Even as thousands of midnights passed on the timeline, Riyan and I would stand beside him.
So I looked into his Hyton Blue eyes and sent a message into his mind. From Birdie to Midnight.
We were, and forever would be,
“Eternally yours.”
When I was young, I was Lady Hyton. When I married, I thought I would be Princess Annalisa.
But as I stood in Bloodstone Fortress with a goblet of mead in my hand, I had earned a new title I had never heard of before: Divorced.
The word only existed outside of Lycaster, but it had still crept through the party and strangled me like a vine.
Soldiers and maids danced to celebrate their new Baron in the cavernous dining hall, but a few eyes occasionally tossed me a look as I stood to the side. No one really knew what to make of me, the divorced woman.
And even though I had chosen to claim the House of Ravenwood as my new home, I was not sure what to make of myself either.
Without being a wife…who was I?
I drained my goblet and looked across the hall. Endre sat atop the feasting table, filling goblets of mead from the spout of a barrel and handing them to the starry-eyed women who gathered around him.
I licked my lips. His dancing was delightful…until the touch of his skin sent a screech through my body like nails on slate and I ran away.
Endre’s wide smile as he chatted with the other women might have been evidence that I had not hurt his pride, but I knew better.
A calming breath blew over my lips as I tucked a curl behind my ear. I needed to talk to him again, at least to convince him that I never wanted to reject him.
I just…was scared of being touched.
I clutched my goblet and gathered my skirt to walk across the crowded hall.
“We need to talk,” said a stern voice.
I yelped and dropped my goblet. I whipped around, my heart pounding against my ribs only to find Erik standing next to me. His hands were tightly folded behind his back as he looked at me expectantly.
The judging looks of the crowd pricked the back of my neck. Embarrassment from my sudden outburst flared across my cheeks, but I shoved it down.
“Why the fuck would you sneak up on me?” I hissed in a whisper.
His black eyes scanned the crowd behind me. “How can anyone sneak up on you at a party? I merely walked to you.”
I quickly bent over and picked up my goblet, pretending I had never dropped it in the first place. “Fuck off, Erik. Can you not see that I am busy?”
“You can make a fool of yourself with the others later,” he said dryly. “We have matters to discuss.
I furrowed my brows and scoffed. Make afoolof myself?
“Who are you to judge me?” I poked him in the center of the chest. “Maybe you did not hear me in the hall earlier, but I get to choose who I am and what I do with my life.”
He looked down his crooked nose at me and did not even blink. “And all I am asking you to do is choose when you move into Ravenwood Manor.”
Move into Ravenwood Manor? Withhim?
I folded my arms. “I am not moving into the manor.”
A small crease appeared between his dark eyebrows. “You are a Ravenwood now, where else do you intend to stay?”
I was not going to let him win. I stood my ground, clawing through my deepest memories. “My grandmother had a house at the base of the mountain. I shall stay there and be the lady of myownhouse.”
