AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He had a point there, but… “Is there no healer I can go to?”
“Sure. If you prefer to walk across the castle looking as if you barely escaped the henhouse, then suit yourself,” he said with annoyance in his tone. “I’m offering you my help. Take it, or stop bleeding all over my room and get out.”
My muscles tensed. Compared to Malyr, Sebian seemed to be the lesser evil, but he was still a Raven.The one who’d captured me.I couldn’t forget that. Neither could I risk infection, allowing these wounds to turn into something even more gruesome. Besides, if I wanted to avoid public humiliation and a stain on the name of my house, I hardly had a choice.
I undid the topmost ribbon on the front of my dress, pulling the fabric until the weeping wound lay generously exposed. “Oh, gods… how could he do this to me?”
“Did he piss over it after?”
That Sebian needed no clarification on whohewas told me this kind of viciousness hadn’t been out of Malyr’s character. “No.”
“Then it could’ve been worse.”
“Malyr mutilated me. Marked me with… with…”
Gods, I couldn’t even tell with all this blood. What would Prince Domren say? Too much was at stake to break our betrothal over it, but what if I would appall him? What if he could never trulywantme like this?
“Life marks us all in one way or another.” Sebian dunked the cloth into the water. “The only scars truly ugly are usually the ones on the inside, anyway.”
Spoken like a true commoner who had the freedom to overlook such blemishes. Nobody cared about my insides unless it pertained to the regularity of my menses, and even then—
I flinched back on a gasp. “Your hand…”
Elevated scars webbed across his digits, his knuckles, and the gaps between them, enclosing valleys of dark ochre. The disfigurement reached all the way up to his wrist, then disappeared under the sleeve of his shirt. I hadn’t noticed it the day he’d grabbed me. How much of his body was covered in these hideous patches of wrinkled flesh?
“Burn marks.” He pressed the cloth against my sternum, droplets of water running down along my wound. “Best take a long hard look, sweetheart, because it’ll be a common sight in this castle.”
My insides convulsed. “Why?”
“Same reason Tidestone has weighted net catapults, catching our unkindness if we fly up too closely. Keeping us on the ground, with no chance of escape, makes for easier targets. Birds with feathers singed to the roots fly poorly, if they still fly at all.” He gingerly dabbed the cloth over the cut, and whatever he’d added to the water or the tea or both made the sting tolerable. “Your father has quite the fondness for setting us ablaze.”
Which I fully supported, but telling him so would hardly gain me answers as to why I was here. If this Raven bothered to care for my wounds, how likely was it that he would tell me? Only one way of finding out.
I took a deep breath. “Why do you hold me prisoner?”
“Prisoners don’t get fresh clothes, warm meals, and long soaks in a tub. I daresay you’re ourguest.”
“Guests don’t get carved up, but I’ll humor you. Why am I your guest? You want something from my father for my return, don’t you?”
His vibrant eyes found mine for a second before a bemused smirk curled his full lips. “Figured that out, huh?”
Tension left my muscles.
At last, good news.
“What is it? Gold? A truce?”
“Your father is holding one of our own in his dungeons. We want an exchange of prisoners.”
“That was a very ill way to pronounceguests.”
A chuckle. “You’ve got a mouth on you. Lots of ways to put that to good use, so I like it. Malyr does not. Better mind your tongue around him.”
Said mouth turned dry when my brain finally caught up with what he’d just said. What if this Raven prisoner was too crucial in this war for me to measure up in value?
But what could be more valuable to Father now than strengthening his alliance with King Barat? The capital would supply him with archers, footmen, and cavalry to keep the Ravens away from their borders—all things needed to keep Tidestone standing. Of course Father would get me back!
My chest squeezed strangely, but I breathed past it. Alright… maybe he had no inclination to getmeper se, but certainly this chance at the betrothal. He needed it. Quite unfortunately for him, that meant he needed me.
