Vega grabbed my wrist and pulled me out the door.
Everything in me wished to fight but Vega dragged me as I begged incoherently.
But no one answered.
No one cared.
Cedric, the queen, and Sir Guardwin followed us out, and the large doors my father hid behind slammed shut.
My ugly, gnarled anger turned on Cedric, now standing in the hall. “You bastard!” Shoving hard into his chest, I screamed, “You fucking bastard!” But he did not move, his muscles tense.The big, repulsive aberration. “You Guardians-damned liar! You think I will marry you? You pathetic excuse for a man!” I shoved him again and again, slamming into hard, muscled flesh.
The queen and Sir Guardwin walked down the hall, unfazed at my show.
“Lady Elowyn …Elowyn! Stop this!” Vega said.
Cedric swiftly snatched my wrists.
“You arethisrepulsed by the thought of being married to me,” he practically hissed.
“You implied I had sex with you to my father.” My voice cracked under the weight of the pain.A whore just like your mother.My mother was no whore, and neither was I. Fuck the king. And fuck this place.
“Did you think I would willingly marry a man who lied about my honor to claim me?” I fought his hold, but it was useless. Defeated, I panted before him. “My mother was executed for less.”
Cedric flinched. “He willneverhurt you.” His voice sank low and coarse. “And your honor has nothing to do with what people say in this place. This is a castle filled with illusions and lies. But you should have learned the rules before you ever attempted to play this ridiculous game, especially if you did not wish to beclaimed.” He dropped my wrists and walked past me.
A fire burned within me, inflaming my heart as it surged in my chest, desperate to escape the fate of my flesh.
“Why are you doing this?”
He turned and looked back at me, shaking his head as if in disbelief. “You truly do not understand?”
“Understand what?” I practically yelled, tears blurring my vision.
“I knew you were naive, but I never thought you were foolish enough to not know your worth.”
“My worth? Is that why you’re doing this? You find some worth in a bastard daughter of the king? A daughter he cannot stand to look at. You think a marriage to me will raise your status so you can get closer to kissing the ring.” I let out a joyless laugh. “If I am foolish, then you, Sir, are a complete and utter imbecile about to marry no one of importance. If it wasn’t clear enough, let me tell you now: my father hates me and I am worthless.”
Those green eyes turned dark as a forest at midnight. “He doesn’t hate you. He fears you. They all do.”
Then Cedric Gyldford, my betrothed, turned and left me.
Chapter 5
The following morning was disgustingly sunny. The light shimmered on the snow that fell throughout the night.
I ignored the whispers and stares as we walked to my doom.
“They will not see us waver,” Vega said at my side through tight lips. She was always right there, with quick advice and a comforting smile, since the day I was first banished from this wretched place. Soon we would be apart.
Rain. I wanted rain. Sopping sheets of rain that hammered the ground and drowned us all. Highthorn, the king, his queen, Cedric, and anyone else who insisted I was not a human but a burden to be shifted from prison to prison.
We stood before the waiting carriage. There always seemed to be one to take me away.
Vega clasped my hands. “We will be together again, I feel it in my bones. Guardians willing.”
Fuck the Guardians.
She continued, “I’m proud to have been your governess.”
