Page 137 of Hand-Fasting and Other Hazards
The way she’d generated funding for Charis would be seen as confirmation their family had manipulated the system—and misused their magic—to claim and maintain power. Everything her father and mother had worked to build, the path to coexistence they’d fought for, would be threatened.
For the first time since she woke up, true fear curled in Nia’s chest.
But she couldn’t let them see it.
She lifted her chin. “Oh, it is my place to balance the scales.” A slow smile spread across her lips. “And you’re in deeper than you can imagine. Kidnapping the daughter of The Sword?”
She felt a surge of pride as the words left her mouth. It was the first time she’d said that title without bitterness or resentment. After seeing her father through her mother’s eyes, she was finally beginning to understand the man he truly was. She just hoped she’d get out of here and have the chance to tell him that.
Not to thank him—oh no.
To yell at him for letting her go through life thinking he was a monster.
And Lochlan.
She hated that she’d spent their last moments pushing him away, convincing herself she couldn’t trust him. But was that really what had kept her from choosing him? Or was it because trusting him—really, truly trusting him—meant giving up something she had never been willing to before now?
Control.
Her entire adult life, she had relied on herself. No one else. Not even Ivy. Because no one else had ever been safe enough to rely on. But Lochlan…
Lochlan was different.
He had lied, yes. But not to manipulate her. Not to control her. Not even to keep the truth from her. He’d lied because he hadn’t known how to tell her the truth in a way she could hear and accept without blaming him.
He’d lied because he didn’t want to lose her.
And she knew—she knew—no matter what happened with these ass hats, no matter what they leaked, he was coming for her. And whatever happened next? They would be okay.
She loved him.
For the first time, she let herself believe love didn’t have to mean losing herself. And if she got out of this, she wasn’t going to waste another second pretending otherwise.
Raymond’s brow furrowed “How can she be the daughter of a sword?”
Jackson rounded on Gregor. “The Sword?” he hissed, panicked.
“You didn’t know?” Gregor’s massive shoulders shrugged. “I don’t live here, so it’s not like I could keep eyes on her all the time while you were gone,” he muttered. “But I never saw them together, and people say they haven’t talked in years. I heard their relationship is rocky.”
Nia let out a dry chuckle. “You heard wrong.”
Jackson’s head whipped back toward her, his face paling. “They can’t trace her here, right?”
CHAPTER 48
Lochlan
“PRINCE THANE ABSENT FROM PINNACLE MEETING—WHAT’S THE REAL STORY?” —THE DOVER CENTENNIAL
A single light glowed in the warehouse looming ahead, the building’s edges barely visible in the darkness. Inside, Lochlan knew there were thousands of chickens—and somewhere among them, Nia.
His chest tightened, the urge to charge in almost unbearable.
In the cow farm behind him, Wulfric, Ivy, and Becket were under close watch by Videt guards and two of Thane’s trusted men. Wulfric had fought to join the mission; in the end, Lochlan and Thane had won that argument.
Now, Lochlan was crouched behind a wire fence, hidden among the tall grass, waiting. For what? He didn’t know. Every second felt like a year. He just wanted to see Nia, to know for certain she was still there, whether she was hurt, if?—
“There’s movement.” Thane’s voice crackled through the earpiece Lochlan wore, his whisper deafening in the stillness.
