Page 143 of Wolfkissed
“That’s the plan.”
“When? Tonight? In your finery?”
“Fuck you.” I shake my head. “We only arrived today.”
“So that means… what? When do you want to go?”
“Give me a couple of days,” I say quietly. “Just to see that she’s settled in fine and the asshole isn’t as bad an asshole as he seemed at first glance.”
“You’re worried about her,” he says.
“She can hold her own. She’s strong. Determined. Her mind is like a blade.” I smile fondly as memories of her return—her focus, her thirst for knowledge, her touches on my body—and rub at my eyes. “But men are stronger physically. If only she had magic like the witches close to the rim of the world…”
“It’s unfair,” he agrees, “that females have to outwit bastardly men instead of simply turning them into worms and stepping on them.”
We both ponder this sad fact.
“So… she loves him?” Konstam asks, and I grit my teeth.
“She doesn’t even know him! First laid eyes on him today. She’s carried his miniature portrait with her all this time.”
“Damn…” He makes a face. “Long-term infatuation, huh?”
“An arranged marriage. And get this, he said he expected her to be younger, as she was in the portrait he was sent of her.”
“Younger, as in…?”
“A child,” I growl.
“Fuck.” He snarls. “That’s disgusting.”
“Agreed.”
“I see why you hate him,” he says.
Do I hate him? I suppose I do. For showing such a monstrous side from day one. For having her loyalty, nonetheless. For havingher. Willing. Trusting.
He didn’t even have to work to gain her trust. Then again, what’s the point without the struggle? She’s blindly accepting of him.
He’d better not let her down. He’d better improve and be the man she needs, or so may the Gods help me…
What? I’ll go and kill him? Steal her and run? This is her choice. As long as she knows it’s a choice.
I’d better make sure she does.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
ROSAMUND
I don’t realize the exact moment Valen vanishes from the great hall, but next time I glance up, seeking the reassurance of his presence, he’s gone.
I stare blankly at the space he’d occupied before. He’s not my self-appointed bodyguard anymore. My protector. My companion.
He’s leaving soon.
My heart feels too heavy. Lord Eorl is engrossed in conversation with the man on his other side, a bearded nobleman whose name I didn’t catch.
I feel untethered. Kind of lost.
