Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
As if Ivory wasn’t in the room, her eyes were reserved for me. “I’m so relieved you’ve returned.” Her hands cupped my cheeks, and she pressed a kiss to my forehead. She used to do it every night before she tucked me in when I was a boy. Now, she only did it after great stretches of separation. Her hands dropped to my shoulders, and she brought me in for an embrace. “My boy.” She was a foot shorter than me, but she could still get a hold of me, surround me in a blanket of her affection. “Are you okay?” She pulled away and searched my gaze, unaware of all the arrows that had pierced my back on the way here.
“No misfortune befell me, Mother.”
She squeezed my arms before she let me go. Then the woman I’d known since birth disappeared and the ruthless queen returned. The warmth in her eyes faded as a winter storm covered the sun. Her shoulders shifted back, her neck elongated, and her face was stoic once more.
Her eyes shifted to Ivory—and stayed there.
Ivory held her gaze. She was still. Quiet. She showed no sign of intimidation.
After an eternity of tense silence, my mother looked at me once more. “She’s not permitted on the castle grounds. If she returns, I’ll consider that trespassing. And you know what I do to trespassers.”
When she’d met me on the battlefield, I’d hoped that meant everything had changed. That she’d let go of her anger and resentment. But all that had changed was her murderous desire. She wouldn’t rape or kill Ivory. And she wouldn’t hand her over to an enemy either. But that was it. “She’s a Rolfe—whether you like it or not.”
“Not for long.”
“You can’t break that kind of magic.”
“I can do anything, Huntley.” That warm greeting we’d just exchanged…it was like it never happened.
“Then I’ll marry her again—and again.”
That pissed her off. It was written all over her face.
“Our bond is unbreakable. Don’t waste your time.”
Ivory turned her head to regard me.
I kept my eyes on my mother. “Let go of the past, Mother. Because she’s a Rolfe now. She will always be a Rolfe. She will birth my children, and she will be buried beside me in death. And our souls will walk together in the afterlife.”
The pain was in her eyes. The betrayal. “Leave us.”
Ivory walked out and shut the door behind herself.
Once she was gone, Mother spoke. “Why are you doing this to me, Huntley?”
“I’m not doing anything to you.”
“You married her so I wouldn’t throw her to the wolves. That threat is over, and now we can dissolve this union.”
“I still want to be married to her.”
“Why?”
“Because I do.” Because I couldn’t imagine my life in any other way now.
Her eyes shifted back and forth frantically, unsure what to make of my testimony.
“Ivory got the information she was looking for from her books in Delacroix. She believes she has everything she needs to heal the dragons now. So when I return, we’ll have a weapon none of our enemies can fathom. She’s the reason this is happening, so you need to drop your prejudice.”
“I don’t care what she does. I don’t trust her.”
“Well, I do. I trust her with my life, which she’s saved several times now.”
She continued her hard stare.
“You need to let this go.”
That comment made her turn away, turn her back on me entirely.
“Mother—”
“You’ll never understand.”
“I was there.”
“Still not the same thing.”
“Doesn’t the fact that she’s helping us make you see that she’s not like him? She wants to do the right thing. She knows the throne doesn’t belong to her family—and she’s trying to give it back. What more proof do you need?”
“My eldest son deserves someone better.” With her arms crossed over her chest, she looked out the window.
“Your eldest son deserves to be with the woman he wants—and she’s the woman that I want.”
She slowly turned around and gave me a look I’d never seen before.
“I know that’s not what you want to hear, but that’s the truth. And it would mean a lot to me if you just tried. Tried to put the past behind you and see her as a different person. I know if you gave it a chance, you’d like her.”
She gave a slight shake of her head and looked away.
“She’s a lot like you.”
“Don’t insult me.”
“It’s not an insult. It’s a compliment. Because that woman always has my back.”
“She fled to Delacroix just like I said she would.”
“To get the information we needed. She never told her father she was there. The whole thing was clandestine.”
She kept her gaze out the window.
“It’s not going to change, so you may as well accept it.”
“And when she betrays you and your entire family, I’m just supposed to accept it?” She turned back to face me, her eyes hard like the butt of my ax.