Page 30 of Married By Treachery

The first bride. That was when the Forest kith had first come to Harran demanding a mortal bride in exchange for protection.

Because they needed a mortal to stop whatever plagued their land. Deep in her bones, Raquel felt that to be true.

And yet this plague persisted, and they kept taking brides. No,Edomkept taking brides. Raquel really needed to sort this part out so that she knew precisely how to stopHarran’scurse. She leaned forward so that she and Jake were both bent over the small table, and she asked, “How is this different?” She gestured between them. “What willyoudo with me that your brother has not already tried with six others?”

Jake’s gaze bored into hers. He was not smiling now. “I will succeed,” he said so softly, and Raquel suddenly realized how close they sat, the two of them bent over the small table, the fire their only companion.

Her heart beat faster, and she swallowed, determined. “Howwill you succeed?” she whispered, trying to find her conviction despite a body that was having a very different response to this handsome forest prince.

“Like this.” Jake did not break her gaze, not as he set his goblet upon the table, nor as he reached out for her, slowly giving Raquel every opportunity to back away. To knock his hand aside.

She told herself to do it. To lean back and smack his hand away. He was her captor! She should not let him near, let alone touch her. But try as she might, she could not persuade herself to push his hand aside. She couldn’tmove, actually, so she sat frozen and hardly breathing, wondering what his wide palm felt like upon her skin. Wondering if it felt like the Jake in her dreams. Wondering until she didn’t have to wonder.

His skin was so warm, so surprisingly gentle, even as his calluses scratched her skin. It took everything inside of her not to lean into it, because it also felt familiar when it should not have. But her soul clung defiantly to that familiarity, finding comfort in it, just as Dream Raquel had done.

Jake’s gaze dropped to her mouth.

Saints, was he going to kiss her?

More importantly, was she going tolethim?

“You’re…going to save your kingdom by kissing me?” Raquel managed in that slip of space between them.

His gaze was liquid fire. “Do you want me to kiss you, Raquel?”

Her name, spoken upon his lips, brushed over her like silk, and her heart pounded. “No,” she scoffed, but not even her voice believed her.

The edge of Jake’s mouth curled. “No…?” He dragged his thumb over her bottom lip. “Truly? Your eyes say otherwise.”

Raquel meant to respond, but she was paralyzed, and her heart galloped in her chest. What was happening? He was Dream Jake and he wasthisJake, both versions of him flickering back and forth and never settling. He was present and future and past all at once, and Raquel couldn’t break them apart. She couldn’t break herselfapart, this strange collision of dreams and reality, this merger of sacred planes.

No, it was not until Jake tipped her chin up and began to lean forward that she looked straight into his eyes, prompted by forces she could not quite understand, and said, “I do not want your kiss without your heart, my prince.”

Jake stopped.

He leaned back a fraction, and his gaze met hers. His lips parted, but then his brow furrowed with confusion.

The moment stretched, and his hand was still upon her face. Raquel sat quietly, letting the silence breathe. Wondering if maybe—just maybe—it might give Dream Jake the opportunity to rise to the surface.

But when Jake’s derisive smile appeared, she knew she had hoped in vain.

“I cannot give you that which I do not possess,” he said.

“Then you cannot take what you have not purchased in full.”

His eyes burned with something she could not identify. “My bride drives a hard bargain.” A dangerous edge touched his voice.

“Bargains must be made with those whose honor can’t recommend them.”

His eyes narrowed. “I saved your life.”

“For my sake or yours?”

Jake looked hard at her.

And then he dropped his hand.

He stood abruptly. “It is late, and I should let you rest.”

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