Page 84 of Beneath a Shattered Sky
“Because it will likely kill both of them,” Cressida says, and I glare at her.
“Don’t you think you’ve interfered enough? Stay out of this.”
“If you kill my nephew,” she begins, then chokes off. Her vow won’t let her threaten me.
Gryffin says nothing. He’s just staring at the floor, waiting for the deathblow. On his own arm, a matching set of marks in the same rich teal as Prae’s skin shimmers, though I suppose she can’t see them. The thumb of his opposite hand strokes the mark reverently.
Prae gasps, and the sound is like oil on the flames of my rage.
“Please press your cheek into the dirt,” I snap, when he looks past me to her.
The last thing she needs after this is to have him staring at her.
It’s probably the most degrading position for a prince to be in, but I don’t care. It’s not enough. The tip of my stolen sword digs into his other cheek, applying pressure, but not cutting. Not yet.
“I made the boy do it.” Cressida interrupts a second time, but this time I don’t rebuke her. “I used his oath as my knight to make him form the bond by any means necessary if it looked like she wasn’t going to accept him at the end of the week.”
“How could you do that?” I demand, looking at her own mate marks, three different coloured swirls up one of her arms. “You forced a sacred bond, knowing how deep a violation it would be if it was unwanted.”
That is what’s pissing Danu off, I realise. The Goddess created the nascent bond between Prae and Gryffin, a promise of what could be, if they accepted it. She’s beyond mad that neither of them got to choose that gift for themselves.
“He is my nephew.” She’s unapologetic and every inch as regal as she can be. “I promised his father I would care for him, and I can’t justify the loss of him at a time when my people desperately need his magic on the front lines. This was the only way. Besides, Praedra is a warrior. She understands why I did it.”
“I understand,” Prae whispers, whipping all our heads towards us. “I—” She looks at me. “Can I leave this cell without causing a diplomatic incident?”
I nod. “Even if you do, it doesn’t matter. We’re done here.”
“Rose—” Drystan appears behind Cressida in the doorway, then freezes like he can’t believe what he’s seeing.
“We’re leaving,” I repeat. “We came here to get Cressida’s vow. We’ve got it.”
“You need to keep training,” he protests. “And Praedra is a grown female. She can sort her own?—”
“You’re not ready,” Cressida interrupts him. “You came here to win the war. Well, Autumn can’t help you unless the fucking army that’s hammering our northern border disappears. That won’t happen until we have a Nicnevin capable of driving them back. You can’t?—”
“I will do what I have to,” I retort, Danu edging my tone this time. “And that includes saving my courts.”
Taking a deep breath, I try to force the Goddess back, only to grimace when I realise she won’t be cowed so easily.
Compromise, Titania once urged me. How do I compromise when the deed is already done? And besides, I’m not the victim here; Prae is. Exercising vengeance on her behalf, when I’m not even sure if that’s what she wants, is wrong.
And who would I punish? The male who tricked her into a bond, or the female who did what she did out of concern for her nephew?
“Praedra,” Danu speaks through me, and I see the whole room wince. “Choose their fates.”
A blue hand takes my free one, pulling me back. Her simple touch shatters the rage inside me, turning it to concern and breaking the hold the Goddess has on me until I slump.
“I want to get out of this dungeon,” she says, her marked arm stiff by her side. “And I want to leave this stupid fucking court.”
Danu agrees; her eagerness filling me in a pulse that almost sends me running for the door.
“Rhoswyn.” There Drystan goes again, using my full name to warn me I’m not doing the sensible thing.
“Drystan,” I retort, just as icily. “You cannot seriously expect me to stay in a court that betrayed our trust like this?”
“We expect you to do what’s best for your people, like a Nicnevin should.” Cressida snaps. “A half-trained?—”
“What have I been doing all week?” I demand. “I’ve spent every waking moment flying or summoning ghosts and having them fight everything from your soldiers to more spirits. And if I wasn’t doing that, I was learning to fight for myself.”
