Page 146 of Spar of Hearts

“We’ll see about that!” the Prince snarled and shifted, stalking toward Roderick. By the time Roderick turned, the Prince was in the air, teeth bared, jaws wide.

“No you won’t!” Anya roared. Before Roderick could react, she’d shifted and leapt from his arms, colliding with the Prince in a vicious, growling tussle of fur and teeth. She ripped into everywhere she could reach with beautiful, reckless abandon—chest, neck, ears, flank—all the while dodging the Prince’s snapping maw.

“Anya!” Roderick started to reach for the fray.

Don’t! she warned.

“It’s breaking!” Lady Rowan shouted. A sharp crack echoed through the hall. The eagle thrashed against the shield with angry shrieks.

A boom filled the hall. The barrier shattered. The eagle went straight for Octavio, breaking his spell on the guards, who rushed the dais.

But before they reached the scuffle, an Elf with long, honeyed hair and a golden crown and staff stalked down the runner with fire in her eyes. A knight followed behind her. Sun-like magic froze them all in place.

“You have a LOT of explaining to do!”

Chapter 48

Anya Delemond

The Elf’s hold on the Prince dissipated, and he fell to the ground with a thump that would have made Anya grin if she could in this form.

“Sister,” the Prince said. He shifted back in a flash of white light, brushing the wrinkles out of his clothes in faux nonchalance. “I am glad to see you have returned safely. I trust father’s treatment went well?”

Sister? Father? Anya thought, looking at Roderick, who was frozen mid-reach toward the fray. These two looked nothing alike.

“No change, like always,” the Elf said, striding toward the dais. “Though it seems you wasted no time making changes here in my absence.” She appraised the room with unamused, golden eyes. Despite her firm demeanor, the room seemed to warm with her presence. One by one, she released the guards, who bowed in turn and quietly retook their stations in the arcade.

“I was blessed to find a bride in your absence,” the Prince explained. “What you saw was merely—”

The Elf held up a hand, bidding silence. “Spare me. Sir Bayard told me you coerced her somehow—and that she is from Valeria. You know the Accords, brother. Contact with foreign kingdoms is my strict jurisdiction as Regent. These may be your lands, but their arrival affects us all. I am afraid your insubordination will have to be addressed with the Council.”

His lands.

The small slice of Aquillas they’d trekked was the Prince’s sovereign lands!

Anya struggled against the magical hold, but it only made her brain rattle in her head.

The Prince balked at the accusation. “Sir Bayard is a liar and a traitor to Aquillas! He sired a child with a Valerian, and has been feeding our secrets to them ever since. I was merely trying to gather more evidence before bringing it to your attention.”

“I will be the judge of that. But first…” With a flick of her wrist, Roderick and Anya fell from the magical hold. “Our guests will be treated as such.” Despite the Regent continuing to speak to the Prince, and being in the presence of royalty, Anya’s only thought was Roderick, and it seemed he felt the same. She shifted and threw herself into his embrace, holding his face as she pressed a desperate kiss to his bloody lips.

“You came for me,” she said softly, unable to hold back tears. “Even after everything I did…” She cupped his cheek, memorizing every detail of his face like it was the last time she’d see him. Like she’d fallen too hard into the vision she’d used to escape from the binding ceremony, and soon she’d wake up in the Prince’s bed with bars all around her for the rest of her life.

But all those fears melted away as Roderick gently swiped his thumb under her eye, brushing away a tear. “Everything you did? Oh, Anya. Everything you did was for Valeria. You were willing to be someone you weren’t for the rest of your life, all out of love for your kingdom. But you don’t have to anymore. You never have to be anything but yourself with me. You are the one beast I cannot tame, nor do I want to. I want you, Anya. Exactly as you are. In the palace, on the ship, barefoot in the woods, clawed hands in mine, starshine eyes mapping the heavens. We’ll eat every meal at midnight if that’s what makes you smile, and I’ll fetch you a piece of the moon for dessert. I just need you by my side. I don’t care where. So please”—he exhaled a shivering breath—“please don’t run from me again.”

She kissed him again, softly this time, taking the time to taste him, blood and all. It was sweet, almost as sweet as the words she could finally, finally say without an ounce of hesitation.

“I’m going to run. I’m going to run while we spar till our hearts give out and our lungs burn. I’m going to run to you when I wake, and find you on the bow of the ship. And when you wake up at night and find me missing, you’ll only have to run to the stern to find me gazing up at the stars.”

“Anya, what—what are you saying?”

She brushed her head under his chin and whispered, “Sail with me, Roderick. Today. Tomorrow. Forever. Everywhere and anywhere. In a schooner, in a sailboat, in a holey, rickety old canoe. As long as I’m with you.”

Roderick stammered in disbelief. “B-but Count Scorer—”

“Is not my concern anymore. Marg has him wrapped around her finger.”

“I’m beginning to understand how that happens,” he said softly, pressing her hand to his chest. “But I think this is more than that.”