“You camewillinglyto the castle that your enemy overtook?”
There was an edge in his voice. The temper she knew all too well was returning, but she only narrowed her eyes right back at him.
“If you thought we were going to let you rot down here, you were mistaken. I had to do whatever I could to save you. Was it Broderick who helped you get captured by Carr’s men? He’s the one who killed Trei, Rangar. I’m sure of it.”
He released her wrists and sat back on his heels, running a hand through his tangled hair. “How do you know?”
She told him about smelling Broderick’s citrus liquor in the newlywed chamber.
“By the gods. Yes, I realized Broderick was our spy when he led Carr’s men to intercept me, but I had no idea just how traitorous that man was. I’ll kill him for what he’s done.” He briefly pinched the bridge of his nose before saying, “You should have continued to the Wollin. You aren’t safe here.”
“Captain Carr thinks I’m loyal to him,” she explained. “Val and I, with the help of Duke Dryden’s men, staged an escape in Ardmoor. We made it appear that I was Val’s captive. Mir soldiers brought me back here, and I convinced Captain Carr I was an unwilling prisoner in the Baersladen.”
“Carr visited me a few days ago,” Rangar said darkly. “He claimed he plans on marrying you and becoming king.”
She swallowed, feeling sick all over again. “Yes, I know. He hasn’t brought it up to me yet, but everyone in the castle knows that’s his intention.” She added softly, “It’s okay—I can draw out an engagement for the time it will take us to get you out of here. There’s no way I’m actually marrying him, of course. I’d die before I’d let him be king.”
“And Val?”
“He returned to the Baersladen to enlist help. He’s going to bring soldiers and falconers and mages. But we need you to lead the uprising. You’re the only one with the military training to determine how to take down Captain Carr and those loyal to him.”
“Get me out of this cell,” Rangar promised, clutching her hand tightly. “And I’ll handle the rest. It would help to have a map of the castle and the names of any rebels in Mir Town who haven’t yet been thrown in jail.”
She bit her lip. “I’ll see what I can do. Captain Carr has a tight rein on me.”
Rangar flinched at the imagery her words evoked. He reached through the gap to cup her cheek.
“It makes my blood harden to think of that man’s hold over you.”
“Carr needs me alive,” she assured him. “He won’t hurt me as long as he thinks he can use me to become the legitimate king.”
Her forehead and shoulders pressed against the bars, wanting to be as close to him as she could. She touched his face gently where the scars began near his hairline and then ran the pads of her fingertips lightly over his eyes.
His eyelids sank closed. A moan slipped out of his throat.
“I should have brought you water,” she whispered. “And food.”
“I’m fine.”
“I’ll come back with something for you to eat.”
Eyes still closed, he leaned his head into her palm. “This is all I need.”
A delicious shudder ran through her. For so long she’d denied that thefralenbond was what bound them together. She’d insisted to herself and anyone who would listen that their love didn’t have anything to do with who saved who’s life. Now, however, the tugging sensation within her made her second-guess herself. She’d never felt this way around anyone. Being away from Rangar had felt like a stitch had come loose in her heart, steadily leaking blood into her body, poisoning her other organs.
But now that she was back with Rangar, the stitch was healed. She practically trembled with feeling whole, feelingright.
“You feel it too, don’t you?” he whispered, opening his eyes to study hers.
Her lips were shaking as she said, “The bond?”
“I don’t care what you call it. Just that you feel it. Forme, not for anyone else. Not for that usurper Captain Carr. Not for my brothers. For me.”
His hand folded around her waist, pulling her as close as the bars would allow. The cold metal pressed into her thighs and against her chest like it was taunting her. She wanted to be flush with Rangar, not bars.
“Just you,” she whispered.
He combed his other hand through her hair at the back of her head, his eyes simmering. “Good. I’ve had to endure you being married to one brother who’s gone now. Then posing as the wife of the other. Bryn Lindane, when are you going to bemine?”
