Page 122 of North Queen
“What have they done to you?” he breathed. His gaze shifted back to the commander.
“This isn’t their doing.”
“All of this is their doing.” He shook his head and dropped his voice. “Norah. You can’t do this. You can’t go.” His words broke. “I can’t let you go this time.”
“Don’t you see? It’s the only way.”
“What about Aleon?”
“If I wed Phillip, there will still be war,” she argued. “Yes, Aleon gives us the means to fight, but we still have to. You saw the vision. With Phillip by my side, this war carries on. Thousands will die.”
His brow dipped. “You think Phillip won’t bring a war if you marry the Shadow King?”
“With what? He can’t fight Japheth and the Shadowlands and Mercia. He won’t be happy, but there’s nothing he can do. Alexander, an alliance with the Shadowlands is the only alliance that can bring peace.”
“Norah, please,” he begged.
Norah put her hand on his cheek and shook her head softly. “It’s too late,” she whispered through her own tears. “I made a promise, and I can’t break it now. Look around us. These men, they’ll all die. You’ll die. I have to do what’s best for Mercia.” And what was best forhim.
“This isn’t it,” he said hoarsely. “You can’t marry him.”
Norah’s heart broke. “I’m sorry.”
She stood up on her toes and brought her lips to his cheek, kissing him a longing goodbye. Then she pulled away and stepped out of the tent and into the winter.
Chapter thirty-six
Norahandthecommanderrode in silence back up the pass to the Shadow army camp where the king met them with surprise. Mikael called out in the Shadow tongue and the commander responded in kind.
The king reached out to help her as she slid down from the mare. She could tell he was at a loss for words over their early return. “You said you would send more provisions,” she reminded him, forcing her voice steady.
“That I will,” he assured her.
She gave a small nod and walked past him, toward the large tent. She was starting to fall apart and needed a place to be alone. The king let her go. Tears streamed down her face by the time she ducked inside, and she fell onto the bed and wept.
It was daylight when she woke to the sound of the king’s voice outside the tent. She wiped her eyes and sat up, surprised she had fallen asleep, and even more surprised it was morning. A thick fur had been draped over her. She heard the king enter and looked up to see him holding a bowl of steaming soup and a wineskin.
He held the bowl out for her. Norah took it and drank down the savory broth. Her stomach grumbled. She’d eaten nothing the day prior, and she was famished. She finished the bowl quickly.
He held out his hand for the bowl, and she slowly gave it back to him.
“Do you want another?” he asked.
Yes.“No.”
The corners of his mouth turned up. He moved to the flap of the tent and extended the bowl to a soldier outside. “Another,” he said.
He held out the wineskin, and she took it, eyeing him.
“Why did you return?” he asked.
She took a drink of the wine. A deep one. It was good, and she hated it. “Because I said I would. Did you not expect me to?”
He didn’t answer.
The realization came to her. “That’s why you sent the commander with me, wasn’t it? To kill me if I tried to leave?”
“He was to kill the Bear.”
