His mother was wrong. It didn’t matter where Marissa Kane came from or who she’d fought for in the past. She was with them now.
The duel continued for a few minutes more before, to everyone’s shock, Marissa swept Drake’s legs out from under him. She put her boot-clad foot on his chest to keep him from getting up and angled her sword at his neck.
“Do you concede?” she asked.
He tried to shove her away in response. A gasp rang out when she flicked her sword to nick Drake’s cheek. A thin stream of blood ran from the tiny cut.
He cursed. “You’d dare draw the blood of a prince? Arrest her!”
No one moved. The guards were frozen in shock that a mere woman had beaten their prince.
“Arrest her!” he yelled again. This time, a few guards moved in, but Marcus jumped forward.
“There will be no arrest, you fool. You shouldn’t be dueling with steel blades, and your arrogance will not be cause for me to throw someone in the dungeons.” He shook his head, his long hair falling over his shoulders.
Marissa pushed her sweaty hair back and let Drake climb to his feet.
“You have no right, brother.” Drake wiped the blood from his face.
Marcus’ anger broke free and his voice lowered into dangerous tones. “I am king,” he boomed. “I have every right. You will obey my word, brother.” He turned to his mother, who shot him a disapproving look. “And you will learn to speak to me as the ruler of Dreach-Sciene. Father chose me as his successor. Me! I am no longer only your son. I am the king. If you cannot accept that, I will send you to live in Lord Coille’s estate in Whitecap.”
He didn’t wait for them to respond before he stormed off. His anger began to dissipate as he realized he’d just chastised his mother and brother in front of half the palace guard. A sigh worked up from his lungs. Was he so wrong? He stopped halfway down the hall and leaned against the cool stone wall, trying to catch his breath.
He sensed her presence before raising his eyes to meet the sea of green in Marissa’s gaze. She gave him a tentative smile. “Thanks for not throwing me in the dungeon.”
He chuckled, his gut loosening. “Trust me, I want to take my brother down a notch on a daily basis. I understand your impulse.”
“He’s rather ass-like, isn’t he?”
“Always has been. He wants to be king.”
Her smile dropped. “I’m sorry. About your mother too.”
“Will you go somewhere with me?”
She nodded, holding out her hand for him to take.
He needed to get out of the palace even if it was only for a few hours. These walls were suffocating him with their doubt. He led Marissa towards the stables and she didn’t question it when he directed a stable lad to saddle two horses. She mounted hers and followed him past the gates. They were followed by a few guards who kept their distance.
Once outside the palace walls, Marcus kicked his horse and cantered down the path towards the forest. They weren’t going far, just searching for some people.
The forest was humming with the life magic sustained. Flowering trees dropped their petals onto the path adding to the beauty.
“As a boy, I was never allowed far from the palace,” he began. “So I started coming to the forest. Some of the time, my father even came with me.”
“What about Drake?”
“No.” He dropped his eyes to the reins. “Drake was never one for frivolous ventures. Even as a kid.”
He didn’t say any more. He and his brother shared a closeness created on the battlefield. It was impossible not to be close to those you faced death with side by side. But outside the fight, they meant little more than competitors to each other. If no successor was named, the oldest child was the heir. But the king could name someone else, and Drake had spent their entire childhood trying to prove he was better than Marcus.
He’d never forgiven Marcus for their father choosing his firstborn.
There was a part of the woods where the path forked off amidst bright budding bushes. Marcus stopped and slid from his horse. Marissa did the same.
He walked towards a large oak tree and sat down to lean against it, feeling the strong magic of the place seep into him.
Marissa sat so close their shoulders brushed each other.
“You heard what my mother said about you during the fight, didn’t you?” he asked.
She was quiet for a long moment. “I’m not your enemy, Marcus.”
He closed his eyes, enjoying the sound of his name on her tongue. When they were alone, she didn’t bother with formalities.
She took his silence as a question and moved to kneel in front of him. He opened his eyes. “Marcus, you aren’t naive. I could never – “
Her words were cut off by his lips searing his belief into her. She wouldn’t do anything to harm him or his people. He knew it in his heart.
The weeks since he’d last kissed her had felt like years, but they drifted away on a sigh as the world shifted. It was in that moment he knew he’d been wrong.
He loved her with everything he was. Everything he wanted to be. It was impossible to pinpoint the moment it happened. Had he been lost since the very first time he glimpsed her on the battlefield? Maybe she’d saved more than his life. She’d found him. Grounded him.
As she kissed him, she poured every bit of confidence she had into him. Every ounce of trust. And he, too, began to believe. In himself. In the two of them. In Dreach-Sciene and the battles they still had to fight.
He cupped her cheeks to hold her face in place and she pressed closer, a low moan escaping her lips and echoing in the chamber of his throat. Her heartbeat pulsed through him as if it was his own.
When she finally pulled away, her smile healed every broken part of him. He pulled her in against his chest and she curled up with her ear pressed over his heart. Her fingers tapped out the beat on his arm and she hummed in contentment.
“How did you learn to fight?” he asked after a few moments of silence. “I’ve never seen anyone move like that.”
