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Ah, there was that bite again.
Adorable.
I rewarded it with a kiss to her temple. “Duty. Vow. Oath.”
She used those words often.
All things she remained faithful to over a husband tossing in the ground with each full moon. And all it had taken was a ridiculous vow before a priest who worshipped a god who didn’t exist? For all the things I understood of Ada’s flesh, her soul eluded me, as was my nature.
My woman cared little for dresses finer than those of any queen, the rich food I provided for her sustenance, or the diamond set into her collar. How refreshingly honest this midwife was compared to the titled stock of lords and ladies who painted their lips as though it would hide the lies they spoke. As Njala had…
But not my Ada.
No, my little one marked the bone, barraged through my corpses, tried to escape my kingdom, and snarled at me whenever her lips didn’t tremble with a moan. She pledged nothing but her hatred; she swore nothing but her escape. And now she even refused to make me promises she knew she wouldn’t keep?
That made a promise from her mouth valuable, indeed.
So trustworthy, I longed to kiss one from her lips. I wanted to taste her commitment to remain by my side. How blessed that bastard of a husband was to have a woman who, even in death, honored her vows. And what if I wanted her to make such a vow to me? Ought I to take her as my wife?
Mmm. Lots of temples between here and the Pale Court…
I stroked over her belly that would swell with my child soon enough. “Your flesh is perfectly imperfect.”
And I longed for it almost as passionately as I ached for the devotion and dutifulness she’d stood by all this time. For the wrong reasons, yes, but with admirable resolve, nonetheless.What did a husband do with a wife, anyway? So many customs in so many places, all equally confusing.
“People are staring.” Her neck shortened as she curled herself against me in a poor attempt at hiding her face. “Devil be damned, you had to ride in on a dead horse with white eyes and give me a damn feather dress, right?”
I willed my mare up an incline, avoiding the farmers and merchants who moved grains and goods along the road. Their mumbles followed us as long as their stares, sparking restlessness in my core.
“Hold on,” I said, once more spurring my mare into a canter, eager to return to the safety of the Pale Court, but there was the issue with my woman’s exhausted flesh.
We didn’t slow until the first bellows drifted on the wind, along with the bitter fumes of burnt oil. Each time metal clashed against metal, my little mortal retreated deeper into my arms.
I quite liked it.
Then the bellows turned to screams. Screams to deafening battle roars that manifested in nothing short of bloodlust, which swept through the lines of soldiers like a flood of rage. Axes hacked into flesh and crushed bones, pikes scratched along metal until they found their way into guts.
Wounded scattered the ground, screaming in pain, some dragging themselves over the dirt toward their severed limb. Oh, mortals and their frail bodies… fighting over creeks, riches, titles, only to end up as food for the crows.
Flames crackled where they’d lit the ground on fire, smoke rising in raven-black billows. On instinct, I steered away from it, but the stench of my charred flesh already crept into my nostrils.
“This is awful,” Ada mumbled when, far ahead of us, a soldier thrust a sword into another’s belly.
When I spotted Yarin, clad in leather armor with a sword in his hand, I rode up to him. “Blending in?”
“I don’t have corpses to come to my defense, should I need it.” The God of Whispers winked at my woman in that certainty he had around females, knowing their every thought. “I’m afraid you missed the part where they set the oil-soaked ground on fire and burned hundreds, brother. A coincidence… or immaculate planning?”
“Mortal needs slowed our travel. Mark the corpses you want raised.”
“You’ve only just arrived.” Yarin sheathed his sword. “Maybe a stroll along the nearby creek, Ada?”
“Your brother broke my legs.”
“Twisted,” I corrected, but Ada stiffened against me as he undoubtedly poisoned her mind with his whispers. “You won’t blend in anymore if I raise the dead and send them after you faster than you can shift into your realm.”
“I only said that I’m surprised you didn’t snap her neck yet.” At the pinching of my lips, Yarin’s curled into a smirk. “The dead never run from you, and you seem oh-so desperate to keep her.”
“Point out the four bodies.”
