It wasn’t threatening me; it was begging for help.
My breath falters as the burden of this monster’s pain sinks onto my shoulders. My heart squeezes in sympathy for it, followed by a sweep of anger through my veins. I know what it feels like to be trapped. To want more than anything to get free.
OUT, the monoceros drones in its familiar, hypnotic refrain as it stamps its massive hoof against the stall door. Its hoof is chipped from months of repeatedly kicking the iron.
Easy, easy, I say, holding out a gentle hand as I carefully approach the stall. You’re hurting yourself.
For the first time, the monoceros seems to notice me. Its wild eyes sharpen with a glint of intelligence. I can practically see the gears working in its head, trying to figure out why it can understand my voice in its head. It snorts a sharp warning, not trusting me.
Fae? It asks.
I shake my head. I’m not fae. You’ve been asleep a long time, my friend. The world has changed. I can tell you. I can tell you everything—
My message dies as someone clears their throat behind me.
Oh, fuck.
I pivot sharply, adrenaline making sweat pour down my temples. My lips fall open.
“Rian?” I say breathlessly.
Rian stands on the threshold of the same tunnel the mouse led me through, with a lantern in hand. He’s reclined against the wall like he’s been watching me for some time. He must have followed me. A clap of annoyance snaps in my chest, even though I know I should be worried that I’ve been caught.
“You, ah, weren’t supposed to see this yet,” he says in a mockingly casual manner, like I stumbled upon an unwrapped present.
“How long have you been following me?”
“Well, I knew you were trying to find something when you disappeared from our engagement party. I was going to task Wolf with letting you escape your room, so he could follow you and discover your aims, but he’s been otherwise occupied of late. And I had time.”
Otherwise occupied? What does that mean?
Heart pounding, I jab a finger at the caged monoceros. “What the hell is this?”
“A monoceros,” he answers plainly.
“I know what it is! Why is it here? How—how can it even be here?” My chest heaves as my voice echoes in the ancient stables.
Rian takes a few slow, unhurried steps into the stable. The monoceros snorts curtly, and Rian shoots it back a sneer. These two are used to one another, I realize. And there’s no love shared between them.
“A hermit encountered it in the forest last year,” Rian explains. “I had a team of sentinels trap it and bring it here, though it killed all but one of them, as it’s killed most of the grooms who have tried to care for it. It hates everyone. It loathes me. It won’t allow my father or grandmother down here anymore without thrashing so hard it threatens to bring the whole castle down. We haven’t found any way to tame it—or even communicate with it.” He gives the monstrous horse a look that’s both hateful and a small bit impressed. “At least, not until now.”
A muscle twitches near my eye. “This is why you wanted me, isn’t it?” I can’t believe it; this whole thing hasn’t been about marriage at all, but my godkiss. “To tame your monster.”
I stare at him with a twisted scowl as I realize how deeply his scheming reaches. For weeks, I’ve been under the false impression that Lord Rian Valvere bought me because of my prized hair and pretty face. I got it all wrong. He never wanted me for my body—he wanted me for my magic.
My voice is hoarse as I press, “The naked ride, the spectacle, the entire engagement . . . it was just for show?”
His cunning eyes gleam in the lantern light like dark stars. “A distraction so our enemies wouldn’t suspect why we actually wanted you. So they’d focus on your beauty and not your power. Dark times are ahead, songbird. The awakening of the fae gods is nigh. Astagnon needs a strong dynasty, including every weapon we can wield. Monoceros have the power to raze entire villages to the ground.” His voice catches. “I didn’t go to Bremcote last year to evaluate a fighter; I went to evaluate you. Our spies reported on your ability, and my father wanted me to see if it was true. So, yes, my family wanted you for your ability. But I just wanted you. That’s no sham, at least not on my end. I’ve wanted you at my side since I saw you looking so defiant, standing on a chair in a village church nave.”
I stare at him like he’s grown horse ears. Shaking my head, I blurt out, “But—but you barely looked at me.”
A dark chuckle rumbles in his throat. He takes out his Golath dime, making it dance over his knuckles. “Do you want to know what the other men at the Preview said about you? No, I don’t suppose you do, but I’ll tell you anyway. They spoke of your sweet face and sweeter body, built for obedience to a husband. They cited your godkiss as proof of your docility—talking to animals, what could be more pure? I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Idiots, all of them. They were blind to what I saw.”
“What did you see?”
“A beautiful girl who wanted to claw their eyes out. Oh, you have a sweet look to you, all right. I have no doubt there’s a part of you that’s as pure of heart as those men think, but there’s another part of you that blazes like . . . like sunlight. Your anger. Your grit. Your ambition.”
At the time, a year ago, I never dreamed Lord Rian had taken any notice of me at all, let alone peered into my soul. I’m shaken to my core. I force my chin high, not letting Rian see how deep his read on me is.
I sneer, “You saw all that in a half-second glance?”
He smirks. “Songbird, I make my living running card tables. If I couldn’t read a person in a half-second glance, I wouldn’t own this city.”
The monoceros snorts, thrashing his horn against the door. The pounding echoes in my chest.
I shake my head, scowling. “You expect me to believe you fell in love after only seeing me once?”
“Love? Oh, songbird. Whoever said anything about love? I wanted you after one look. Your pretty lips. Your curves. I wanted that defiant girl, the same one who rode up dressed in a gown of wings to shame me. I see so much in you, Sabine. I want to encourage your power. Help you grow it.” The Golath dime dances faster over his knuckles.
My jaw hardens. “So I’ll turn this beast into a weapon.”
“Well.” He flips his coin, then catches it. “That, too.”
My head drags back and forth at the depths of this man’s scheming. “Fuck you.”