My legs began to shake, and I shifted my gaze to my father as he spoke.
“King Adrian. It is a grim welcome I extend to you,” he said, his voice resonating within the great hall.
“A welcome all the same,” Adrian said. His voice drew and held my attention, and I watched his lips as he spoke, not with the voice of a monster but the voice of a lover. “I accept.”
“You and your army have quite the reputation,” my father said.
“A reputation that has you contemplating surrender before bloodshed,” Adrian said and inclined his head slightly. “Smart.”
“Some have called me a coward,” Father said. “For considering your proposal.”
The tension in the great hall grew.
“Do you care what others think, King Henri?”
“I care about my people,” he said. “I want them safe. Is that your offer, King Adrian? That you will keep my people safe?”
The vampire stared at my father for a long moment, studying him with a different intensity, as if he were trying to decide if he was being truthful.
“How much freedom do you wish for your people to have?”
My father did not answer immediately. Finally, I shifted my gaze and saw him lean forward.
“Are we bargaining, King Adrian?”
The vampire offered a small shrug. “I have an offer.”
Father waited, and when Adrian did not continue, he prompted, “What is this offer?”
“I want your daughter. To wed, of course,” he added, as if it were an afterthought.
“No,” Commander Killian said instantly.
Adrian glared and so did I, even though I was still trying to process the enemy king’s words. Had he just asked for my hand in marriage? My legs began to shake for a very different reason now, and for a moment, I feared my knees would buckle. Instead, I curled my fingers into my palm, letting my nails pierce the skin. I would not show weakness before this creature, though I’d already managed to do that in the clearing.
“You wish to wed my—no,” my father said definitively.
I did not want to be married, least of all to this man.
Adrian stared at him. “You would choose war so quickly? I thought you cared for your people.”
“He does care,” I said and took a step forward, angered by his accusation.
“Issi.” My father made to reach for me, but it was Commander Killian who intervened and stepped between me and the Blood King.
“King Adrian has asked for my hand,” I said. “Am I not allowed to speak?”
“These are matters for kings,” Commander Killian said. His voice was low and grated against my ear.
I wanted to push him away, but I reined myself in, offering a command instead. “Back to your post, Commander.”
He was reluctant to obey, and if we had been alone, he wouldn’t have. Still, he fell back and returned to my father’s side. When my gaze turned back to Adrian, he looked amused.
“If you wanted a wife, why did you wait until now to ask for my hand?”
“I did not know I wanted one until today,” he replied.
My frustration spiked. Had he decided when we’d met earlier in the wood? Had I had the same effect on him as he did on me?
“Attraction hardly makes a marriage, King Adrian,” I said.
“It makes a bearable one,” he said. “Wouldn’t you say, Princess?”
So you want to fuck me, I thought, narrowing my eyes. We did not even need vows for that, but somehow, offering myself to the Blood King without a marriage contract felt worse than losing my freedom.
“Unless it is marriage to a monster,” I said. “Then it is merely captivity.”
There were a few murmurs from the crowd, quickly silenced by Adrian’s reply. “If you will not agree, then we will have war,” he said simply.
“A battle I will gladly fight!” my father shouted, getting to his feet, and a few members of the crowd cheered along with his declaration. His words were visceral, and I knew he meant them, even if I also knew he would die, and it was that reality I could not face.
How had I suddenly become the prize to be won in battle?
“Father—” I started to speak but was silenced.
“Isolde, leave. Immediately.”
The arms of the guards at the exits rattled as they hoisted their weapons, and the lords and ladies who had crowded into the hall began to scream and murmur, pressing into the walls.
This could not happen. It would mean slaughter. Commander Killian had come around my father’s throne, his hand taking my arm before I jerked away.
Why was he always touching me?
“I will not be dismissed!” I said.
“Princess—”
“Your princess wishes to speak,” Adrian said. “Let her.”
The last two words were spoken with warning. My heart was still racing, adrenaline surging through my blood. I looked to my father, whose watery blue-green eyes were desperate.
Don’t, he begged.
I have to, I mouthed. As much as he did not want to lose me, I could not lose him. I could not lose our people. I’d wanted to be their queen to protect them, and I still would, but not in the way I expected.
I turned to Adrian, taking a step toward him. I could feel everyone in the room stiffening, tightening their holds on their weapons. The tension was already a battle, and the phantom smell of blood permeated the air although none had been shed yet.
Still, I held the Blood King’s gaze, focused on him so completely, it was as if he were the only person in the room. The longer I looked, the easier it was. It helped that he was beautiful, but I also became interested in things I shouldn’t, like the bow of his lips and the faint scar over his cheek I had not noticed earlier.
I refused to take a breath before speaking, fearing it would sound more like a shudder. “King Adrian, if you maintain you will protect my country, my people, my father, then I will agree to marry you.”
Adrian’s lips curled, but it was a smile that did not last long when Commander Killian protested. “My princess, you can’t marry this monster! I won’t let you!”
Adrian scowled. “You won’t let her?”
“Quiet, creature. You are a curse upon our lands!”
The commander drew his sword, and the guards followed.
I turned, facing Killian, blocking Adrian. It was not a smart decision. I did not know Adrian, he was the enemy, and I was giving him my back, but I could not let things progress.