One finger at a time, he released his friend. Neve took several large steps away, his whole body shaking. “I am sorry.” The urge to tackle the berserker and beat him until he stopped moving was still strong and shocking.
Green-and-pink lights danced in the sky like a flag in the breeze. He focused on it while getting his irrational feelings under control.
“It’s fine.” Olwen sighed. “You know as well as I do that most bonded couples have to spend a few weeks—just the two of them—for the bond to calm down. You’ve been denied a proper bond and the company of your mate. It’s understandable.”
Neve glanced at his friend.
Olwen coughed, his eyes watering and edged with white. “There was nosaloesblood on them, only Loriian, but I do have a confession.”
“Do you think that’s wise in his current state?” Flyka asked drolly, like Neve wasn’t even there.
“I won’t keep hiding it from him.” Olwen squared his shoulders. “When I discovered her, I had intended to drag her to you by her hair if needs be. But when her emotions filtered through my senses...” He shook his head with true sorrow coloring his expression. “Shewanteddeath. She begged me tokill her quickly but far away from the people that she’d taken shelter with.”
A dull roar echoed in his ears. Isn’t that what he’d accused her of this morning? “But you did not bring her to me. Why?”
“You weren’t in a good place. We’d lost many men that day, and I wasn’t sure how you’d react to Dahlia. You kept insisting that you weren’t bound, but I knew the signs. I protected you and the innocents involved.”
“They weren’t innocent if they were harboring a murderous queen,” Flyka snapped, her calm finally breaking.
Olwen’s eyes flared whiter, and he squared off with the Haunt. “You didn’t even know she was here underneath your nose. How many times have you crept through the village collecting secrets? You never discovered her, and you knew what she looked like. Why would the people of this rural town think she was anything but the halfling she pretended to be?” His hands clenched at his sides. “If you want to punish children, then go on, but I will not do it. Ever.”
“Children?” Neve murmured woodenly. “She had a child? With her?” His mind clung to the thought. If Dahlia was in league with her parents, why had she been hiding in Loriia? Returning home after her betrayal made sense. This was the missing piece to the puzzle.
Nausea swirled in his stomach, but the more he thought about the possibility of a child, the more it made sense. Had the Asteran monarchy saddled him with an unwed mother? Was it a baby she was trying to protect?
“No, no, no,” Olwen said, eyes comically wide. “It was no babe, but a boy. He knew I meant to end her. He came out prepared to fight, but she managed to wrangle him back inside. That was when she begged me to make the death clean and out of view. It was to protect the boy.”
“And you’ve kept this to yourself this whole time?” Flyka demanded. “That is valuable information.”
“Yes. To protect our king. Just like you do every day.” Olwen tossed his hands into the air. “I gave her a timeline. She had a week to say goodbye in which I hoped that we would have captured theqovvingAsteran king.”
“And I would have been in a better mindset to receive her,” Neve replied. “But she came early because of the attack.” And it set his instincts off one hundredfold.
“I assume so.”
Flyka sighed. “I wish you had told me, Olwen.”
He scoffed. “As if you would have been more reasonable than our king. Don’t think I’m not aware of you calling in every favor owed to you to find Lia in the last few months. You’ve hunted her not just for Neve but because of your own hurt.” He looked from Neve to Flyka. “We have always protected each other. My loyalty is to you both and Eyri and partially to Dahlia.”
Flyka hissed and Olwen scowled. “Get over it. He’s bound to her. You know if she dies, he’ll pine for her and waste away.”
“I was supposed to have a human queen to avoid this,” Neve cut in.
A sickly human queen had been the perfect solution for peace. The marriage should have been short-lived with perhaps an heir as an added bonus. She was not supposed to worm her way into his hearts so easily. This was his fault. He had let his guard down, and these were the consequences.
“I avoided a giantess bride because I thought I could not care for a human.” He swallowed hard, wanting to scream at the heavens at the injustice of it all. “Now I am bound to someone who hates me so much, she would rather kill me than let me touch her.”
It was his secret shame.
She had worn that poison ring since the beginning. Many times, he had let his guard down, and she could have struck. But it was only when he had let his hands wander and his lips indulge in her sweetness that she betrayed him.
It was not a mistake he would make twice.
Well . . . three times.
“We have to tell the others.” Neve looked at his two friends. “Rumors are already circulating amongst the men. We need to control what is said, and we need to use thetraitoragainst her own father.”
“We need more information before we risk such a thing,” Flyka responded.
