Page 29 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
“They won’t. He didn’t have mercy for anyone while he was alive.”
After a few seconds of stunned silence, she huffed a surprised laugh. It sounded so at odds with her perfectly poised demeanor.
“Oh, he is going to just love you,” she muttered.
“Who?”
“Yourothergroom. You know, the one who’s still alive.”
The crown prince? “I’ve already met him. There was no love to be had.”
“Trust me. I’ve known him since he used sticks to sword fight. I know what he likesandwhat he doesn’t.”
Great. So the famed Dragon had been into fighting since he could walk. That’s why he was so good at it.
My hands stilled. “Does he like murdering people?”
“I know meeting during a massacre isn’t great, even when it comes to Clans, but he isn’t horrible–”
That wasn’t an answer and I had toknow. Had I just agreed to spend the rest of my life with someone who killed just because he could? That’s what I’d hated most about Fabrian. He would destroy a thousand lives just because he’d had a bad day.
“Murdering people. Does he like it?” I pressed on.
“I don’t think so,” Kaya said at last. “He has a good soul, deep,deepdown. But leading a Clan and protecting your civilians requires some harsh decisions. And now he will protect you too.”
“Funny. I was taught I needed protectionfromhim.”
“Clan members come in all shapes and moralities. Youwillneed to be protected.”
Didn’t that sound ominous and concerning.
Everyone wanted to protect me. I didn’t look all that menacing, but I’d lived to my twenty-first year with nothing but a switchblade and pure will. How many Clan members could say that?
The dress finally pooled at my feet, leaving me in nothing but my corset. Good riddance. I rolled my bare shoulders. “That feels good.”
“This is nothing compared to our wedding dresses,” Kaya said.
“That heavy?”
Her top lip curled. “Worse.”
I huffed a laugh. “What else happens at a Blood Brotherhood wedd–”
A threatening march resounded outside these pretty walls, stealing the rest of my words.
Coming close.
Closer.
Fast.
Through the open doors leading to the veranda, I saw a black cloud made up of dozens of guards with sharp helmets and even sharper spears thundering through the garden, up the steps. They stopped in front of the doors and stepped to the side, two by two, perfectly in sync, revealinghim.
The crown prince.
The Dragon.
And he looked pissed.
