AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The shocking question stuttered my breath. “W-what?”
“I want your commitment, your devotion, your vow to remain by my side. To return to it, should anything ever separate us.”
I snapped my mouth shut and draped an arm over my breasts, the room suddenly cooler. What a piss-poor proposal was this? He wanted me as his wife? But… why?
“You’ve gone mad.”
His stare on me didn’t waver. “Do this, and I shall rot the girl.”
Brittle silence stretched between us.
My mind wandered to Anna. To the little boy born on a full moon. Every child I’d ever held, pressing them against me as if they were my own, even if only for the first seconds of their lives.
I was doomed to serve Enosh for eternity, no matter what. The god wanted my damn vow? What difference would it make to me? Was my pride worth more than gaining rest for even one child? No, but I couldn’t help but wonder just how much this vow was worth to a god.
Three deep breaths bought me the resemblance of the boldness it took to negotiate with one. “And if I agree to become your wife, will you also rot John?”
“However much your determination to see the vow to your husband fulfilled pleases me… I won’t.” Whatever firmness his voice had held at first, in the end, it frayed like threadbare cloth. “I made a vow.”
“So did I. Sounds like a predicament to me. An impasse.”
Where I expected another shout, the muscles in his jaws merely hardened. A strange energy coursed through me, one reserved for the women who held their husband’s attention, instead of being threatened with the whorehouse. The fact that Enosh thought on my words gave me a sense of… of value? What was this god willing to do to secure my vow? God’s bones, was it truly possible I held sway over him?
“It’s a terrible deal.” I held his stare. “One child for a vow until death do us part to a man undying?”
Enosh gave a weak scoff. “Are you negotiating with a god?”
“I’m negotiating my bride price with the man who wants to marry me.” A breath of courage. “No more collars and chains.”
“The chain goes, the collar stays. You look stunning with it.”
Oh, whatever. “No chains. You’ll never twist my legs again. I want a decent room.”
“You’ll have it. All of it.”
My heart stumbled over the next beat, upper body drawing away as I stared at him in mute shock. That… was easier than I’d anticipated.
Clearly, I hadn’t demanded enough.
“That’s not all,” I continued, emboldened by this reckless sense of having value to someone, even if it was the damn devil. “You’ll rot John. In addition, I want to leave the Pale Court once a day at least for a little—”
“Absolutely not.”
“The first or the latter?”
“Latter. Now that I’ve been sighted, people will gossip, plan, and scheme. That I have been demoted from god to king beyond one gate doesn’t bode well for the others.”
He had a point there. “Every other week—”
“Once every fortnight for a brief time, and only in my presence.”
“Fair enough.” I could give him that, but not without adjusting my own demand. “Also, you told me on our way here that you can distinguish between people when you spread rot. I want you to do it for the children. Any corpse under the age of twelve beyond the Æfen Gate.”
“Out of the question!”
“But—”
“I do not rest the wicked!”
