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Chapter One
Iwill never be free.
I have been chained for so long, I’m not sure I would know what to do with freedom. And now, I will never find out.
We’re nearly there now, my new prison.
Jokith.
Even the name sounds cold and brutal.
Just like its endless frozen landscape. Just like the rumors of its beastly king, the man I will soon belong to.
Tales of the seclusive warrior people run wild.
Whispers abound of how they drink blood from the skulls of their enemies, of the beasts they become on the battlefield and the bodies they leave torn in their wake.
I shiver at the thought. It will be interesting to navigate the facts from falsehoods.
It’s not like I had time to do any real research. Six hours. That’s how much notice I had before I left on a journey that would change my entire life.
Six hours to hear the barest details about this kingdom and its king, my soon-to-behusband.Six hours to sit perfectly still while my wedding markings were inked onto my arms and wrists, remnants of a culture I can hardly remember.
Then, eight solid days to dwell on all the goodbyes I didn’t get to say.
I want to scream.
None of this even makes sense. Arranged marriages haven’t been done in centuries, even in the Eastern Lands.
It’s not surprising that a king would marry a woman a third his age, but why one he’s never even met? For that matter, a man in his position should have his choice of brides. What prompted him to purchase a lady of middling importance from a neighboring kingdom?
Madame is persuasive, but surely even she has no influence over the Jokithan King...unless he truly is a barbarian, and all he wants is a bride he could use up and dispose of. Someone no one else would miss.
Icy tendrils edge slowly in through the window, and I can feel them winding their way throughout my body, down to my core. The handle on the carriage door mocks me with empty promises of escape.
Damian notices my glance from the seat across from me and gives me a cruel smirk. But it’s not Madame’s watchdog who keeps me from fleeing.
It’s not even the day-long trek back to the inn at Colby in my silken slippers and thin wedding ensemble. Truthfully, facing a blizzard with no clothes at all would be preferable to the future I’m hurtling toward.
The reasons I don’t flee are my sisters.
The few lady’s maids who were sent with me stare ahead with dead eyes and lifeless expressions. Even when they shiver and struggle to keep their seats in the jostling carriage, their faces remain neutral.
The only time they show any emotion at all is when they cringe after capturing Damian’s wandering eye.
He brushes his knee against mine, watching my face for any sign of the reaction I refuse to give him, though my skin crawls at each point of contact.
“This plan has been a long time in the making,” he says in the eerily calm tone he always uses. “Try not to ruin it.”
“Perhaps I would be more likely to succeed if Madame had seen fit to give me more than half a day’s notice,” I shoot back.
His features turn feral.
“Mother, you mean.”
I swallow a gag. She is not my mother. She’s not even my aunt, as the castle has been led to believe. She’s just the woman who took everything from me.
But for all that she bribes and tortures the rest of the world into submission, Damian follows her out of sheer devotion. In turn, she lets him off his leash to be a sadistic monster. Already, I fear for the ladies in the carriage when I leave.
