Page 54 of Married By Treachery

An uncertain second passed as Edom’s guards deliberated between the command of one prince and the abject treachery toward another. But in that split second, Jake looked at Raquel, smiled brilliantly, and vanished.

Completely and utterly vanished. He winked out of existence, just like his sword.

Edom stuttered and spat, and his expression bloated with rage. “Come out and fight, you coward!”

But Edom’s words were met with silence, and while Edom and his guard searched the room for signs of Jake, Raquel found herself searching too. For certainly he would not have abandoned her now to this actual bear of a man.

And yet…why shouldn’t he?

He’d been planning to kill her all along. He wasnotthe man from her dreams. The real Jake could not feel affection. The real Jake knew only self-preservation. If Jake felt love at all, it was only for self.

And he was right; he’d lied about none of it. Ithadbeen all a game to him, and she was nothing more than a prize.

Edom’s attention settled back upon her. “Bind the girl, and put her on my horse. We leave now.”

18

Raquel’s jaw ached from the gag. They’d been traveling for hours. How many hours, Raquel had no idea. There was no sun to gauge time because the mist hid all.

Prince Edom kept them riding at a steady pace, stopping occasionally to observe the way forward while sometimes consulting one of his guards. But then the branches would come alive, reaching for them as they’d reached for Jake’s party, though they were much bolder than they’d ever been with Jake. Edom spoke a word, as Jake had done, and the branches did retreat, but hesitantly. When Edom spoke, his command felt more like an inconvenience, and the trees never retreated completely. Raquel had the distinct impression that Edom could not navigate the mist as easily as Jake, but whatever his particular inhibition, the time labored on.

Especially because she could not get Jake’s words out of her head:I never lied, my bride. You simply refused to believe me.

But then she would remember their kiss. Their real, actual kiss, and she could not believe it was all for show—that he truly felt nothing. That his only intention was to kill her in her distraction. Except he’d also vanished and left her with this brute.

Still, she kept searching for Jake. She also couldn’t believe he’d risk his position for the throne by capturing her only to vanish the moment Edom appeared. A liar and a traitor—yes, he was both of those things. But a coward? Raquel did not think so. He’d planned this coup for saints knew how long; he would not give up without a fight.

Life is a game, he had said. He would wait. He would wait until the game favored his odds.

Eventually, it became too dark to see, and Edom—with the aid of his kith—set up camp amidst a cluster of enormous and bloated roots. They forged a perimeter the way Jake and his men had done, but there was no blanket for Raquel this time. Edom dumped her right upon the earth and said, “How’s that for a marriage bed, my bride?”

A few of his kith chuckled.

Raquel, who had managed to work off her gag, spat at his feet.

Edom crouched, grabbed a fistful of her hair, and jerked her close, nearly nose to nose. “Do not think that because I need your heart that I will not harm your body.”

Raquel could not look at him without seeing all the horrors he’d committed in her dreams. “You are no better than the Depraved you fear,” she growled.

Edom’s eyes narrowed. “And you are a fool. You actually believed my brother felt anything for you.”

“I know he does.” She said it to get under Edom’s skin. She said it in case Jake was somewhere near, listening. She said it because she still wanted so badly to believe it.

Edom gripped her hair so hard she winced. “Foolish girl. You felt what he wanted you to feel. You believed what he wanted you to believe. Jakobián is a liar and a cheat.”

“And you are a monster.”

He released her hair and struck her across the face hard enough that she fell to the ground. She didn’t have hands to stop her fall; they were bound. And then her view was of Edom’s heavy black boots. He bent over her and spit upon her face. Raquel flinched as the spittle trailed down her cheek.

“Mortal filth,” he snarled. “Gag her,” he ordered and stomped off.

Two of his kith came forward immediately and refastened the gag. Raquel winced as they caught some of her hair in it, but she did not cry out. She lay there, glaring as they walked away laughing. As that bear of a man talked and drank with his kith. At one point, Prince Edom caught her gaze and smiled viciously.

“Do you have eyes for your betrothed, my bride?” he taunted. “Eager to consummate our marriage? I can make arrangements for that now if you like.”

Raquel turned her glare to the trees instead, and a few of his kith chuckled. He murmured something to his men that Raquel did not hear, but he did not get up from his seat.

Where was Jake?

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