‘You’re not sharing my bed.’I didn’t know whether to be grateful for or appalled by his disgust.‘But do you really think your baker would care either way?’
No, I didn’t.Or I hoped he wouldn’t.Yann had made it clear enough he would stand by me come what may, but I didn’t want to test him by spending – in his view – the best part of a year in bed with the devil who’d made him an orphan.
Raleigh mistook my silence for agreement.‘If he’s truly that fickle, he should be reminded that he’s a baker, not a duke.But you need not worry.When this is over I’ll set you up with whatever you need to live comfortably, husband or no husband.’
‘Those means no longer exist in the valley.’
‘My reach goes beyond the valley.’He held my gaze a moment, then tore it away.‘Five thousand gulden a year.’
I blinked.‘What?’
‘Your reward, if you free me from the curse.I know I’ve shattered your prospects if the baker’s boy doesn’t wait, but maybe this will help.You don’t have to stay here.It’s enough to set yourself up anywhere.’
Five thousand gulden.It wouldn’t buy me a palace, but I would be more than comfortable with that sort of money.I could rent the home I dreamed of in Salzburg, and there would be enough left over for books if I so chose – assuming there was no husband for Father to pay out my dowry to.
‘Those are my terms,’ Raleigh said.‘Free me of my curse before the end of the year and you will not only be free but you’ll want for nothing for the rest of your days.Fail and you become my bride and pledge yourself to me for eternity.Do you accept?’
I was under no illusions that his offer of immortality would be a gift.Everyone dreamed of eternal youth, but the immortal before me spoke of it as a curse.I would never starve again, my face frozenin time, and I would never again walk under the sun.Never again be reunited with those I’d lost.
He wasn’t giving me a choice, just as before.He had me regardless.So what was the point of all of this?Was he really offering freedom, or was this simply a distraction meant to placate me?
‘Why not a full year?’I counted the remaining months on my fingers.‘Eight months is barely any time at all.’
‘The end of this year marks fifteen years since I returned to the valley, but more importantly the end of the century, and that comes with … certain obligations I don’t expect you to understand.’I could tell he was skirting around the full truth.‘I would very much like a bride at my side when that time comes.’
‘And you expect me to agree to eternity with you just because you’d “very much like a bride”?You don’t even know me.’
‘I expect you to find me a cure,’ Raleigh said with a smile that was far too forced to be charming.‘Whether or not you succeed is up to you.’
He had no intention of explaining himself any further, that much was clear.I couldn’t think what could possibly happen on the anniversary of his return to Rostenburg that would justify forcing eternal life on me.Unless that was simply an excuse.From the start, I’d understood that our ‘betrothal’ was some sort of punishment for my father.Maybe that was all this was, and having a bride on his arm at his anniversary was a happy coincidence Raleigh wanted to take advantage of.
No.He was smarter than that.Iwas smarter than that.All of this tied together somehow, but he was never going to give me enough rope to allow the ends to meet.
Did it matter?Eight months was time enough for me to think of a real plan.And slim as my chances were, if I really could cure him, no one else would have to die by Raleigh’s hand.We would never again have to worry about the prince on the hill.
But that wouldn’t be enough to save the people I loved.
I was in a position that no one in Orlfen had found themselves in for the last fourteen years.For the first time, I had something Raleigh von Rostenburg would give anything for.Why he was so desperate for a bride didn’t matter to me.What mattered was that he seemed to be willing to trade anything to have me.Five thousand gulden a year was enticing, but Father had money.What we needed was water.
‘If I agree to this, I want something from you now.’
‘Anything,’ Raleigh said.
I took a breath.‘Destroy the dam.If you do it now, there might still be time to sow the ground before summer.’
Raleigh hesitated.‘I can’t reach Orlfen without the dam.I’d have to take the mountain road, but if the glacier is melting—’
‘I don’t care.That’s my condition.If you destroy the dam I will do what I can to save you, and if I fail, you have my word that I will be your bride.But unless you do that, I will never accept you as a husband.’
Raleigh squeezed his eyes shut.‘All right,’ he said, wincing at his own words.‘I’ll destroy the dam.And on the final day of the year, we will be wed or I’ll be human.’
Furious with myself, I held my hand out to him.‘It’s a deal.’
Six
IATTEMPTED THE LABYRINTH ONmy own the next morning.The sconces were lit this time, illuminating the halls with enough light for me to see the crimson splendour of the rug underfoot and the faded colours in the medieval portraits.I tried to calculate how long it would have taken Moira to light this many candles and realised it was impossible.Did the castle light them on its own?I was embarrassed at myself for even thinking it, but I already knew there was an enchantment on the corridors; it was no less absurd that its abilities might extend this far.I certainly didn’t think Raleigh would do anything as considerate as lighting my path for me.And if he were to light anything on fire for me, I’d prefer it to be himself.
The candles flickered.I turned the first corner, then swore when I realised I was back at my room.Stupid, infuriating bloody castle.