She peered up at him through her lashes, her cheeks still flushed, as if contemplating the truth on her lips. “When I was young, my father sent me to live with Lonara Stone. He wanted to get me away from Dreach-Dhoun and Lonara lived on the Isle of Sona at the time, right here in Dreach-Sciene. She trained me herself.”
“You’re telling me that the members of the Tri-Gard are sword-masters as well?”
She laughed. “Not at all. Only Lonara. Briggs and my father would probably be more likely to stab themselves.”
“Why did you return to Dreach-Dhoun?”
Her face fell and he knew it was the wrong question to ask.
“Calis and I have known each other for a very long time. He wanted me to take up a position as a general in his army. I didn’t have a choice. He’d just captured Briggs Villard and my father had been his prisoner since I was a child. He looks as if he has freedom, but he lives under the constant threat of being thrown in the dungeons. Calis’ father always let him have his fun with the prisoners. I couldn’t let that happen to my father.”
“Won’t it happen to him now that you’re gone?”
A tear tracked down her face. “Yes, but he told me to come. This is now bigger than him and me. I can’t think about it. If Calis kills one of the Tri-Gard, it’ll throw the earth’s magic out of balance, but it will also take away the only person I have left.”
He wiped away her tear with the pad of his thumb. “You have me.”
“For now.”
“What?”
“You’re the king. Soon you will have to marry.”
“Then marry me.”
She spun to face him, shock etched into her every feature. “You can’t be serious.”
“I choose who will stand beside me in life. I choose you.”
She bit her lip nervously.
“Just think about it. I know asking you to become Queen is a lot, but you’re from Dreach-Dhoun. Your father is Tri-
Gard. Maybe this could help to end the war.”
“So,” she began slowly. “You want to marry me because you see this marriage as advantageous?”
“God, no, Marissa. I want to marry you because I can’t breathe without thoughts of you consuming me. I can’t see you without wanting to touch you. I can’t talk to you without every doubt I’ve ever had drifting away. You’re like magic, every word infusing strength into me until I can do impossible things. If this is what love feels like, I never want it to end.”
She breathed out heavily. “Love is also the tears, the despair. Nothing lasts forever, especially in war.”
“If I have to live half my life in despair to live the other half with you, I want that.”
A tear slid down her cheek, and she brushed it away quickly. “I do too.”
A smile spread across his face and he lunged forward to catch her around the waist and fit her body against his. Nothing had ever felt more right.
She jerked away from him suddenly and wrestled out of his arms to run behind the tree. He ran after her and found her bent over vomiting.
His brow scrunched with worry as he pulled her hair back. When she was finished, she couldn’t look at him.
“Are you sick?” he asked.
She shook her head, dodging away from him.
“Marissa.” He grabbed her arm and she stopped.
She closed her eyes and wobbled briefly, her hand drifting to her stomach.
His eyes widened but she slipped from his grasp.
“You’re …”
“No.” She shook her head. “Definitely not.”
“Yes, you are.” He grinned.
“I can’t be.”
“Of course you can. We – “
“I know how babies are born, Marcus.”
Her deadpan stare made him laugh and he caught her around the waist. “We can do it again in case you’re not pregnant.”
She pushed away from him. “Be serious. My reputation will be ruined.”
“Half my court think you’re the enemy.” He smirked. “Can it get worse than that?”
She finally cracked a smile. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.” He wrapped his arms around her and spun her around with an excited whoop. “I’m going to have a son!”
“Or daughter.”
He put her down. “I think I’d like to have a daughter. Then we could name her after her beautiful mother.”
“Absolutely not.”
He laughed. “We have all the time in the world together to discuss it. We’ll marry before people notice.”
“Won’t the kingdom want a royal wedding? Your mother –“
He kissed the top of her head. “The only thing that matters to me is what you want.”
“I just want you.”
“Plus, I think it’s best if we keep it to ourselves for a while until my place as king is secured.”
“You mean until your mother approves of you and assures you she won’t try to remove you in favor of your brother?”
He winced.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s true. But with you by my side, we’ll be unstoppable.”
She reached up on her toes to kiss him and lingered.
He grinned the entire ride back to the palace, knowing his world was different than before.
Chapter 6
Happiness was a foreign concept to Marissa. She wasn’t used to constant smiles or laughing so much it hurt.
Every time she felt some sort of contentment through the winter, guilt would work its way in. A few weeks after their tryst in the woods, she accompanied the king’s caravan to visit the town of Whitecap in the kingdom of Aldorwood.
It was one of three kingdoms that made up Dreach-Sciene. One was already lost to them as the Duke of Isenore betrayed them all and joined Calis’ army.
Only Aldorwood and the Isle of Sona were left.
Fresh snow covered their tracks as it came down around them, coating the earth in its beauty. The leaves had long since fallen from the trees, leaving them bare, their twisting branches folding together over the travelers as if to form a tunnel through the woods.
Whitecap sat on the coast, a fishing village in every sense of the word. Squat houses dotted the flat plane with narrow alleyways connecting the people to their shops. Boats lined the docks, their sails lowered and decks tied down to ride out the season.
