Page 20 of Betrothed

“Oh,” said Zax in that curious tone he often used when she told him something about mortals he did not understand. “What is the husband’s role?”

Fawn laughed. “To do whatever he wants, of course!”

Zax hummed again, troubled this time. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and Fawn hated how relieved it made her feel to have him hold her. Even the fact that they were high up in a tree made it hard to justify to herself. He was a Skullstalker; she should never feel safe around him.

“Mortals are confusing,” Zax said. “Why would anyone tolerate that? If someone told me to serve them when I did not want to, I would eat them.”

Fawn had entertained the same fantasy. She could not count how many guilty fantasies she had about ripping open her husband’s flesh with her teeth and nails. Only when he had really upset her, of course. And she would never actually harm him. After all, he had never really harmed her. As husbands went, he was never that bad. Just… predictably disappointing.

Then she had traveled out of her small town and realized, to her shock and mild horror, that some husbands would not bark at their wives like servants. Some husbands took their wives’ opinions into consideration. And some men—some monsters—even made it their life’s work to make their wife happy.

“Maybe you have the right idea,” Fawn said hoarsely.

Zax nuzzled her hair. Fawn winced, waiting for him to bring up its undesirable length.

“I am glad he is dead,” he said instead.

“Yes,” Fawn said softly, a dozen unthinkable thoughts racing in her head. “Me, too.”

Guilt thudded at her heart. She was lying to him. She had to be. What kind of wife would want her husband dead? Gone, maybe, but not dead. Not ripped apart while he screamed. She had been horrified when it happened. Hells, she had tried to stab the monster who did it! But sitting here in that monster’s arms, high above the ground and underneath the house he had built for her, it was difficult to feel anything about Renly’s death but relief.

Fawn shuddered, squeezing her eyes shut. The drop below was dizzying, making her head spin. That was it—the height. Not the possibilities that had started to appear with each day that passed in Zax’s company.

“Earlier, when I asked about children,” Fawn began. “You said you could find some if I wanted them. But do you want them?”

“Children?” Zax swung his leg lazily, making Fawn clutch at the branch above them. He noticed her panic and stopped. “I do not feel an urge for children the same way I have an urge for a mate. Do you?”

Fawn ran her fingers over her injured ankle. The swelling was gone, and she had successfully walked on it this morning. Not for long, but enough to make her suspect that she might be able to make a run for it soon.

But until then… well. Then she would escape. She wasn’t really considering staying with Zax. She was just asking questions.

“Fawn,” Zax said.

Fawn fought back a shiver at his deep, attentive voice. “I don’t know. I always thought it was inevitable. Children just happen to married couples. It was my duty to give my husband children. And of course, I would love and care for them as best I could. But if someone gave me the choice…”

She trailed off. She couldn’t say the words yet. It didn’t feel real. She was going back to her real life soon, and all this would be over. She couldn’t entertain these silly fantasies.

And yet…

Distant voices yanked Fawn roughly out of her thoughts. They were barely audible, but Zax stiffened like they were on top of them with fire and pitchforks.

“What is it?” Fawn asked. “You said nobody can see us up here. Those hunters passed by easily enough.”

Zax said nothing. He was scanning the ground, which was hardly visible through all the branches. His tail was frozen around her leg, where before it had been gently stroking.

Fawn opened her mouth to ask again. Then she realized.

The voices. She knew those voices.

“They said it was holding something,” came Chastity’s irritated voice.

Then came Errol. “So what? It was probably taking its next meal back to its dungeon.”

“They said it was a woman. They said she was laughing!”

“So, Mother? You expect me to believe that my brother’s Fawn—my Fawn—would be gallivanting about with some horrid monster?”

She didn’t hear the rest. Zax scooped her up, holding her against his chest so hard that her injured leg slammed into his side.