Page 59 of Married By Treachery

The guards held her before their prince, who scrutinized her from head to toe, and then he abruptly turned and started down the hall. The guards dragged her after him, up the stairs and down more winding corridors through the palace while servants and guards alike gawked at her.

As though they had never before seen a mortal.

They eventually reached a set of engraved wooden doors, and Prince Edom made a fist and slammed it upon the wood so hard the door rattled upon its hinges.

“Enter!” said a thin male voice from within.

Edom pushed the door open, and the guards dragged Raquel after him.

Into a bedchamber.

It was a large space—large enough to hold her entire home in Harran—with arched ceilings and tall, narrow windows that probably would have illuminated this entire space with sunlight had the mist not obscured the world. Bookcases filled the walls, and luxurious furniture ornamented the floor. Raquel’s gaze snagged upon a table trimmed in gold filigree that could have fed all of Harran for winter.

A cough rattled, and her attention slid to the enormous four-poster bed, where an old man lay.

King Issachar, Jake and Edom’s father and the ruler of the Court of Light and all of Canna. It had to be. His hair was bushy, like Edom’s, but shaded a midnight black like Jake’s, though his was laced with silver. He had Edom’s dark eyes, but his bore a milky sheen, and they did not focus, as if he could not quite see, but there was no mass to him. No muscle or strength. He was reed-thin, his frame hardly distinguishable from the thick blankets now covering him, and his skin was like paper, thin and wrinkled, and also sallow, and dark shadows pillowed his sunken eyes.

Jake had not lied about this much, at least.

Edom took two steps and knelt upon one knee, head bowed. He looked like a boulder with a mop for a head. “My king, I have brought the mortal,” Edom said quietly, in that same subdued tone.

King Issachar’s dark eyes slid from his son to Raquel, though still, they never focused. Not completely.

“Is it really you, my son?” King Issachar wheezed.

“Yes, Father. I would have returned sooner, but as you know, Jakobián took off with my bride.Again,” Edom growled. “However, this time he planned to abscond with my birthright as well.”

“How is that possible—”

“Mother glamoured him a coat, which he intended to use in order to receive your blessing.”

The king lay quietly, and his next inhale rattled.

Edom lifted his head, and he looked pleadingly at the king. “Father, I beseech you: Please bestow the blessing that is mine by right so that this never happens again.”

King Issachar stared at his eldest son and heir for so long Raquel wondered if he’d simply passed on. As if the news had been too much for him to endure, and so his soul had finally departed to find peace.

But then his eyelids slid closed, and a tremor rolled through his body. “Where is my Jakobián?” His voice was a pained whisper.

“Locked away with Mother, awaiting your punishment for their lies and treachery.”

Raquel frowned. Edom’s words were disconcerting, yes, but why were they having this conversation now? Hadn’t Edom locked her away specifically so that he could speak with his father? Wouldn’t they have already discussed this?

Or perhaps that was when Edom had intercepted Jake and locked him away.

Raquel’s heart beat faster. She hated that she still cared.

“Then come near to me so that I may know you are my son Edom,” King Issachar said.

“Of course, my king.” Edom stood and strode forward, then stopped beside the bed and bowed his head.

The king reached out with a trembling hand and touched Edom’s head. His fingers slid into that shaggy mass of hair, and relief smoothed his brow. Suddenly, an invisible force wrapped around Raquel like a blanket and jerked her forward so fast and so strong that Raquel nearly tripped on her own two feet. In fact, she would have, but the force had lifted her enough to drag her toes and hem across the black tiles to where it set her down next to Edom, beside the bed.

But that force did not let go.

Even so near death, King Issachar’s power was astounding.

King Issachar reached out and pressed two fingers to Raquel’s brow, and a shock of energy jolted through her body. Raquel would have collapsed if it weren’t for the invisible vice still holding her upright.

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