Page 130

“Adrian, I’m serious. You must take me to him.”

He stepped closer to me, rubbing his jaw where my hand had made contact. “That hurt,” he pouted, jokingly.

I sighed in frustration. He wasn’t going to change his mind on this.

If it was Adrian in jeopardy, I wouldn’t, either.

I’d never accept a plan that would cost his life.

I shifted my weight off my injured leg, finding it a miracle I was still standing.

Adrian stared at my leg, his face as pained as mine. “I’ll call for the healer.”

“You need to take me to Leo.” I tried one last time.

“No, Bryn.” He winced, hating the way he spoke to me. “We’ll find another way to deal with Leo. But right now, you need to have your leg seen before it gets worse.”

“So now you’re the kind of man who gives your wife orders?”

“If that’s what it takes for my wife to calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down.” I collapsed onto the edge of his bed. No longer able to stand.

Adrian took that as his cue to walk to the door, whispering to the guard outside to fetch the healer.

He returned to where I sat and knelt in front of me, reaching for my hands.

I closed my eyes as his thumbs stroked smooth circles over my skin.

“I’m assuming by your anger, and lack of shock,” Adrian whispered, “that you already knew your soul was connected to his?”

I bit my lip, running through the events of the past few weeks. “Yes,” I confessed. “Leo told me himself. But I didn’t know it meant our lives were woven together. I thought perhaps once he died, I would just lose the sensation of him, in here.” I pointed at my chest. “I didn’t realize his soul was actively feeding mine.”

Adrian frowned, glancing out the windows of his room. It was still dark outside, only a couple more hours until dawn arrived, bringing a new day with it. “There must be someone who knows how to separate you from him. Until then, we’ll move Leo to a secure location. We’ll figure everything out, together, as husband and wife.” He cleared his throat. “As the new King and Queen of Esmerelda.”

I nodded slowly.

I had gone from a soldier to a queen in less than a month’s time.

And now, with my memories restored, I had an entire life of memories where I’d been a princess. The past and the present blurring together, giving me whiplash.

In my current state, I didn’t feel ready for the responsibility that came with the title of queen.

In truth, all I wanted to do right now was rest.

Adrian gathered me in his arms, walking us around the bed so he could lay me down, the feel of his silk pillow like heaven as it formed around my head and neck. The memory of having one just like it soothing.

“King Adrian,” the healer announced his arrival by addressing the new king, his hobbling form nearing the bedside toward me from the doorway.

Adrian flinched at the mention of his new title. King was so far from what Adrian desired to be in his life.

He’d always been a simple man, with simple wants. A home. A wife . . . children, one day. His simplicity one of the many reasons I fell in love with him. He had never treated me like others did who knew I was a princess, saying all the right things, walking on eggshells around me. Now I wondered if his confidence was due to being royal himself.

King Adrian had a lot of explaining to do.

The healer continued his greetings. “And Lady Brynlynn . . . excuse me, Queen Brynlynn . . . if what I hear is true . . .”

“It is true. We have wed. Lady Brynlynn is now queen, and has been remade, with blessings from One,” Adrian said firmly, leaving no room for confusion or argument. He was getting ahead of the rumors sure to run rampant at court, and throughout the continent. The Esmereldean people might not know about Earth Two and The Nine, but they knew the rules of the kingdom, and that tampering with life and death was illegal, the rules of the secret council trickling down into the laws and politics of Esmerelda.