Urien’s eyes widened when we left our suite. I wondered if Kat noticed, but she seemed focused on the end of the corridor like she’d seen a prize and wouldn’t stop until she had it.
With a nod, I ordered him to guard the broken doors. We would have words later. I didn’t know whether to kill him for letting that man in or kiss him for fetching me.
I’d smashed into that room, body and shadows coiled to strike. My hands clenched with the knowledge that under all the blood, bruises marked Kat’s skin. I had failed to keep her safe.
And yet…
And yet she’d saved herself.
Somehow that trumped my guilt, because my ember had erupted into a flame and utterly destroyed the life that had threatened hers.
Maybe I was sick. Maybe it was my unseelie side bleeding through, but I had never felt more proud than I did in that moment. Not when I earned my place in the Queensguard. Not when I was made Braea’s Shadow.
Nothing—nothing matched walking through the palace corridors with this woman on my arm, broken but unbowed, wearing her dead husband’s blood like it was a badge of fucking honour.
Just as she’d ordered, I chose a route through the busiest corridors. Mouths dropped open. Eyes bulged. Everyone who saw her forgot to hide their curiosity.
Whispers broke out in her wake, and Ella appeared at my elbow, pale and aghast.
By the time we reached the grand hall, she’d amassed quite a crowd, and more stopped in their tracks here, as folk from both courts returned from theatres. Even Cyrus paused as he swaggered in, eyebrows inching up. Their murmurs drifted with the lights, which clustered around us as though attracted to her.
Between the rumours and the fact she’d lived in my rooms for the past few months, we were beyond trying to hide what she meant to me. This appearance would seal that and, with a little luck, spell out that, not only was she under my protection, but she would deal with any threat ruthlessly and bloodily.
She nudged me, and I leant closer, alert to where she wished to steer. I followed the subtle pressure of her touch to the fountain and helped her step up onto its lip as an expectant quiet stole over the large space.
Inwardly I winced at the tightness around her eyes—any movement had to be agony, uncovering new injuries.
Stars above, was it tempting to just carry her to Asher or the Hall of Healing, but this was what she wanted and, I suspected, what she needed.
“People of Tenebris and Luminis.” Her voice rang through the silence. “I hear the whispers beginning already. I’m sure there will be plenty of rumours to explain my state. In case there is any doubt about the truth your kind love so much, let me be clear.” She flashed a smile, teeth shockingly pale against the blood covering her face.
“My husband, the man you all believed had a right to me, did this. And he did it because he thought that exact thing. He thought a contract drawn up by him and my father over a decade ago meant he had a right to me.” Her chest heaved as she looked out over the crowd.
Ducking, she scooped a handful of water from the fountain and used it to clean her face. As she straightened, she pointed at the cut on her lip. “This is where he hit me.” With a wince, she touched the back of her head. “This is where he slammed me into the floor.” She splayed her fingers over her stomach. “I have bruises here where he kicked me because he thought I was carrying another man’s child and couldn’t stand the thought of someone else sullying his property.”
Bile flooded my mouth, and my hands fisted so tightly my knuckles ached.
If that man wasn’t already dead, I’d rip him apart. Maybe I still would. There wouldn’t be enough of him left to bury.
My shadows curled around me, demanding it, and people nearby edged away.
After all she’d been through, she could so easily be a wreck curled up in a corner. I’d have cared for her if she was.
And yet she stood here, shoulders square, chin raised.
“He was going to kill me. I know that, because he told me while he had his hands around my neck.”
Murmurs rippled out across the room. This kind of violence wasn’t tolerated in Elfhame—it certainly wasn’t allowed under the law like in Albion.
“And yet this man?” Her voice rose as she gestured to me. “The one I choose to be with. The one who showed me I had a fucking choice. He’s the man you call oathbreaker, while you let my husband enter my rooms and try to kill me.”
There was no sound but the fountain and Kat’s words ringing to every corner of the room. The folk around us frowned, and a few glanced at me, then looked aside when they met my eye.
“You and your laws forced my hand tonight. When I was lying there with my husband’s hands around my throat, moments from death, I took his life. And in doing so, I claimed mine.”
My chest filled with her ferocity, and if not for the crowd, I’d have knelt at her feet then and there.
She surveyed them, letting her words sink in. This close, I spotted the moment she gave a short gasp.
When I followed her line of sight, I spotted a head of red hair. Her uncle.
Good gods, I hoped she would release me from my promise not to kill him. Technically, he was a foreign dignitary, yet that wasn’t enough to offset what he’d done to Kat as a fucking child or the fact he was responsible for Robin’s arrival in Elfhame.
But instead of falling quiet, she drew a long breath and gave her audience a fierce frown. “Remember this next time you cling to a contract long after it should’ve been broken.”
With a nod, she held out her hand, and I helped her down.
“You are fucking incredible,” I murmured against her hair.
She grunted and leant more heavily on me than she had before. “It won’t make any difference, not when your laws… your central belief structure… they all need to change and see some nuance in contracts. But I couldn’t not say it.”
“I’m not so sure. These things begin with one voice.”
I wasn’t sure if she heard me as she swayed on her feet. I knew the tired look glazing her eyes—the aftermath of adrenaline.
“Come on, let’s get you healed.”
When we turned, Faolán blocked our path. “Kat.” He started closer, and a growl rumbled from me, stopping him short.
I didn’t intend to make a sound, but I’d readied myself for one fight tonight, and my adrenaline hadn’t faded. Somehow, I held myself still and bit my tongue.
“Are you all right? Let me help—”
“Not now.” At his flinch, she huffed. “You know me, Faolán, and yet you still placed that contract above my wishes.”
He stood there, a giant fae who could turn into a massive wolf silenced by a five-foot-three human.