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“Not the almighty, fierce wraith king?”
His scowl softened, and a wicked light flickered in those blue-gold depths. “That’s right, Princess.”
Elder Lelwyn clapped his hands once, the shimmering strings of magick entwining our clasped hands and wrists fading. But they left behind a raised bracelet of flesh around my wrist, where the priest’s magick had burned brightest. I wondered if there would be traces beneath Goll’s armor.
“By the Divine Goddess Lumera, you are bound as one,” proclaimed Elder Lelwyn. “There now. All done, my king.”
But Goll didn’t immediately let me go. His intense gaze moved from my eyes to my wrist. He was likely wondering how long I’d have this mark and if he bore one as well. He released my hands, but when I stepped back, he wrapped a hand around my forearm and kept me from stepping away.
“You said only two times.” He searched my face. “Isn’t that right, Una?”
My brow pursed as I tried to figure out what he was talking about. “Two times?”
He held me tight but also gently, his finger at my chin sliding up my jaw, his thumb trailing behind to caress my cheek before he let me go.
With agile swiftness, he stepped around me in two long strides and grasped Gael by the throat. I gasped and covered my mouth, watching in horror.
When Baelynn went for his dagger, Goll’s second stepped forward. “Don’t bother, prince. King Goll will have his due.”
Goll pinned Gael to the closest column. Gael’s face flushed red as he clawed at Goll’s hand fruitlessly, his face contorted in fury, his wings beating helplessly. A deep, guttural growl rumbled in the room, raising the hairs on the back of my neck. When Goll leaned forward, Gael’s expression subsided to fear.
Suddenly, Goll released his throat, only to grab his right wrist and press the back of Gael’s hand to the stone pillar.
“You’re right-handed, are you not, my lord?” Goll asked mockingly as he slung his short-sword high.
“What are you doing!” yelled Gael. “Stop, no! Don’t! Please!”
I sucked in a horrified gasp, unable to look away as Goll sliced through the air and cut through flesh and bone, his blade clinking against stone. Gael screamed as blood sprayed crimson, two of his fingers rolling across the white marble floor. Elder Lelwyn fainted.
“Sacred goddess,” I murmured, nausea rising in my stomach.
Goll re-sheathed his short sword and strode toward me, his face lit with the raw brutality of the king he was known to be, his cheek sprayed in Gael’s blood.
While Baelynn tried to help Gael, who’d fallen to the floor writhing and screaming in pain, I stood in horror as my new husband stalked closer.
“Whydid you do that?”
“It was necessary,” he proclaimed, taking my uninjured wrist in his giant hand and leading me toward the exit.
“No! It wasnot.It was monstrous.” I tried to jerk my wrist free.
He turned suddenly, pulling me close, his face inches from mine. “This news will be spread everywhere. If they think me monstrous, so be it. But all will know the consequences to anyone who dares touch what is mine. That goes for my land, my property, andyou.”
I shook my head, unable to understand why he felt the need to be so barbaric.
“You desecrated the temple,” I whispered, actually afraid of the fiery-eyed demon staring down at me.
“She’s your goddess. Not mine. Now let’s be gone from this place before Issos learns the true meaning of a wraith fae pillaging.” Then he turned toward the door, dragging me along. “Come.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see one of the guards hefting my trunk onto one shoulder like it weighed nothing, the rest of the wraith fae falling in line behind us.
Baelynn still knelt beside Gael on the blood-spattered floor, having wrapped his hand in a kerchief. My brother’s gaze found mine, full of aching pain and regret, then he mouthed the wordsI’m sorrybefore he disappeared from view and I was hauled away by my new master.
Chapter 11
GOLL
We’d conquered Lumeria.The war was over. And I had my mizrah at my side, the high fae Princess of Issos. The knot in my gut loosened. Actually, she was currently in my arms as we flew on Drakmir to the encampment. As we lowered over the Bluevale River, Una stiffened.
