One of my warriors snorts a laugh behind me but quickly covers it with a cough. Dain glances at me like he is waiting to see if he should laugh or keep glaring.
The Goblin King strides toward me, and my magic surges instantly, bolts of blue energy snapping through the room so violently nearby Goblin servants squeak and flatten themselves against the wall.
The King halts at once and lifts one hand in surrender. “I don’t want to fight you, King Auren. I’m merely trying to hand you the document so we can get this over with.”
He holds it out to me. “Take it,” he says. “Read it. Search it for hidden clauses, blood magic, cursed language, or whatever else she imagines I have laced through it.” He shoots Vivienne a scathing look. “Tell your wife that all I want is her signature and the end of this nightmare.”
Vivienne moves to my side and points at the contract. “Check for magical clauses, Auren. I wouldn’t put it past him to try to trick us into binding me to him.”
“Trust me when I say that is thelast thingI want,” he says flatly.
She narrows her eyes at him and another one of my warriors coughs suspiciously behind us.
The Goblin King mutters something under his breath about impossible women and the downfall of civilization as I take the parchment from him.
Despite the fact that the other Goblins do not appear to be a threat, my warriors and their wolves instinctively tighten formation around us.
Vaelen moves to Vivienne’s side, his ears forward in alert as he stands guard.
As I study the parchment, the wording is exactly the sort of twisted Goblin bargain I would expect. It’s full of ceremonial phrasing, obligations, an inheritance clause, and language meant to bind descendants to the contract’s spirit even if the exact crown changes heads.
But the relevant clause is clear, and infuriatingly simple. A lawful marriage does indeed void the claim, provided the woman herself signs the nullification before a witness, acknowledging that she has entered another bond willingly and relinquishes all remaining obligation to the Goblin throne.
There is no hidden blood clause, magical reversal, or trap that would bind her here. Still, I read it a third time anyway.
Vivienne looks over my shoulder at the parchment. “What do you think? Is it as he says?”
The Goblin King folds his arms. “If he says it is safe and you still refuse to sign, I may surrender my throne just to escape.”
Dain barks out a laugh but quickly smothers it. Another soldier drops his gaze so quickly I know he’s hiding a grin.
Gods help me, despite everything, I feel the corner of my mouth twitch as well.
I look back at the contract, search the wording one last time, then lift my gaze to Vivienne. “It is as he says. You may sign it. Once you do, the bargain is null.”
“Thank the gods,” she says, smiling at me as if I’ve just given her the stars, the moon, and the sun. The expression slips from her face as she turns to Branneth’thyr. “I require a quill and ink.” She snaps her fingers. “Now.”
With a flick of his wrist, one appears and he hands it to her.
As she eagerly signs it, I gaze at my beautiful wife, stunned and helplessly fascinated all at once. She has done it again. Walked into the heart of danger and somehow made it rearrange itself around her. Pride swells my chest.
Gods. That is my queen.
The moment she’s done signing, a pulse of magic runs through the room, the contract curls in on itself, then disappears in a puff of smoke.
The Goblin King tips his head back toward the ceiling. “Thank the gods.”
Vivienne drops the quill and flies back to me. Catching her waist, I lift her into my arms. She laughs—a bright, joyous sound that fills me with warmth—and wraps herself around me, kissing me long and deep.
I return her kiss with equal hunger. I came here prepared to destroy a kingdom to get her back. Relief is too small a word forwhat crashes through me. When I finally lift my head, the Goblin King is staring at me as if I’ve gone mad.
A ring of blue smoke appears beside the throne, and anger tears through me as I recognize the Incubus portal.
In one swift motion, I pull Vivienne behind me and send an arc of blue magic toward it, instantly ensnaring the Incubus as he steps through.
He drops to the ground like a rock. “What in the seven—” His eyes widen as they meet mine. “What is the meaning of this?”
“You took my wife,” I snarl. “From inside our own castle.”
