Applause and cheers thundered through the glade. Keerla retrieved her sword and bow and lifted them into the air. The roar of the crowd increased.
Cirrus’s eyes alighted on Keerla and my breath steadied. Maybe he’d claim her as his bride now rather than waste unnecessary time commanding the last of the elfin females to follow up such an impressive performance.
But it wasn’t to be.
Two more elves showed off skills before I was called forth—the last of the elves to take the field. Without flourish, I walked up to each straw dummy, one by one, and fired an arrow into the place where the heart would rest. Once finished, I heard the weak, polite clapping from the audience. My heart felt much lighter now that I’d gotten this charade over with. Cirrus could announce the winner and spirit Keerla or Faylen off to Faerie. All my best to them! I’d wasted enough time with this nonsense.
Cirrus’s guards moved forward again to clear the field, and Cirrus stepped away from the crowd, presumably to make his announcement. Keerla stood tall and proud, chin lifted as though she had already been crowned the winner. Faylen had a quiet grace and patience about her as she stood poised with her sword at her side.
“Thank you for demonstrating such impressive skills,” Cirrus began, looking into the faces of all the elfin females who had competed. “Unfortunately, I can only choose one of you to be my bride and a princess of Dahlquist.”
While the contestants and crowd listened to Cirrus with rapt attention, my eyes wandered around the glade, eager to be dismissed. Father would want to march me straight home afterward and lecture me for not making a better effort. I couldn’t avoid his censure, but I could put it off. I planned to disappear into the crowd the moment it dispersed. I’d go see Devdan—tell him I needed coin sooner rather than later. Maybe it would help lessen the blow of not snagging a Fae prince with his promises of riches beyond anything we’d ever known.
As I looked around, I caught movement in the trees lining the glade. Something large and gray was moving toward the clearing at a rapid pace.
Instinctively, I grabbed an arrow from my quiver and nocked it back in my bow.
Someone screamed as an ogre crashed into the clearing and ran at the crowd. Elves began running in every direction. The ogre ignored them, charging directly for Prince Cirrus.
“Get down!” I yelled, taking aim at the rumbling ogre.
It was a moving target, but a large one.
I released my arrow. It zipped through the air, hitting the ogre’s right eye with a sickening slurp. The ogre jerked to a stop and roared. I nocked a second arrow and loosened it into his gut. Still he bellowed. I walked toward him, releasing arrows as I went. The heart. The neck. The head. It took five arrows to put him down for good. My heart thundered inside my chest as I stopped, having reached the ogre’s side where he lay dead on the grass. I didn’t know what I would have done if he’d still breathed when I reached him. Probably become elf pulp beneath his meaty fist.
Stunned silence froze the gathering as all eyes turned to the downed ogre. Then clapping broke the spell—one set of hands, those of Prince Cirrus, his eyes seeming to glow as he stared at me, slamming his palms together like cymbals.
Liri’s eyebrows rose. The moment our eyes met, he tipped his head in respect. I knew when I saw his nod that I’d sealed my fate to become his sister-in-law, Prince Cirrus’s bride. In fifteen months he’d make me a widow. But on that day, the day of the tournament, I had no idea what was to come.
It turned out Cirrus had compelled the ogre to attack him as one last test of the contestants. He wasn’t looking for a bride so much as a guardian angel. Two older brothers before him had been murdered—one by his own Fae wife who had conspired with another brother. Plotters, all of them—all to get one step closer in the succession to become king.
I never loved Cirrus, but he was never cruel. He was an attentive lover and made sure my family was generously compensated. While he didn’t allow me to visit the elven realms, he did deliver letters between Mel and me. My father and Shalendra never wrote, but I didn’t want to hear from them, anyway.
I tried to keep Cirrus safe, but in the end, Liri poisoned him. Afterward, my brother-in-law had offered to make me his bride.
“You’ve blossomed into a true beauty in Faerie, Aerith, and my brother said you pleased him in bed.”
Such cold, cruel beauty in his ashen face and hair the color of snow.
Nothing should have surprised me after fifteen months amongst the Fae in Dahlquist, but nonetheless, I’d gaped at Liri in shock. Did he seriously think I’d consider an offer to marry my mate’s murderer? His own brother?
I’d chosen my words carefully, using what truths I could about missing my own realm and family—wanting to return to the lands I loved. It was never a good idea to insult the Fae, especially one as immoral and powerful as Liri.
After I’d refused him, Liri had smiled.
“Perhaps after you’ve returned home for a spell you will find you miss Faerie. Perhaps we will meet again, my pet, and you will reconsider my offer. You may find yourself wishing to return sooner than you’d imagine.”
It had taken all of my willpower not to visibly shudder. I knew exactly the kind of mate Liri desired—not a Fae who could match his powers, but a pet, as he called me, to satisfy his needs and obey.
I’d escaped one brother. I wouldn’t sacrifice myself to the next one—not if I had any say in the matter, which I did. For now.
Let Liri think I might reconsider, so long as it got me back home.
The Fae arrogantly believed their realm was the best one of all and couldn’t imagine why anyone would live anywhere else unless they had no other choice.
All I wanted was to return home and never step foot in Faerie or see Liri’s smug face again.
“Can I go home now?” I’d asked, squaring my shoulders.
Liri had given me a tight nod.
“Whatever you wish, Aerith.”
I wished I’d never been forced to marry for my father’s convenience. And yet, after everything, after my absence—my sacrifice—Father was about to insist I do it all over again.
Chapter Three
The grounds of my family’s new estate were as big as the entire neighborhood I’d grown up in. Manicured shrubs lined the cobblestone drive leading up to a two-story manor home that rose up from the grounds like a mountain range, spreading to either side of the property.
Cirrus had honored his promise and paid my father well. But instead of being cautious, Father had sold our home in Pinemist and purchased this monstrosity in Sweetbell.
When it came time for me to return home, I found myself on unfamiliar ground, feeling even more like an outsider than when I left.
Saturday eve, laughter and music filled the grand parlor, shaking the chandeliers from the high ceiling. A pianist played lively music from the pianoforte while finely dressed elves clustered in small groups. Shalendra had three admirers vying for her attention beside the bay windows. She wore a new purple velvet gown and black onyx beads at her throat.
I had not seen any signs of her emerald pendant, the one from Mother, since returning to the elven realms three months ago. Nor had I seen Jhaeros. He’d been cast off from what Mel had told me. Maybe if he hadn’t been such a prick, I would have felt sympathy for him.