“Why do you hate me?” I asked.
“I despise everything about you. Just looking upon you makes me sick to my stomach for what your family did to mine.”
His words mirrored those of my mother, and they burned into my gut. I knew now why she became so coldhearted. I couldn’t stay in this marriage or this backward, antiquated country. I couldn’t stay here despite my mother’s orders.
I dug my hands into the folds of my dress and glared up at him. “I know you never wanted me. You made that obvious from the very first moment you spoke to me. You treated me with disdain, had your servants ignore me, did everything in your power to belittle and embarrass me, and I have done nothing to you.”
“I—”
“Let me finish,” I yelled, and Xander looked up at me, shock at my tone evident in his eyes. “I was forced to marry you too. Do you think I wanted to be married to a coldhearted prince who I’ve never seen? I have no more desire to be married to you than you do to me.”
That idea seemed to startle him. It looked like he had thought this was what I’d wanted all along. “But I’m a prince. Everyone wants to mar—”
My laughter burst forth uncontrollably at his confused expression. “Hardly. Not everyone wants to marry into the baggage your kingdom is carrying, and you are not the most congenial of suitors. But I am not unreasonable, nor am I my mother. I’m willing to make a deal with you—or should I say despite you.” I smiled at my own rephrasing of his threat.
“More deals,” he said in exasperation, waving his hands at me.
“No, listen. What do you want right now more than anything?” I asked.
Xander’s chin dropped as he thought. “I want whatever beast that’s plaguing our lands gone, and I want power to protect my kingdom from Florin.”
“Deal,” I agreed confidently. “And when I have succeeded at both, I will leave quietly into the night. After a few months, you can say I’m dead, have our marriage annulled, and be free to marry Yasmin.”
“What if you show up on my doorstep years down the road?”
“I won’t. There is nothing here that I want. Neither crown, nor land, not even you, Prince Xander.” As I spoke the words, I could feel the power behind them. Fate was listening in, and I worried at what I had just spoken into existence.
“And what if you fail?” he asked. “What happens to me?”
“Nothing, for we are already doomed to war. I can’t think of anything worse than war.”
“Death?”
“No, there are worse things than death.”
Xander paced back and forth in front of the cold fireplace. “You sure you’re not going to ask for my firstborn or anything, like your mother?”
“I swear.”
He nodded before unsheathing the gilded dagger from the belt on his hip. It was the same one he’d threatened me with the day of our wedding. Using the edge, he sliced his palm.
I was surprised. He himself was asking for our deal to be sealed in blood.
“You understand what you’re doing?” I asked.
“I know all about blood oaths.” Xander frowned. He handed me the knife, and I took off my bandage. My poor hand was looking quite pitiful, and I was sure one of the cuts would scar. I very carefully made another small cut in my palm and let the blood pool. Noticing we were without paper, I picked up the beast king from the chessboard and smeared my blood on the black stone before handing it to Xander. He mirrored my actions, and I took the piece back, speaking loudly and clearly.
“A bond made of blood cannot be broken. I will do everything within my power to aid your kingdom in its time of need, and when I am done, I will absolve our marriage agreement peacefully. I will leave the palace, never to return.”
“No firstborn children,” Xander reminded me cruelly.
“Nor will I take his firstborn child.” At the word “child,” I looked behind Xander and up to the portrait above the mantel. My heart ached for the stoic young prince. “I will free the prince to marry his true love.”
Wind picked up my last words of promise and whisked them into the air. I felt the stone grow warm in my hand. My fingers opened, revealing the golden light that poured over our contract before fading into a dull chess piece.
When it was over, I smiled, handing it to Xander. I thought I had done a good deed, but from the absolute look of horror on his face, I realized I’d made a mistake.
“What have you done?” he said softly in bewilderment. “What have you done? You tricked me!” he roared and flung the chess piece across the room. It rolled across the tile and into the fire grate.
“I did no such thing!” I was confused; I had done everything he had asked, even tried to bless his future marriage.
“You used the blood oath to curse me. As a prince and future king, I don’t have the luxury of marrying for love—obvious by our current arrangement.”
“But Yasmin… I thought you loved her.”
“I don’t.” His voice had gone cold, his lip curled. “As the rumors say, I am incapable of love.”
My breath caught in my chest as I realized that, if his admission was correct, and once our marriage was annulled, I may have cursed him. “I can make this right!” I took a step forward, but he held out his hand to stop me.
“Don’t! Leave, witch, before you curse my existence further.” Prince Xander stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
I kneeled by the fireplace and fished out the black chess piece, tucking it into my pocket while looking up at the royal portrait.
“You may not want my help, but the sooner I can provide it, the sooner I can leave.”
Chapter Twelve
On the second morning after Herez’s departure, news came and the palace was aflutter with servants running around packing, preparing for a hunting party. Gaven had found the beast’s trail when no one else could, and it was on the run, east into the mountains, toward Florin. I secretly hoped he would kill it.
The prince was a possessed man who wouldn’t rest until the beast was caught. He was gathering a small army, larger than any hunting party, with enough wagons and supplies that he could very well be gone for weeks. And according to a missive that I received from King Gerald himself with his own royal seal, I was to accompany them.
This is it! I squealed in delight. The king had acknowledged me. I could help and prove to them, and to myself, that I wasn’t a threat or evil as everyone believed I was.
Once I heard the news, I ordered my trunks packed for the trip. I wasn’t going to miss out on my chance to save myself from my sham of a marriage.
Throwing open what I thought was an empty trunk, I wasn’t at all surprised to see Gobbersnot had claimed it for himself and had already moved his favorite dresses and accessories inside, along with what looked like a few bottles of wine. My few dresses were packed along with my books, possessions, and medicines in the smaller of the two trunks.
“I think that’s it.” I dusted off my hands and directed Pru to have someone bring them to the wagons. It was time.
I hid my apprehension behind the dark shroud of my waist-length veil as I marched out of my room, down the hall, and out the doors of the palace and went to address the king and queen for our departure.