Page 74 of Stolen Threadwitch Bride
The yew tree creaked and shuddered in the breeze, its colour leached to a warm grey rather than rich, bark-brown. I winced at its deteriorating condition.
“It keeps him here,” she went on, frowning at the diseased tree. “Otherwise, he’d be off at court, probably married by now.”
My heart twisted. “Oh? Married so young?” I raised my eyebrows, trying to keep my voice light.
“Not that young. He’s an adult by our reckoning and a lord. They usually marry by his age. Being stuck here and… not having his full power—it decimated his prospects.”
And when he got his power back…
My heart didn’t just twist, it shrivelled, leaving my chest empty.
“Not everyone is burdened with an arranged marriage. But, maybe that’s not such a bad thing, eh?” She waggled her eyebrows at me. “Almost like the Stars kept him available all these years, waiting for the right woman.”
Not me.
Something rushed in my ears like I was underwater. I gripped onto the reins as though they were a lifeline.
“Who’d have thought…” Sylvie went on, but I only picked up odd words. “… the Tithe…”
When Ly got his power back, he would go to court and find himself a bride. Some fae lady, elegant and tall and powerful in her own right. One who could face a room full of people without batting an eyelid. One who didn’t flinch at loud noises. One who could’ve killed the sluagh herself.
Someone who was more than a threadwitch.
Someone who was more than me.
“… such a great match…”
Good gods, I’d been so stupid. Boyd was right. How had I ever dreamed he wasn’t? Ly had squeezed mywonderfully round bottom. It was just as Boyd had said:Those soft handfuls of flesh are a fun diversion for any male.
It wasn’t even the first time I’d made this mistake.
When my gift had awoken and my hair had turned white, Callum had kissed me and lured me out to the clearing in the woods where we went for privacy. We’d fucked, though I’d told myself it was making love. I had this foolish, sparkling hope that it meant he still loved me, that he didn’t care that I had magic or had changed.
After, he said he’d wanted to see what it was like. He’d wondered whether a fae-touched woman was different, special.
But I wasn’t. I was only a freak of nature.
And then he’d left. A week later, he was parading through town with another girl. Two months later, they were married.
And here I was making the same mistake. I’d thought Lysander liked me for my difference, but, no. I was just something to sample, a novelty for him to enjoy before he regained his power and found someone who’d be his forever.
“Ari?”
Eyes burning, I fought to control my breaths.
“Ari? Are you all right? What’s—?”
“I’m… I don’t feel well. Could you take Luna for me? I need to lie down.”
Dismounting, I barely registered Sylvie’s agreement before I muttered a thank you.
The world blurred as I ran inside, the pressure at the back of my eyes too much to contain, like a river bursting its banks.
What had I been thinking? Lysander had stolen me as part of a contract. And I’d be dead centuries before him. Of course he saw me as just an object, a plaything.
I’d been such a fool. Such a damn fool. Playing at pretty faerie stories and happily ever afters.
I’d been so stupid to think I belonged here… that I could have a life here.
