Matthias snorted, his hand reaching across the chasm between us.
‘Who?’ He glanced at a grinning Asher. ‘Who else would marry you?’
‘I’d rather shackle myself to Vyrus than some reckless prick of a king who’s ignored me for eight years,’ I hissed.
His jaw clenched as a warning flashed behind his eyes. I crossed my arms over my heaving chest, resisting the urge to pull him close once more. Pablo lowered his head, slivers of drool pooling within the yellowing grass.
Matthias closed the gap further, and the wolf lunged again as though he knew I’d crumble into the king’s arms. Asher’s grin widened as an exasperated sigh left my lips. The king cried out as the wolf pinned him down once more.
‘It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you,’ Asher said as Matthias failed to shove the snarling wolf away. ‘I was worried this marriage would make Matthias dull as ditchwater. I’m pleased to see how wrong I am! We’re all about to have more fun than I could ever imagine.’
CHAPTER 7
The besotted Goddess ignored the God’s demands to return. How could she go back to the cosmos when life on Eusis enchanted her so? Vyrus’s anger grew, until only one path made sense. For six days and nights he toiled, drawing together every fibre of sin and depravity from the furthest reaches of his universe.
On the seventh night he rested, gazing upon the monstrosity he’d send to Eusis. The meteor to eviscerate Evella’s beloved planet, forcing her to return to his side once more.
— THE HISTORIES AND PROPHECIES OF THE STAR-CROSSED GODS: CHRONICLES OF VYRUS
A muscle ticked in Matthias’s chiselled jaw. I grimaced, swatting away the hand he offered while we walked – limped – back. Part of me longed to laugh with relief, the other wondered what sound his cheek would make after a collision with my fist. My heart had cleaved in two at the thought Matthias would never bemine. Now, I regretted preventing Pablo from mauling him after he’d thwarted my escape.
I kept my stare firmly ahead, acutely aware of Matthias’s scrutiny. I winced at the tautness in my belly each time his gaze burned into me, a raw heat spreading across my throat. What did the king think of his former companion? I prayed to Evella he didn’t pity me. The last time we’d been together, I’d been creased up with laughter as Matthias tipped slowly over his horse’s neck, after it refused a jump. My mirth bruised his pride. Tears shone in his green eyes when he dared me to make the same jump. I’d not shirked a challenge yet, and Matthias knew I craved his admiration like the fallen crave the poppy. I’d been born desperate to prove myself. At the last moment, I forced a rogue tether free. I barely recognised the threads weaving beneath my already prickly skin, but I’d learned how to reach in and take. Ignoring the agony, the ribbon split through me and led my horse away from the fence where Matthias fell, driving her towards the hedge towering over it. The last time I’d heard his voice, he’d screamed my name as my heart hammered. His realisation the horse could never make it had been swifter than my own.
And somehow, this boy who’d crept into my bed to hold my hand when the dark was too complete, who’d been closer than my own shadow, hadn’t bothered to check how I’d suffered. He’d failed to say farewell before he left to become king. And now he strode by my side. Mybetrothed. I clung to the wolf, refusing to look his way.
A group of guards readied a pyre for the fallen diafol. Its contaminated body needed to be destroyed before any animals discovered a horrendously deadly meal. I glared at Pablo, sending him a silent message to ignore what he surely viewed as a waste of meat. The wolf looked up. I swear a smile crossed his face.
‘Don’t you dare,’ I whispered to him.
‘Dare what?’
I bristled at his deep voice. The initial shock of Matthias had worn off. He may have been my childhood friend, but now I knew it washimwho’d bartered for my hand. I wondered how much of his dwindling Vyrium stores he’d used to purchase me? The thought caused more pain than my throbbing ankle.
‘I wasn’t talking to you. Pablo keeps looking your way.’ I refused to meet his gaze. ‘I suspect he’s hungry.’
Matthias moved across me to look at the wolf, snorting as a low rumble ran through Pablo.
‘Trust you to have a wolf with an attitude problem. Are you sure he’s got to come with us?’
My gut twisted.Come with us. In his head this was a done decision. Had the concept of asking me what I wanted even crossed his mind?
‘We’re a deal. Can I at least have some say in keeping my only companion or do I need to ask permission from a husband I never chose?’
Matthias pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Would you stop for a moment so I can explain?’ I tilted my chin, staring dead ahead. ‘You were hisTribute. What would you have me do, Sorrow?’
I closed my eyes, twisting my fingers into Pablo’s fur as the icy stab of realisation punctured my lungs. The ever-noble Matthias wanted to save the bastard princess. In doing so he’d imprisoned me in yet another cage. ‘Here’s a unique concept,Your Highness. Have you heard of proposing?’
He tried to entwine his fingers with mine as he used to. I grabbed my skirts, moving further away as I clenched my jaw.
Romero and his remaining guards stood around the broken carriage. Tenner hung behind the others. The sleeve of hisoversized uniform hung in tatters, but he lived. I searched the ground for any dead and blew out a long breath to discover only a few injured, whimpering guards.
‘We’ll talk. When we’re away from…him,’ Matthias whispered, glowering at the king of Drufaera.
The white glow of Enfys’s gift caught my attention as she crouched down to heal one of the guards. For a moment, I gazed, awestruck at the beauty of her magic. How easily she wielded her ability, as though it were an act as simple as breathing. But then my half-sister had spent years training with the finest mentors in all Drufaera. I limped forward, my breath held as her shining magic rippled across her fingers before floating towards the injured man. It weaved over his torso, then blazed through his chest.
The sight blinded me, and as I blinked away the spots of both light and shade, Enfys stood, blowing a fallen curl from her face. I couldn’t make out her expression with the blotches across my sight, but I did hear her yelp of joy.
‘Matthias!’ Within a second, she’d covered the ground and the two wrapped their arms around each other. They fit perfectly, as though Evella had designed them to rule over Asmar together.
