Page 14 of The Dark Prince
My father was a proponent of the new religion, which emphasized one god over all the others. The people in my territory still worshiped the old ways and continued to because of my protection. I kept the old gods myself as a tribute to the mother I’d never known.
Yet I knew if I pushed the king, he would push back. Attacking my people for religious heresy didn’t seem too beneath him. Ordering me to attack my people wouldn’t be beneath him.
So, I’d play his game, and agree to his order of marriage, but on my terms, with my choice of bride.
The bride in question had looked at me with confusion and pain in her eyes when I’d taken my leave. Clearly, she had expected me to stay and demand my marital rights. I should have, just to make this marriage more legitimate in the king’s eyes.
And yet I’d stopped and stalked away.
Ran away,more like.
I’d grow up being told to keep a healthy distance between myself and anyone I cared about. It was a necessary step to ensure no one else turned like I did, even if it had led to a lonely life.
And that had been before I’d needed to wear my mask.
The old wound on my face throbbed and ached, but I never removed my mask when I wasn’t alone. Arne had offered to heal it over and over again using the magicks of his people, but I had refused. I deserved the pain. I deserved the discomfort.
It was a daily reminder of how I needed to keep control.
A figure rolled toward me in the darkness, but I relaxed when I saw it was only Maddeus. He roughly brushed the straw off his shoulder, and spit a piece out from his mouth.
“What?” I barked, trying to keep my voice down.
“I was about to ask you the same thing. It’s your wedding night,my lord,” he teased.
My eyes narrowed behind my mask. “You know as well as I do this isn’t a true marriage.”
Monsters like me didn’t get pretty wives and pretty children.
Yet my pretty wife last next door, with only wooden beams and plaster walls separating us.
She’d kissed you back.
I couldn’t allow myself to dwell on it. If I did, I would obsess over the way she’d allowed me to pin her against the ladder and opened her mouth eagerly to mine. Women were always afraid of me; even my half-sister grew nervous when I was in a rage. I did not arouse women.
Except for Isadora.
“She’s young,” I managed to Maddeus. “She does not know any better. She—”
I broke off, knowing I was rambling.
It was too dark to see, but I just knew Maddeus was raising a single eyebrow at me.
“And how do you plan to pass on the curse if you don’t consummate? Unless there is a new technique you haven’t told me about?”
I threw a pile of straw into his face.
Maddeus coughed, then laughed quietly. “Come now. What is the real reason you hesitate? None of us would if we had a willing young woman. You even have the perfect reason to do the deed.”
I scowled. “I will do it on my own time. Not because my father is pressuring me.”
An arm landed heavily on my shoulder. “Tyr. You deserve some happiness. None of us would begrudge you that. Don’t deny yourself out of stubbornness over your father. In fact, I think it would really stick in his craw if you found a little slice of heaven.”
He withdrew his hand, then settled on his back, gazing at the ceiling. “She was being treated like a servant, you know,” he said nonchalantly. “When her mother died, Perron forced her to work for her keep. That’s why we thought he only had one daughter. He had the actual heir work like a scullery maid.”
Part of me had suspected that upon seeing the calluses on her hands and the way the sun had darkened her skin with freckles. Hearing Maddeus confirm it was another matter altogether.
“That makes little sense if she’s the true heir, though. Regardless, if she’s Perron’s daughter or not,” I argued lamely. I was born a bastard, but the king supplied me with everything I needed. Despite my misgivings, my job was uniquely suited to me, and it allowed me the comforts of my castle and lands while protecting my mother’s people.
