With a pounding heart, she slipped on her pale beige tunic and traveling pants, then stuffed her wedding gown with all its accessories haphazardly into the bag. Taking three deep calming breaths and blowing them slowly out, Lizbeth turned the doorknob, stepped out into the room, and faced her waiting husband.
If the look of surprise on Adan Hammerstrike’s face hadn’t been so priceless, Lizbeth knew she would’ve been tempted to lose her nerve as she nodded in his direction, walked right past the bed, and headed toward the door.
In his haste to rise, Adan became tangled in the white coverlet on the bed and, with a thud, ended up sprawled on the floor. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Slowly, she turned and glanced at the angry barbarian. “To the portal, of course. Did I forget to mention I’m starting classes at The Academy of Magical Arts in the morning? I really must be going. I don’t wish to be late.” She forced a smile. “It was a lovely wedding and reception. I truly am sorry my brothers were unavoidably detained and couldn’t be here. They would’ve especially enjoyed the Alarian ale. Please give my regards to your family and friends.”
The silk coverlet was forgotten as Adan leapt to his feet. “The Academy? What the VoT are you talking about, woman? You didn’t say a word to me about any classes, and you well know it. This is unacceptable. You are my wife, and this is our wedding night. You can’t just…just leave.”
Lizbeth stiffened her spine and glared. “Prince or not, don’t you dare curse at me, Adan Hammerstrike. If you wish to speak of the Valley of Torment then call it as such, and not that vulgar VoT word. And as for being your wife, that’s only a technicality, and we both know it. We’ve been betrothed since the day I was born. My parents signed a contract pledging I would be your queen, not share your bed while you’re still merely a prince.”
She paced back and forth before the door. “You aren’t king yet, and until you are, I will have the life I’ve been denied thus far. I’m now of age, and I wish to become an enchantress. As God Draka is my witness, I’m going to do just that. I’m through spending my days studying you and living your life instead of my own. I’m sick to death of you. I know more about you than you could possibly remember about yourself. And anyway, I wouldn’t spend the night willingly in the same bed with a vicious murderer like you until duty dictates I must for all the platt in Albrath, husband or not.”
She stopped and glared at him.
Adan ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. “So, that’s what all this is about, huh? After all these years, you’re still upset over the stupid rabbit? Lizbeth, I was fifteen and you were eleven, for God Draka’s sake. I was trying to impress you with my elite hunting skills. How was I to know you’d made a pet of the thing? Rabbits are food. They’re meant to be eaten, not played with. How many times must I say I’m sorry?”
He balled his fists at his side. “I am the prince and your husband. You’ll immediately forgive me once and for all and stop this foolishness. I demand it.”
Tears burned the back of her eyes, but Lizbeth forbade them to fall. “Demand it? Well, that certainly doesn’t make you sound any sorrier now than you did then. For your information, I wasn’t allowed to have pets. Did you know that? It took me weeks to get Horatio to come close enough so I could feed him from my hand and even longer to actually get him to trust me enough to touch him.”
Lizbeth held up three fingers. “Do you have any idea how many times I got to pet his soft brown fur before you…you murdered him?”
Adan gulped, and Lizbeth knew he didn’t want to answer the question. She waited, tapping her toe impatiently.
“Three?” he finally said.
Lizbeth nodded as her voice rose another octave. “Yes, only three times, and then I had to stand there and not shed a single tear while poor little Horatio was skinned and stuffed in a pot with vegetables.”
She lifted her chin and stiffened her spine. “I didn’t dare tell mother why I was sick and couldn’t possibly eat. I wasn’t allowed to ever get dirty or play with creatures like other children were, let alone make a pet of one. I could never take the chance one of them might bite or scratch me and mar my perfect skin. Oh, no, the future queen of the barbarians, the future wife of Prince Adan Hammerstrike had to be without flaw. It was in the damnable marriage contract.”
The tears did come to the surface then, and Lizbeth knew from the look on his face Adan had seen them. He started toward her as if he were going to offer comfort.
She held out a hand. “Don’t! I neither need nor want your pity. All I want is my freedom until you become king. I give you my word, the day you accept your crown, even though I dread the thought of it, I’ll do my duty. I’ll come back here and be your wife.”
He stood in all his naked splendor with his arms crossed looking as if he were contemplating the situation. He rubbed his jaw twice, nodded a couple of times then spoke. “I realize you can’t stand the sight of me because I am, after all, the evil bunny slayer. But we have a duty to consummate this marriage.”
He held out a hand. “Spend this one night with me, Lizbeth, and if you still feel the same in the morning, we’ll talk about you possibly going to the Academy and taking a few classes now and then. After all, how would it look to my family and friends if my brand new wife took off before the sun rises on her wedding night? I have appearances to uphold, we both do.”
Lizbeth sizzled with anger. “I don’t like you, remember? I couldn’t care less how this looks to anybody, and…and…and, I won’t spend this night or any other with you, until I have to, even on a bet.”
Adan grinned. “Really? Not even on a bet? What if a bet was to get you exactly what you say you want most? A life of your own without a moment’s interference from me until the day I do become king?”
Lizbeth shook her head and turned to leave, yet Adan’s next words not only stopped her forward motion but had her turning and facing him once more.
“I never took you for a coward, Lizbeth, guess I was wrong. You say you know me better than I know myself. I say prove it, Lizard. If you can manage to answer ten…no, make that five questions about me correctly, you win.”
His grin grew even bigger. “And if you win, not only will I escort you to the front gate and wave you through the portal on your way to the Academy, I’ll be happy to inform my family and friends that you’re leaving me. That you find a dusty, old institution more sexually appealing than you do your own husband, and rightly so.”
The grin disappeared from his face. “But if you don’t answer all the questions correctly, you’ll spend this one night, this entire night, willingly in my bed, in my arms, as my wife, in every sense of the word. Deal?”
He held out his hand again, and Lizbeth stared at it. Her fingers itched with the temptation to take him up on his offer. A life without interference or being under Adan’s thumb, even for a short while, was more than a little tempting. Could she trust him, though?
Lizbeth hesitated, weighing her options. Other than being a bunny killer, Adan Hammerstrike was known far and wide for his word. Once he gave it, he never took it back.
She’d spent the majority of every day, for as long as she could remember, learning everything there was to know about the arrogant barbarian prince. She couldn’t lose, and this was an opportunity she couldn’t afford to pass up.
Lizbeth smiled as she shook his hand. “Deal.”
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Tamed by the Fire Page 28