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He blinked slowly then asked, “What is it you require, Una?”
“To be bound here in the Moon Temple.”
For the first time since we’d arrived, he conjured a casual pose, crossing his arms and cocking one knee out while leaning his weight on the other leg. “We don’t believe in marriage, Princess.”
“But I do.”
“Whether we are or aren’tbound, our union is not a marriage as you see it. You will not become my queen with your sacred words. You will be my bedmate until I fill your belly with my child. That is all.”
His words sank heavily like a cold stone in my stomach. Whatever small respect I felt minutes before for him was completely gone now. I would be a vessel, his brood mare.
“I understand,” I replied with equal coldness, “but if I leave Valla Lokkyr into your keeping and bear a child, I will be considered a pariah to my people—ruined, regardless that I’m giving up my life to save theirs. Unless we hold the sacred moon-binding ceremony before we go.”
He stared, his mask vanishing, giving way to anger. But he said nothing, as if my request was ridiculous.
“I will not be the wraith king’s whore,” I stated bitingly, “at least not in the eyes of my own people.”
The wraith fae would know what I was to their king. And Baelynn would never publicize or likely tell anyone what was stated in the accord we both just signed to save our entire kingdom. If I was bound here, everyone would assume it was a proper union to keep the peace. That’s the very least I could hope for in this unholy alliance.
“I’m giving up my entire life. All I ask for myself is that you suffer through a short ceremony. If it means nothing to you, then why refuse me?”
He clenched his jaw, looking over my head at the moonlight spilling through the window, then he exhaled a heavy breath. “Fine. If it will keep you compliant.” He uncrossed his arms and turned to stalk in long strides toward the closed double doors.
“And may I see my father before we go?”
He stopped and turned. I wasn’t surprised he’d already been aware of my father’s illness. For he barely even blinked beforesnapping, “Go see him now.” He motioned for the guards to go with me. “I’ll tell your brother to get whatever priest is needed for this ceremony. But it is all to be done in less than an hour. Hurry.”
And those were the lovely words spoken to me by my soon-to-be husband.
I rushed down the corridor with my wraith fae guard on my heels to my father’s bedchamber.
Chapter 10
UNA
“Papa,”I whispered as I settled on the side of his bed. The guards gave me privacy and waited outside. “It’s Una, Papa.” I took his hand in mine. “I’ve come to say goodbye.”
The low, steady chant of the wraith fae outside reverberated through the thick palace walls. They seemed to be waiting for his return on his dragon.
Surprisingly, Papa opened his eyes and looked at me. I blinked back the stinging tears. His irises were full white now, only the tiniest sliver of dark purple rimming the outer ring. He’d lost his ability to speak seven months ago. He’d been bed-ridden for well over a year.
But sometimes, his whitened gaze held the lucid intelligence he had before the sickness had begun to slowly take his life thirteen years ago. Like now. The way he looked at me, I knew he heard me.
A luminous healing orb vibrated, hovering over the foot of his bed and casting a golden hue throughout the room. The healers kept a charged orb—called a moon chalice—radiatingout life-saving magick that fed into my father day and night. It was all that was keeping him alive. Sometimes, I wondered if he wanted us to just let him go.
Not for the first time, I wished I’d been able to create an orb for him myself. But that magick was long gone from me. I fluttered the wings at my back, reminding myself that I’d at least gotten one thing back that had been taken from me. Not that they were of much use.
“Papa, I’m going away for a while.”
The tiniest crease formed between his brows. He didn’t like it when I was gone. He probably hadn’t realized that I’d already been gone for many weeks.
I remembered how he’d scolded me as I lay in my sickbed when Baelynn had brought me back from Northgall five years ago. When he demanded I tell him why I’d gone, he’d become even angrier with me. I’d risked my life to find a cure for all of those falling ill with the Parviana Plague, this sickness that had crippled so many of the moon fae. And now, he was dying with it.
Parviana was the name of the first moon fae girl who fell ill with it. Nothing and no one had been able to stop the illness from taking her life.
“I know you hate it when I go away, but it won’t be for long,” I lied, knowing this was goodbye.
Näkt Mir was far from Issos, and I had no idea when or if I would ever return.
