I scoffed and turned away from the window. Was he raging because I rejected him last night? Although knowing Riyan, he could just as well be angry because he found a fly in his porridge or because one of the soldiers looked athim wrong.
Before I could think about it any more, my stomach growled louder than Riyan had. Wanting to ignore my husband’s tantrum and hoping a large breakfast would help fill out my clothes, I headed toward the smell of another feast. Once I reached the bottom of the flight of stairs, I peered from the stairwell archway into the cavernousdining room.
Hilda sat at the dining table and picked at a bowl of porridge. Nikkolas stood in front of the eastern window with his arms clasped tightly behind his back. I almost left the stairwell to join them when Nikkolas scoffed in disgust. I hung back in the shadows to listen in, hungrier for informationthan breakfast.
“He is worse than when we sent him off to General Hyton,” Nikkolas said bitterly. “Look at him, he is destroyingthe courtyard.”
Hilda met her husband’s distain with calmness. “Riyan isjust anxious.”
“Are you blind? He is not anxious, he is inanother rage!”
“You have not given him a chance since hearrived, Nikkolas.”
“Arrived bathed in the stench of wine, you mean?” Nikkolas snapped. “Or has your nose gone as blind as your eyes? He isa disgrace!”
I swallowed. Of all the terms I could use to describe Riyan, “a disgrace” would not have been one of them. No one who felled ten giants couldeverbea disgrace.
“Nikkolas, he is a war hero!” Hilda cried in a high-pitched voice. “You know boys always come back a little different after a big battle. Why, even just yesterday some of our soldiers got into alittle tussle.”
“I never asked him to galavant around the mountain and lop off giant heads!” Nikkolas shouted, turning around to face his wife. “All he had to do was get married and sire an heir. He had the damn first selection! And who did he pick? That tiny Ravenwoodgirl! Idiot!”
Hilda slammed her spoon on the table. “He is notan idiot!”
“What do you think is going to happen when that moron tries to have sex with her?” Nikkolas spat. “He is going to break her legs or snap her spine, or worse! He will crush herto death!”
I bit my tongue as an icy spider of fear climbed upmy back.
“He is not that cruel!”Hilda cried.
“Her dying is not even the worst that could happen.” Nikkolas slowly walked to the table, punctuating the tense silence with every footstep. “What if he hurts her so horribly she loses her mind? Do you want to care for another Astrid? Do you want to leavetwobroken women with him whenwe die?”
My head swam, but I planted my feet on the floor and grounded myself. My bones were unbroken, my mind was intact—I was fine.Just fine.
“Quiet, Nikkolas!” Hilda hissed quietly as she rose from the table. “She willhear you!”
“Maybe she should!” Nikkolas replied, not bothering to keep his voice low. “Ravenwoods are smart. Maybe she has alreadyrun away!”
I leaned up against the stone wall of the stairwell and took a deep breath. Father had seen the danger I was in, as did Derrick, and even Riyan’s own family argued about when and how I would die. I reached down and patted the dagger through my thick skirt, needing the reminder ofmy lifeline.
I was a Ravenwood. I was a survivor. He could notbreak me.
The stone wall shook as another boom thundered through the keep. I clenched my teeth and pushed against the wall, propelling myself out of the stairwell and toward the keep’s doors. I was sick of Riyan’s damn temper. Someone needed to put a boot in his ass before hehurt something.
Apparently, the tiny Ravenwood girl was the only person in the damn fortress brave enough to stand upto him.
I stood at the top of the steps outside of the open doors as Riyan hurled another battle axe. A trio of soldiers, including the captain, stood on top of the wall above the tree trunk. Those cowards said nothing and merely looked down at Riyan with a mixture of fear and amusement ontheir faces.
Riyan had flipped the tree trunk over so he could whack at new bark. He stood twenty paces from the tree trunk and threw another axe. The axe splintered off some bark as it bounced off, the shining steel blade whirling through the air before thudding into the grass off tothe side.
“You are going to take someone’s head off!”I shouted.
Riyan glanced up at me as I stood at the top of the steps. Sweat dotted his temples and wet the hair on his forehead. His chest heaved with his breath ashe panted.
Riyan took his eyes off me and focused on the tree again as he grabbed another axe off the rack next to him. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but thatismy specialty.”
He threw the axe with an angry grunt. The axe hit the tree and ricocheted into a nearby pen of hairy white and brown goats. The goats bleated in a panic and ran around the pen, but none of themwere hit.
I gestured to the terrified goats. “Calm down before youkill something!”
