Page 111 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
“A Commander?” I curled my top lip, turning back to my target. “So did everyone else. The problem is so many strong men want to be the only ones with power.”
I’d raised more than a few eyebrows when Waden began to spend more time in Aquila and around Protectorateheadquarters than on his own family estate at the lush outskirts of our Clan territory. The land had been bought by his grandfather with all that trade gold long before either of us had been born and the Fair Isles had carefully kept their Clan neutrality to be able to live so close to us.
My father hadn’t exactly warmed to him, either. Not because Waden wasn’t some hulking warrior or because he didn’t have Protectorate powers. Simply because ofcompatibility of spirit, he’d said. I’d thought he’d been referring to him and Waden, one with a calculated nature, the other shrewd. But my father had been talking about myself and my beloved fucking fiance. He hadn’t come out to say it plainly, though, content to let me make my own mistakes. The same as everyone else.
I still didn’t know whether I should have thanked him or held a grudge for that.
And now I’d never get a chance.
A fresh wave of sadness threatened to take over me, but Nadya’s voice quickly snapped me back to reality. “Then what possessed you to look twice at a Pillion?”
I shook my head. No crumbling and definitely no crying while I had an audience.
It seemed the wall of ice hadn’t completely engulfed my pride.
“Merchants are tougher than you think. Just because they can’t raise a sword doesn’t mean they’re not strong in their own way,” I said. Waden had appeared to be just that. Strong and clever in just the areas I lacked, with a sharp and cunning mind which has enthralled me. A shark in waters I couldn’t yet swim in. “He’d also seemed kind.”
He also looked at me like I was the sun shining down upon Aquila, not a name to be feared.
He used to call meglorious, the only one who’d ever done so.
Probably because he’d only wanted my glory, not the real me.
Now that word was as tainted as the memories with him.
I’d worn my happiness so openly, nobody in Aquila could have missed it. I’d foolishly congratulate myself and thank the gods for bringing me Waden at such a young age, so we had even more time to indulge in our united bliss.
Love had made me truly weak.
It had clouded my mind and senses, making me see what I wanted, not what was real.
“If he was so strong and kind, what happened?” Geryll asked.
Another arrow hissed through the air. “Something blonde and willing.”
But that wasn’t the whole truth, was it?
Back when we’d met, he’d enthrall me with his knowledge about anything and everything. Our conversations stretched until the sun rose, parting with heated kisses and promises of the future.
But as the months went by, a heavy cloud had settled down on us, and no matter how hard I tried to clear the skies, it always clung to us.
Our lively conversations melted into tense silence, the longing gazes turned fleeting, and instead of charming the room together with our quips, Waden had begun to interrupt me–loudly.
Then I walked in on him rutting with that social climber. She’d only smiled my way after raising her head from the pillow he’d pushed her face into.
A sickening shiver coursed through me.
“That’s disappointing. He would have been better off drowning near his blasted Isle," Nadya said. “What part of him did you maim?”
“Maim?”
“Yes. He broke your heart, tradition dictates you break something of his. An arm, a leg. I’ve seen my fair share of broken noses.”
“That’s…not how it works.”
Nadya shrugged. “It’s how it works around here.”
“You can’t fix a broken heart through violence. Anyway, with Waden, I lost a year, but I’ve already gained one back.”
