Which meant she was Rangar’s Savior now. She’d never truly believed in thefralenbond, always uncomfortable with the idea that someone could own another’s soul, but she couldn’t denythat a powerful bond existed between them. In a way,Rangarwas her duty just as much as this marriage was.
“Trei, stop!” She gasped and sat up, crossing a hand over her chest. Her face twisted as tears threatened. “I’m so sorry. I can’t do it. I wanted to, I tried to, but I can’t stop thinking about him . . . ”
Surprise passed over Trei’s face like a mottled patch of shade. As soon as her tears appeared, he let go of his belt and dragged her into his arms, holding her on his lap.
“Shh, Bryn, it’s all right.” He stroked her back. “I just . . . ” He gave a deep sigh. “Thank the gods.”
She looked up at him in surprise to find that his face was just as strained as hers.
“I’m sorry, too,” he said. “I was going to try, but I couldn’t get my mind off Saraj,” he confessed. “She’s all I’ve thought about today. Ever since my father suggested this plan, I know it’s been torturing her. And me.” He pulled Bryn closer and pressed his forehead against hers.
Relief filled her that she wasn’t alone in this. For as calm and confident as Trei had seemed, it had only been an act. He’d been just as conflicted over making love to a woman that wasn’t Saraj.
“What are we going to do, Trei?” she whispered.
“I don’t know.” He stroked her back softly. “They’ll know if the marriage isn’t consummated.”
“How could they possibly know?” she asked.
Eventually, it would stir suspicion if she didn’t fall pregnant within a few months, but that felt like a lifetime away, more than enough time to figure out a better solution.
“Your people don’t have magic as we do,” he said and indicated a hexmark halfway up his bicep that looked like a series of sun symbols. “This lets us see auras. They’re a sort of hazy colored light surrounding a person. It’s helpful to know if someone is being deceptive.”
“You mean they’ll know if we’re lying?” she finished.
He nodded. “Few people have this hexmark, but my aunt is one. She’d take one look at us and know.”
“Couldn’t we convince her to keep it secret?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think she’d keep it secret forever, not when others could see the deceptive aura, too.” He paused, dragging a hand over his jaw. “We don’t have to make a public appearance until the Wedding Tour when we ride to the villages of the Baersladen so the common folk can meet their new queen. That isn’t for a week. That buys us a bit more time. I’ll speak with my aunt and ask her to remain quiet until then.”
Bryn buried her face in his chest and nodded.
A few more days before losing her virginity to Trei wasn’t a perfect solution, but at least it would give her time to talk to Rangar first. She’d never forgive herself if she let Trei bed her while Rangar was just overhead, prowling around the tower, imagining all the ways she’d betrayed him.
“So, then, what do we do now?” she asked.
He ran a hand down the length of her hair. “Now, princess, we get some sleep.”
Her whole body sagged with exhaustion. She hadn’t realized how strung out she’d been until this moment of relief, knowing that the consummation didn’t have to happen that night.
She flopped onto the bed without bothering to pull on the lace nightgown Helna had made for her. Trei slipped between the sheets next to her. She found herself scooting close to him, letting him wrap a hand around her small frame.
They fell asleep like that, in each other’s arms but each dreaming of someone else.
Chapter
Eight
A NEW TRADITION . . . colored auras . . . Wedding Tour plans . . . forbidden to be alone . . . secrets in the steam
Knock, knock.
In the morning, a kitchen maid brought in a tray of scones and pine leaf tea, blushing to find the future king and queen still in bed and half-naked.
“Oh! I’ll leave this . . . here.” The maid set the tray on the foot of the bed and scampered off, already giggling behind her hand.
“Great.” Bryn moaned as she sat up, rubbing her eyes. “I suppose we should prepare ourselves for gossip to sweep through the castle like the plague.”
