Page 59 of The Dark Prince
Today had already been too close of a call.
Twenty Eight
ISADORA
The days crawled on, and Tyr was avoiding me. I knew it, he knew it, and the servants with their darting eyes knew it. Every time I went to his rooms, he was gone, yet I could never find him down in the training yard or anywhere else.
Arne or Maddeus were the only common denominators between us, and I tried to grill each on what Tyr was doing. Arne would only sigh, and inspect my ankle and the cuts on my body. Maddeus spent more and more time with Aella, keeping her out of my hair.
After three more days of this, Arne kneeled in front of me and dropped the hem of my dress after examining the deeper cuts on my legs. He declared me fully healed. I felt desperate enough to get Tyr’s attention that I tried something I wasn’t proud of.
“Can you pass a message to Tyr for me?”
Arne wearily lifted his head, but nodded. He looked tired and worn, with half-healed cuts all over his face.
“Were you in the forest as well?” I asked, peering at the wounds. Why couldn’t he heal his own wounds?
Arne gave me a tired smile and threaded my hands through his.
“Do not worry for me. Black magick takes from the user. It is my honor to bleed for my Lord and his Lady. Do not take this honor from me.”
My throat closed as tears welled in my eyes. I had done nothing to deserve his devotion.
“Can you just tell him if he doesn’t meet with me, I’m going into the forest again? He’ll have to lock me into this room day and night to stop me. If we can’t do this together, then I’m doing it on my own.”
I bit my lip. We both knew how ridiculous the message was. Arne slowly turned his head up to look at me from his position on the floor. The candles in my room reflected off his head, and his silver eyes seemed to glow. “You remind me of my wife. She is as fierce as any tiger.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Yet here you are.”
He chuckled darkly. “Too fierce for me. You are the right amount of fierce for the Dark Prince. Don’t forget.” Arne’s gaze went far away for a moment. “There is darkness coming. It is closer than you think.”
For a moment, we stood in silence, until he stood, breaking the moment. Arne gave a small bow before walking away.
I dressed for the day, including my warmer garments, since I intended to walk right out the front doors if Tyr didn’t come. I paused, sensing a heaviness in the air that I hadn’t previously felt. Hadn’t Arne said a storm was coming?
“Exactly where I thought you might be.”
I turned, expecting Tyr, but was confused when the voice didn’t match. I had no time to react as cold, bony hands seized my throat. The witch picked me up by my neck, my hands scrabbling uselessly as she held me in a vice grip. She didn’t look nearly as beautiful and young as last time—dark circles hung under her eyes, and blood oozed from a large bandage across her chest.
I viciously hoped she bled out in front of me.
“It was clever of you to stab me with my dagger; the only thing that can truly hurt me,” she hissed. She brought me down closer to her face, and I would have gagged at the smell of decay and rot if she didn’t already have me in a chokehold. Black gathered at the edge of my vision and I flailed against her, fighting for air.
Her lips pouted in a grotesque mockery of concern. “Aw, does the poor baby want to breathe?”
She threw me down on the ground, and my head hit first against the stone floor. I nearly blacked out at the impact, but fought to stay conscious.
“You were the one stupid enough to give it to me,” I choked out, spitting blood onto the stone beneath me.
She scowled and kicked at me. I curled my body into a ball to protect myself. “Where is your hubby? Off licking his wounds?” she taunted, prowling around me like a predator toying with its prey.
“Leave—him—alone,” I gasped, coughing. I couldn’t get a clean breath in. My throat hurt.
“You defend a monster,” she insisted. “He is the spawn of a whore and a temptress. He has brought nothing but pain and ruin to this kingdom.”
I panted as I tried to catch my breath, swiping my hair out of my face. “He is a good man, doing the best he can. The circumstances of his birth weren’t his fault, and you’re sick for punishing a child!”
The witch kicked me in my ribs, and I curled in on myself harder, closing my eyes and praying that no one else came in and got hurt.
