He snorted. “I’ve never seen anyone get under your skin quite so much and have that effect on your eyes.”
I picked up the stack of letters and coordinates and thrust them into a drawer, then slammed it shut. “It is not she alone who disrupted my mood. It is the entirety of this situation. Bram is plotting something.”
Ashren’s lips pressed into a tighter line as amusement sparked in his eyes. “Is that why the violet in your eyes expanded along with your pupils, Your Majesty?”
I braced my hands on the table. “Are you actually suggesting that my head was turned by some wretched little creature that fell out of an unsanctioned portal?” I barely caught myself before I asked if he thought she was my mate. Fuck, I was slipping.
“Yes.” He didn’t even hesitate. That hint of a smile confirmed his amusement, perhaps even approval. He suspected the truth.
I slammed my hand on the tabletop. “Perhaps you would like to add inventorying the western storehouses to your duties?”
He raised his palms in an exaggerated surrender. “Have mercy, my king.”
I scowled and shot him a glare. Knowing that I was being unreasonable wasn’t making this any better. “I am certain your attention would be better directed elsewhere.”
“As you wish, of course.” He spread his arms and bowed his head. “I will inform Thea that the prisoner is to be given nothing without your express command.”
One of these days, I might have to actually punish him severely.
As he departed, I remained where I was, forcing my attention once more onto the maps, but I wasn’t really seeing them, the pull in my chest tightening again as cold seeped into the room.
Hannah of Tennessee was still in the dungeons, locked behind iron and stone, and somehow the distance did nothing to loosen her hold.
If anything, it made it worse.
In the silence, there was nowhere to hide. Images of her danced within my mind. The memory of searching her returned unbidden, making it hard to think of anything else, and other parts of me harder still. Fuck. I was doomed. And I wasn’t a man who would let himself be doomed.
I struck my fist against the table again, and one of the tins clattered off. The metallic ring echoed through the room, sharp and uncomfortable. Like everything else. I stooped to pick it up.
BAHROOOM!
The warning horn call tore through the night with a force that vibrated in my bones, a single deep note that set the wards humming and sent a jolt of cold awareness racing down my spine. The sound tore through the castle like a blade through cloth, deep and resonant. That wasn’t the measured call for a shift change or the warning for an approaching storm. Someone had escaped.
And I knew exactly who.
I was moving before conscious thought caught up, crossing the study in long strides to the narrow windows overlooking the inner yard. I braced my hands against the cold stone sill, pushed the window open, and looked down.
Shouts erupted on the icy wind, boots pounding in frantic disarray as the courtyard exploded into motion. Guards poured from doorways and stairwells, breaking instinctively into practiced formations. One unit sprinted for the main gates, weapons flashing as they ran. Another surged toward the castleentrance and the stairs beyond it. The rest scattered outward, fanning toward every access point along the walls as the horn continued its relentless call.
Bouncing golden hair drew my eye toward the eastern parapet.
There—running along the upper wall.
Hannah moved low and fast along the walkway, her dark coat blending too well with the stone despite the wind clawing at her hair. Even at a distance, I recognized her, as if everything in me was drawn to her and demanded I be as close to her as possible.
A snarl rose in my chest.
Two guards turned toward her position, shouting as they ran, while another leaned over the wall to look down into the courtyard, shouting orders I could not fully hear. She ducked behind the waist-high parapet, then surged forward again, hugging the shadows as arrows were nocked above her.
“Hold,” someone shouted from the tower.
Another voice barked, sharper. “There—on the eastern wall!”
She broke into a sprint.
The first arrow screamed past her, striking stone ahead with a shower of sparks. She veered instinctively, shoes skidding for half a breath before she caught herself and kept moving. Another arrow followed, closer this time—close enough that I felt it in my own bones.
My hands curled into fists against the stone.How dare they harm her!