Marissa had never seen such an average town. It didn’t hold the scars of war carried by the villages in Isenore and even other parts of Aldorwood. The people held no distrust of travelers in their eyes. It was far removed from the fight.
But it wouldn’t be for long. Not if Calis had anything to say about it. Whitecap and Sona were the true gems of Dreach-Sciene. Calis coveted them for their wealth. He wanted the coast, and the trade it could bring.
And he knew that by crushing the strongest in Dreach-Sciene, he’d destroy them all.
Word of the king’s arrival made its way through the streets and curious faces poked out of doors to watch them pass.
Marissa glanced from the awe in their eyes to the man who looked every bit the king. For months, Marcus had been journeying throughout the realm, ensuring his people’s survival throughout the harsh winter. He’d earned the respect she felt emanating from the growing crowds.
“Sire!” They called, raising their hands in praise.
Marissa’s lips quirked up, pride blooming in her chest. Each day she spent with Marcus Renauld was a day she thanked the earth for. Her love grew with each moment. With the war set to resume, none of them knew how many of those moments they had left.
They entered the gates of the duke’s estate, and Adrian bounded down the stairs with the steps of a man who figured to always be young. Marissa couldn’t picture any of them as anything other than they were then.
She was helped from her horse by a groom and waited for Marcus to call her forward. Spreading her fingers across her stomach, she smiled. Happy. It couldn’t last, right? With the life growing inside her, she wouldn’t be allowed into battle, and her heart was gripped with fear thinking of Marcus fighting alone.
But he wouldn’t be alone. He’d have his brother and an army at his back, not to mention the young lord who threw his arm around Marcus’ shoulders as if he wasn’t the king.
Marcus said something so only Adrian could hear, and the boyish grin was turned on her. Adrian rushed forward and pulled her into a hug with a hoot of glee.
She froze, unsure of what was happening.
Patting his arm, she pulled back. “Hello, Lord Coille.”
His grin widened. “Lord Coille is my father. You’re the woman who is set to marry the best man I know. You call me Adrian.”
He led them into the great house while his men showed the king’s men the way to their quarters. A waifish girl greeted them inside the hall.
“Marcus.” Adrian clapped him on the back. “You remember Olana.”
Marcus inclined his head as she dipped into a curtsy, her back ramrod straight. She rose, her delicate face a mask of piety.
Marcus turned to Marissa. “Adrian, Olana, and I grew up together. Her father is a minor noble in Sona. She’s been promised to Adrian since we were children.”
“My king.” Her formality didn’t waver. “The Duke is away at the moment, and the Duchess is unwell. I have been instructed to make sure you have everything you need during your stay.”
Marissa studied the woman meant for Adrian. They couldn’t be more ill-suited. He was beaming with joy. His hair was mussed as if he’d just woken, and his eyes held a devilish gleam. Olana was a proper lady. Her simple dress rose up to tie around her neck, covering every inch of skin. Not a hair was out of place.
Once she was assured they had everything they needed, she retired for the evening. Marissa followed suit not long after, leaving Marcus to his boisterous chatter with his friend.
* * *
It was the reason they’d traveled in the dead of
winter, leaving behind the comfortable palace to find someone they trusted.
As Marissa stood outside the doors to the Coille’s small chapel, conflict warred in her gut. Were they doing the right thing? The dowager queen would be furious to learn they’d married at all, let alone in secret.
Marcus was afraid of what his family would do to try to stop them. He may be king, but she still held great sway. The queen mother was the most beloved figure in Dreach-Sciene.
And if something happened to Marcus in battle, he’d said he wanted to be sure Marissa would be okay. This was the only way he knew.
Olana moved up behind her and lifted the train of the dress they’d procured, but she didn’t say a word.
Swallowing hard, Marissa reached forward and opened the door before her. A gasp escaped her as she took in the scene. Yellow flower petals had been strewn about the aisle. Ribbons hung in waves from the pews, holding up yet more flowers.
In the winter, that could only mean one thing. Marcus had used his magic. He was more powerful than she’d ever considered. Growing living things was nearly impossible. She smiled, closing her eyes to inhale the floral scene. It was as if the very earth was blessing the union.
And there, standing at the front, was the best thing she’d ever laid eyes on. Marcus was dressed in his Toha uniform.
In the past weeks, she’d learned many customs from Dreach-Sciene. One of them was the tradition of a prince being named Toha. They were the leader of the army, the one charged with bringing victory, bringing hope. It was their job to protect the people.
Marcus hadn’t understood why his father had chosen him when his brother was the master fighter. But Marissa knew. She saw it when they first met, and it was there again as she prepared to tie herself to his for however much life she had left.
Marcus was the one thing Dreach-Dhoun lacked.
He didn’t instill hope into his people. He was hope. He was strength, and will, and so much love. He gave with everything he had. She reached the end of the aisle and stood facing him.
Reaching out to touch his cheek, she smiled as tears shone in her eyes. “You’re going to save us all.”
Memory of War Page 5