Page 32 of Vows of Sacrifice

“You stole my pins!” I accused him immediately.

He raised a surprised eyebrow, then an amused smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about, my wife. You must have lost them along the way, I imagine.”

I narrowed my eyes as I accepted his help to climb down from Vulcan.

“Because of you, I must look like a complete savage,” I whispered.

The men around us were taking an interest in our conversation, and I didn’t particularly want to cause a scene just a few yards from the King of Osacan. He slowly slid me against him, so much so, in fact, that it was now hard for me to ignore how muscular his body was. My eyes widened in confusion as he stared at me intently.

“I think you’re sublime. If it were up to me, we’d head back in the opposite direction right now, find a cabin in the woods, and fully live out our wedding night, and all the nights to follow, with the same intensity. I’d love to prove to you how beautiful you are. Only, I made you a promise. I will wait until you accept me, until you desire me. Not to mention that my king is very curious about you. Let’s resign ourselves, my lady. Me, for my wedding night, and you, for your pins,” he finished in a breath and with a smile to die for.

I had just realized that he was holding me by the waist and still against him. My rapid breathing echoed his.

“Good,” I said hoarsely.

He raised another eyebrow. What could I possibly say to his declaration? A soldier cleared his throat, as if to signal Dovah to move away from me.

“Let’s go,” he urged simply.

The King of Osacan was a handsome man. There was no doubt about it, and he knew it. It exuded from him, in his aura as the monarch of a powerful country. My gaze met his, and I noticed his curious yellow eyes. It was an intrigued look, almost admiring. I bowed deeply, my heart crushed by anger. I’d imagined him to possess the same ugliness as his deeds, but there was nothing in this richly dressed individual, with fine features and sun-kissed blond hair, that exuded the cruelty he’d shown Muvaria.

“Your Majesty, I present to you my wife, Lady Ashana Carlion of Muvaria,” declared Dovah in my native tongue.

I stood up slowly, my legs trembling. I hadn’t expected this reaction from my body. It betrayed my anger better than my mind did.

“Your Majesty,” I greeted him in a controlled voice.

Praise the one and only God! I had managed to maintain some composure.

“Well, if anyone had told me that the women of Muvaria were so beautiful, I wouldn’t have given you this one for a wife, Dovah. I would have led myself to the altar on her arm as her future husband,” said King Elendur. “Lady Ashana, I’m delighted to meet you at last.”

Though his smile was perfectly affable, what wandered in his strangely coloured eyes was more calculating and cold.

Dovah leaned slightly towards me to whisper in my ear:

“There is one more person I’d like you to meet.”

I truly noticed her as she stepped forward to meet us. She was the feminine version of King Elendur. Her beauty was breathtaking. As frumpy as I was, I suddenly felt insignificant in front of this woman. Unlike her brother, her eyes were the same azure blue as the Osacan sky.

“Ashana, this is the Isamane of the king, his twin sister, Nadrisse Silh of Osacan. Isamane, this is my wife, Lady Ashana.”

In Osacan, the terms Isaman, for a man, and Isamane, for a woman, were designated to the royal siblings.

Nadrisse rushed over to give me a hug.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, dear Ashana. You have beautiful hair! I hope we can be friends!”

Something bothered me about the syrupy tone of her voice. It was as if she was overacting a supposedly friendly gesture. It was shaky and insincere. Did Dovah realize it?

“Thank you, Isamane Nadrisse,” I replied nonetheless, at the height of my diplomacy.

As the king’s sister struggled to let go of me, my eyes met those of my husband. There was such love, such devotion in his gaze, that my heart stopped beating for a brief moment. Then I realized, with a heavy pang in my chest, that this intense affection was not intended for me, but for the woman who continued to embrace me forcefully.

When Nadrisse finally stepped aside, I dreaded what I had guessed in spite of myself. Dovah was in love with the king’s sister. You couldn’t show that kind of expression without feeling a real inclination. What was I supposed to do with this information? It had been a long, exhausting day. I was far from Muvaria and my family, thrust into a country whose rulers reeked of hypocrisy and pretense . . . And my husband, strong as he was, now seemed to me to have a certain credulity regarding the fairer sex.

I tried to keep my mask of decorum in place as everything inside me was shaken. I hated these Osacanians for destroying my country on a whim, forcing me to marry a man who was obviously madly in love with someone else! The sky of my existence seemed very dark to me now.

---