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“It’s really quite simple.” I gingerly took the cup from his hand and crossed over to the desk, refilling it as I spoke. “Do with me as you please. Choke me. Cut me. Bruise me.”
“I will do all that without taking you to wife.”
“Yes, I know.” Cup in hand, I turned around and walked back to where he stood the way I’d left him, then handed him his wine. “And yet marrying me will give you two things you will not get otherwise.”
“Your skill at gaining my attention is commendable.” He took the wine, eyes narrowing. “Whatever might you give me, little dove?”
“The second largest army in all of Dranada.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, we have already been over—”
“And my willingness.”
His body turned unnaturally still, until he stiffly lifted the cup to his mouth, taking another sip as though he needed to wet his throat before he could respond. And even then, he said nothing, his eyes tracing my features, perhaps studying my sincerity. Yes, I had his attention.
“I will not fight you. I will not struggle. Might even confess that I like it,” I added, watching a gleam hush across his eyes. “Is that not what you want? To corrupt me? To make me enjoy the most depraved of acts?”
For long moments, he observed me the way he’d done it in the forest, his interest still as frightening, but also promising.
At last, he emptied the wine in one swallow and grinned. “Say, ‘Please, Malyr, marry me, or I’ll forever be ruined.’”
My molars ground together, but I forced them apart. “Please, Malyr, marry me, or I’ll forever be ruined.”
Long strides took him over to the desk, where he put down the cup. “No.”
“Insufferable bastard!” My teeth gnashed, barely audible over his bemused laugh. Gods help me, there was no avoiding what I had to do. “I will free Marla.”
He studied what appeared to be a map. “And how will you do that from Deepmarsh?”
“By visiting Tidestone after our wedding.” There was nothing left for me at home or anywhere worth not returning to him, he had to know that. “I know every secret pathway, every dark corner, every broken piece of wall. Give me five days, or maybe even three. I will create a distraction, sneak into the dungeons, and free her.”
“Impossible without being noticed.”
A spurting sound escaped me. “Trust me, going unnoticed will beby farthe easiest part.”
He gave me an assessing look over his shoulder, one brow lifted as though he was contemplating that statement a great deal. “Before the wedding.”
A spark of hope lit in my chest, only to fade seconds later… “Do I look like a fool? You’ll just rid yourself of me the moment you have your precious Raven.”
Not to mention how he would undoubtedly take Tidestone with the help of Marla and slaughter my parents—a thought that shouldn’t squeeze my heart quite as much, but… it did.
“I will not get stuck with a Brisden bride for an army alone,” he said. “And if you get caught? Then your father might as well keep you and once more offer you up to the Dranadian prince.”
“King Barat would be a fool to allow it, given my father’s betrayal and how quickly word of it will travel.”
“A king once more gaining the Tidestone army can hardly be called a fool,” he said before he gave a little scoff. “Alliances have been forged from weaker steel. If you get caught, I have neither Raven nor army.”
“I will not get caught, and once Marla is lost to Father, he’ll know that he has no leverage left. If she’s truly as crucial in this war as everyone makes her out to be, then Father would be a fool to ally himself with the losing side, and will push for our wedding all the harder,” I said. “I can do it.Afterthe wedding.”
He stared at me. “I fear we are at an impasse.”
Gods be damned, why was this man so incredibly difficult? I needed this marriage if I wanted to secure my future. But how, if I couldn’t ensure that the wedding would actually take place? I needed an assurance, something to solidify my plan. I needed… I needed…
… to carry his child.
Princes needed heirs, didn’t they? More urgently once they made themselves king. Malyr had fathered no children thus far, or someone would have mentioned it. It was risky, but… If I managed to have his child in my belly before I freed Marla, or at least have him think that I might, would that not be reason enough for him to go through with the wedding? Even if not, a bastard heir was better than none, and certainly worth keeping around along with his mother. Did I even have a choice?
No. My options ended here.
