why did the snake do that? Was it worth cutting his own skin to make the world think he’d consummated our marriage?

And why didn’t he want to consummate our marriage? What was so offensive about me and those stupid strips of red cloth? Why would he rather take a knife to himself than put his cock between my legs?

I climb out of the bath, which has gone cold, and wrap a towel around my body with trembling fingers. I feel raw and jagged, like I’ve been pulled too thin. I pull on a clean dressing gown, then sit on a bench before a mirror as Anura brushes my hair. I wonder if someone is on the other side of that mirror too, watching me in my dressing gown.

Well, at least the people examining the bed have gone.

Anura opens the door to the massive room with its massive bed, and I come to my feet to follow her. The bed has been neatly remade, the curtains drawn back, and the windows opened. A soft breeze carries the sound of birdsong into the room. Aside from the churn in my stomach and the weak tremble in my arms, it’s like last night never even happened.

Good. Let’s leave it like that.

Anura pulls out one of the dresses I brought from Marion, dark blue velvet with a high enough neckline that men look me in the eyes while I’m wearing it, and then she helps me slip it over my dressing gown. She’s quiet this morning, and I’m deeply grateful for her in a way I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to put into words. Just existing is hard enough right now; I couldn’t handle talking about it.

Anura finishes lacing up the back of the dress, and I turn to face my reflection in the massive mirror that’s apparently also a window. It’s strangely bolstering to be wearing something familiar again. I rub my hands against the skirt and remind myself that it’s not going to be like this forever.

My brother is coming. Blayne is coming. It won’t be just me and Anura in this horrible castle forever.