Page 23 of Saved By the Headless Horseman
Pulling out my creased vows, I hold them beside the offending note.I hear Krane drift closer as I survey the two writings.They are remarkably similar, just as she intended them to be.
“Look,” I say, holding up both notes to him.“Look at how the i’s are dotted here and the swirls at the end of all the y’s.Now compare them with this note.”
I thrust both papers towards him, which he thankfully takes.His eyes rove over each before looking up at me.His expression is unreadable.
“What is this?”
I cringe at the question, not wanting to answer.
“My marriage vows to Bram.”
Krane growls, flames snapping inside his pumpkin.
“More proof of your treachery.”
“I didn’t write those words,” I snap, before pursing my lips.“I mean, I did—I copied them from my mother.Whose handwriting is remarkably similar to mine.”
My heart sinks at the words I’m about to say next.Krane looks at me with unflinching awareness.
“Don’t you see?It was she who wrote this note my father gave to you.”
The depth of her betrayal hurts me.My father’s treachery was well known, but to think that she could also be complicit shocks me even now.
“I didn’t even know the duke and his son were in our house that night.After I had left you, I snuck in through the kitchens as usual.My father never alerted me to their presence—nor asked me to write a note to you.”
His eyes lock on mine, the flames unreadable.Krane’s gaze returns to the notes.He looks them both over several times as the silence stretches between us.My heart pounds in my chest.It reaches for him and begs him to believe me.He knows me better than anyone; he has to know, deep down, that I would never betray him like this.
“That cannot be.”
His deep voice wavers.For a moment, my heart lifts on a hopeful wind.His shoulders slump as he looks up at me.There is uncertainty in the flames, and I hold my breath.Only for my heart to crumble at his next words.
“This is another one of your lies.Confess now, or you won’t like what comes next.”
Ice envelopes me as I take in his steely expression.He won’t listen to me—he is too angry.There is nothing I can say now that will persuade him of my honesty.My final resort is to lay it all bare and hope that somewhere underneath this twisted form, my Krane is there.It is my only hope for saving both of us.
“I love you, Krane.”My voice cracks and tears slide down my cheeks, fresh and hot.“The happiest day of my life was when we handfasted in the woods that glorious night.The moon and the animals of the forest were our only witnesses.”
“Stop,” he commands, crushing the two notes in his palms.
I press on.
“In my heart, you were always my husband.I vowed to never marry anyone but you, and I meant it.”
He looks away, and I hold my breath.
“Then why didn’t you leave with me that night?”
I lick my dry lips.
“Because I was afraid," I answer honestly.“Afraid the duke’s men would come after us.I knew you didn’t have much in the way of money—we never would’ve been able to outrun them without the funds to travel.I wanted the chance to steal some of my father’s gold to help us.”
Krane says nothing.His mouth opening remains still.A few green flames flicker and snap, but his body only grows tenser.A lump settles in my throat as I stare at him.I feel the last warm tendrils of his soul slip away from mine.I’m losing him—I’ve lost him.
For the past month, I’ve longed to join him in death.Every night, I willed myself to perish to be reunited with him.This is more painful than death.Knowing he is still alive—even in this form—but hates me is too much to bear.I can’t go on like this.I was scared before, but clarity finds me in the fog.
With a trembling hand, I find my thigh and unsheath the dagger.There is a flicker of awareness inside the pumpkin.
“What are you doing?”he rasps.
