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What if there is a way to get Alisdair his revenge without committing treason?My mind spun, carried off by thoughts and theories as we ventured deeper into the dark forest.What if I went back to the beginning with Raelina?
Murder is murder. Outlawed in every land. While King Salman may be untouchable, he wasn’t king when he murdered his wife, Raelina. If I could find proof of what he did, I’d hand that proof to Shadowsoul and let him show the world who Salman really is.
I tossed my head, shaking that idea loose immediately. If there was proof of his crime, Alisdair would’ve found it already. One doesn’t resort to murdering someone’s daughter at the altar, or changing his mind and marrying his most hatedenemy’s heir to get his claws into her rightful throne... if he hadn’t exhausted all other options.
Okay, I can’t get him proof but what if I could... could... get him Emiana!
My head snapped up. That was it. Emiana broke the treaty and tricked both nations into an arranged marriage with an imposter. If anyone committed treason, it was her. She sabotaged the treaty that would’ve ended the war, and was indirectly responsible for Alisdair having to attack King Salman.
Salman tried to strike hisdaughterfor defying him and fighting the marriage, because said daughter was a fucking stranger forced to take his real daughter’s place. Treason against Lyrica, her interests, and the throne, and I had no doubt Alisdair could strongly make that case. And once Emiana was convicted, by law, everyone in her family had to be put to death.
Including her blessed father.
My mouth curled around the edges. Salman would hang himself on his own barbaric laws, and it would all be legal, undeniable, and unable to fall on me or my family. Alisdair would get everything he wanted, Raelina would receive justice, and with Salman and Emiana dead, Shadowsoul couldn’t use her claim to the throne to take over Lyrica.
He couldn’t use it anyway because he bound his soul to a poor peasant, not a princess. A fact I’d take great pleasure in telling him, while I impressed on him that he would be accepting my deal without argument or complaint.
I nodded to myself, grinning wide. I’d done it. I saved my family. I saved the boy. I saved Lyrica from a tyrant king and a terrible war. The only thing that could’ve possibly sweetened the moment is if I found the heart and destroyed it—saving all of Lyrica—but one mustn’t get too full of themselves.
Savior of Lyrica will do just fine. I wonder what second name they’ll bestow on me.I laughed. How delicious it would beto make Shadowsoul give me my second name. The woman who outran, outsmarted, and outmaneuvered him. When I returned, dragging the true Emiana behind, he wouldn’t dare to call me an entertaining little bird then.
“How premature.”
I snapped around, scream clogging in my throat.
“A mouse shouldn’t smile before it’s escaped the trap.”
Snow and dirt crunched under Alisdair’s paw— No, foot. He was rapidly changing, the beast clawing back under his skin for the smirking, handsome king to emerge. My horse took off so fast, she kicked up a wave of snow that smacked across my cheek.
My voice was a thin rasp. “How...?”
“Clever,” he hissed. “Oh, so very clever. I confess, I underestimated you. Spreading my mark on every male and man in creation. Using a decoy to carry me in the wrong direction. Masking your scent with that”—his nose wrinkled—“unfortunate smell.”
Alisdair started circling me, standing the hairs on the back of my neck on end. “Everything I was told about you was wrong. And to think, I was going to kill such a magnificent, intelligent creature.” I cried out, flinching away when a clawed finger suddenly stroked my cheek in the dark. “I bow to you, my queen.”
To my shock, he did it—bowing his head in deference to me.
“You are truly formidable. More than worthy of being my mate. My match. But...” He tore his clothes clean from his body. “This was always going to end one way. Come to me.”
“W-wait,” I cried, finding my voice. “Alisdair, please, you have to listen to me. I need to go back to Lyrica. I swear it’s important! You said I didn’t have anything to bargain, but I do— I will. Let me go and I’ll return for the boy with everythingyou need to get revenge against the king without war and bloodshed.”
He ate the distance between us.
“Or! Or,” I rushed, backing away. “Come with me. After I’ve done what I must, I’ll return and we can go together. There’s a cottage in Sarabai. A treehome in Rajadom. A guest lodging in Quatassa. Any one of those places could hold what you seek—”
Alisdair sliced the buttons of my cloak, letting the wind whip it away.
“—to get your revenge against Salman.”
The front of my bodice was next. Alisdair was a man possessed—slicing a thin, neat line through my clothes, unwrapping his mate.
“Alisdair, this is no trick. You have to trust me, if you do, everything will be put right.” I surged forward, grasping his face in my hands. “It’s not me you want!”
“I’ve told you, my queen...”
He waved his hand, and our surroundings melted away. The snow, the dark, the shifting shadows of the night—all faded.
“You’re all I want.”
