Her gaze snapped to me, fervor blazing high in her eyes.
“That man will kill me before I ever can think of killing him. You need to accept that this is the end of the line for me. There is no coming back from this. Ever.”
I spoke softly and slowly, enunciating every syllable with a heavy heart.
It hurt more to see her face fall, the light draining from her eyes.
“No. No, that’s not acceptable. You are supposed to be here, and we are supposed to grow old with our husbands and—”
“Miriam, stop. You know as well as I that there was no way I would survive to the end of the year. I know Mama never told you, but the doctor said I was to be dead by winter’s end.”
“There is hope.”
“There is none. I am out of hope, and I am out of time. These are the truths that I have been trying to contend with for half a year, and now these are the truths that you must bear as well.” I choked back tears, throat bobbing. “Please, understand.”
Tears welled in Miriam’s eyes.
“I can’t. I won’t.” Miriam gathered her skirt and ran out of the room.
I dropped onto the soft cushion, exhaustion weighing heavy on my bones. I desperately wanted to close my eyes and awake from this nightmare.
The ring, a sad glimmering reminder of the losses, was tallied upon my heart.
Shuffling footsteps came to the door. It was neither Mama’s, William’s, or Miriam’s, but a new familiar I had since become tied to—its evidence lay itself upon my finger.
“Are you ready?”
The question gutted me with cruel ease.
Curious eyes shifted beyond the doorframe.
I closed my eyes, summoning the courage to say no—to fight back—but found there was none. My will to fight had depleted, and I was, again, stuck with the all-consuming darkness. This time, it would swallow me whole.
I nodded, reaching out to take his extended, calloused hand.
“Shall we, Little Dove.”
{Excerpt of a torn letter from an unknown sender}
... I will not be rebuked. The throne is mine—his life is mine. I shall have his power—his crown—all of it by any means necessary. If it means playing to the courts and the council, then so be it. I shall make it so he shall never know peace if he continues to reject the alliance.
I will be queen, even if I have to get my hands dirty.
Seven
We rode in silence, the stranger never glancing my way. Instead, he favored the view outside the window. The carriage appeared to be a century old—perhaps even older. Its worn wheels and weathered cabin didn’t exactly fill us with confidence for the journey. I’d made the mistake of peering at the window and saw no one driving it.
It felt like hours inside the enclosed space. I stared at my hands, only taking small glimpses outside of the carriage.
The man sat there, legs crossed, staring out into the vast, dense forest, tall evergreens and oak passing us. Even with the night’s inky blackness covering the landscape, the moon illuminated the greenery in eerie wonder.
The leery silence ate away at my nerves the longer we rode. There were too many unknowns I was not prepared for, and many had to do with the fiction genre I would have otherwise never dared to read but was sitting before me.
“We are about to cross the border.”
I shifted. “Border of what?”
Under dark lashes, gold eyes flickered with amusement. “Castle Briar, my home.”
