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CHAPTER 8
Iwas sitting upright in my bed, my arms wrapped tightly around my legs. It was late, and the fire in the fireplace crackled loudly. Tomorrow, I expected my father’s remains to arrive with a large escort and Malick the physician. I might finally get more answers, and yet the timing could not have been worse. Tomorrow was also the most important day of my life as a queen.
The crowning.
My head was spinning just thinking about all of it. Seeing my father’s body again, listening to the doctor’s nauseating experiments on him, all while fighting my way through the largest festival since my birth. I’d heard that Gunther was lamenting the fact that my poor father would be forced to wait for his rest until after the crowning to anyone who would listen.
I shook my head in despair. Things were going from worse to catastrophic by the day.
I had to find a way to prove the rebels’ innocence in the murder of my father. Not only for my and Alrick’s sakes, but my father’s as well. He had gone out of his way to help end this war, even in the form of an alliance by marriage. How could I just let him and all these people down?
A faint knocking sound caught my attention. It came from the window. I briefly glanced at it but saw only darkness.
Just the wind.
Then a dark shadow emerged, right in front of my window. I was about to scream my lungs out for my guards when I recognized the outline of the shadow. The shape of the head and chest...
“Alrick,” I muttered in shock and stumbled out of bed toward the window. The closer I got, the clearer his features became. His face, nose, and chin. My whole body tingled with hot excitement.If this is a dream, please don’t let me wake up!
I tore the window open and grabbed him by his shoulders as he climbed through. The moment he was on his feet, I threw myself into his arms. He squeezed me against his chest as his face buried into the side of my neck.
“Alrick!”
“By the gods, I missed you so damn much,” he mumbled against my skin. I placed my hands on his neck as I leaned back to look at him—his charming smile. I pressed my lips against his. Gentle at first, slowly growing more passionate, then soft again.
“I thought you had forgotten about me,” I whispered in between kisses. He tasted of wine and fruit.
Alrick pulled away. “Forget about you? Are you mad?” He sounded serious. “I think of nothing else but you. Day and night. Like a fool bewitched by an elf.”
“Then why didn’t you write? I sent several letters. Did you not receive them?” I sounded a little more accusing than I wanted to. But then again, I really had suffered from his weeks of silence.
“I received them, but it was too dangerous for me to answer. I heard that King Algar has made a powerful ally in the South. We aren’t certain who it is, but we know the man is a member of your church and might already reside at your castle or in the capital nearby.”
I pinched my lips. “Gunther.”
Grabbing Alrick’s hand, I walked over to the couch next to the fire and sat down. He sat beside me. I gently ran my hand over his cheek. He looked fabulous. A little tired, but the black leather doublet and pants brought out the color of his eyes like a spark at night. He was so close, I just wanted to kiss him again and again and run my hand down his chest...and everywhere else.
“Gunther? Is that his name?” Alrick asked. “The rat?”
I pushed the thoughts of his body out of my head and nodded.
“How dangerous is he? Do we need to worry about him?”
My eyes dropped to my hand in his. His warm thumb gently rubbed over my palm. It made me feel wonderful little prickles all over my skin.
“My people believe our god speaks through him.”
Alrick tilted his head curiously. “Does he truly hold such immense powers?”
It was adorable how a grown man of war held such strong beliefs in the supernatural, including that of a god he didn’t even worship.
“No. If my god really exists, he would never communicate through a power-hungry, evil, and perverted man like Gunther. A few years back, I overheard my father yell at Gunther that if he ever dared to imprison and torture a woman based on the accusations of witchcraft again, he’d do the same to him. The torture of women is outlawed, and witchcraft is legal in my kingdom. It has nothing to do with the devil. It’s about medicine and a woman’s knowledge of nature.”
“I see.” Alrick frowned. “So our enemy is a cruel man that, in the eyes of your people, holds powers slightly below that of a god?”
I nodded.
“That could be a very big problem.” Alrick sighed.
