Forgiveness
Danika slipped into cool bath waters, the muck and filth from her journey washing away. As arduous as the quest had been, she reflected on her time with Nip, Bron and Valorian with fondness. The four of them had formed a bond, albeit strange, and she’d always remember those days of freedom from the court’s prying eyes.
She dipped her leg into the water and bent her knee back out again. The bath house was an open platform, shielded by covered porches on every side, with the center open to the rays of sun. Golden light played upon her wet skin, illuminating the effects of the journey on her body. Her muscles had hardened, turning from rounded fat in her arms and legs to smooth, sleek curves. Her skin had tanned from porcelain to a healthy gold. Overall, she looked more like a warrior than a princess and that thought made her proud.
Thank goodness Muriel had sent all of her handmaidens away for the day. Her changed body would be hard to hide in court. She’d have to claim a pastime of walking in the orchards like her mother.
Her mother. Danika’s heart had softened the more she thought about her. If she could relive those fleeting moments at her mother’s cottage, she would have been kinder. She would have asked her if she needed anything. With anger blinding her, she’d left her mother in the woods alone, with no promise of ever coming back.
She’d find a way to see her again. Danika promised the soap bubbles drifting from her hair on the breeze. If they won the battle, and if she could keep Ebonvale safe, she’d find a way to contact Sybil.
Staggering odds piled against her. No one had challenged the wyverns in battles as they swarmed from the deserts in the south. Instead, the Royal Guard had fallen back, leaving the beasts to inhabit the southern islands. Looking back, their negligence had been a dire mistake. The worms only grew stronger, breeding their army to expand their territory. Danika had been tutored in the art of war, and it was hard for her to believe a reptile could outsmart her father.
If it wasn’t for the army of Sill, he would have seen their attack coming. As bad a husband as he was to her mother, no one could question his battle tactics. She wished she could speak with him now to gain wisdom for the conflict at hand. She wished he could see her dressed in silver armor, riding her horse upon the shores of Scalehaven. Of course, if he was alive, he’d never let her go.
Finished with her bath, Danika stood and dried her weary body. A sudden urge to visit her father’s grave came over her, even knowing her questions would ride on the wind unanswered.
She slid on a clean underdress and a glistening, silken moonlight-hued gown and made her way through the bath house to the hill of daisies marking her father’s last resting place.
What she didn’t expect was Bron Thoridian, standing in prayer with his hands folded over his fresh tunic, cleanly washed and shaven at the foot of the hill.
Although she stepped silently, he turned. She could never sneak up on this warrior. Redness rimmed his eyes as if he’d been mourning.
“My lady.”
Suddenly she was aware of the sleekness of her gown over her body and how the silk hugged her curves. She’d chosen the garment for comfort, not thinking of how much of her body lay exposed. He’d think of her as a seductress. Danika crossed her arms over her low neckline, then quickly uncrossed them. She hadn’t meant to make her breasts look bigger. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Or I you.” His neck reddened with embarrassment, as if she’d caught him in a rare vulnerable moment. Seeing him reduced to his emotions made her want to throw her arms around him and bury her head in his burly chest.
“I miss him.” Danika plucked a daisy and tossed the flower before the headstone reading Ebonvale’s most valiant king. “I wish I had his council now.”
“My thoughts exactly.” A cool breeze blew through the courtyard and Bron invited her closer.
As she took her place by his side, he put an arm around her shoulders. He would have never touched her anywhere other than beside the grave. While sharing their grief, this gesture made perfect sense.
Danika nuzzled against him, giving in to her cravings. She thought they’d stay like this in silence, but Bron breathed in and spoke.
“There’s something I must tell you.”
Danika’s heart skipped. Would he denounce her affections? She swallowed a lump in her throat. Rejection was the price she had to pay for making a move. “Go on.”
“Your father was a brave, headstrong man. He commanded me to separate from him in battle, as you know. But I’ve never told you exactly what happened that day after we broke apart.”
Nervous jitters ran through her. She tightened her grip on his arm. All this time he’d left her in the dark, dodging questions whenever she asked. Now she’d know the truth. “I’m listening.”
He caressed her arm with his rough fingers. “This will be hard for you to hear.”
“I’m ready.” She’d been ready the day he returned without the king.
“Your father commanded me to kill the necromancer king. I’m not certain why. Perhaps he wanted me to come into my own, to follow in his footsteps. Maybe he was aware of my personal connection with the man the necromancer had killed in front of us in cold blood. Whatever the King’s reasons, he’d have it no other way. I have to admit, I wanted to slice open the necromancer as much as he wanted me to have him. The king commanded me, yes, but I was also blinded by my own sense of justice and revenge. I’m sorry.”
Danika smoothed her hand down Bron’s arm. Her anger at him for leaving her father sizzled to a burnt ember. His apology wiped the anger away. “’Tis understandable considering the circumstances.”
He ran a hand over her hair, smoothing it over the back of her head. “I wished a thousand times I’d stayed with him.”
“We cannot look back. If we do, we lose sight of our future.”
Bron nodded. “But, I must look back one last time to tell you the truth. I killed the necromancer king. I know the stories say your father did. In a way, he did by sending me. I made sure to give him that last victory.”
“Bron, you shouldn’t have. You should have taken the glory for yourself.”
“After what happened, I could not in all conscience take any glory from that day.”
Danika steeled her voice. “Tell me what happened.”
“When I found the king, he’d been bitten. He asked me to end his life before he became one of those creatures.” Bron’s voice cracked. “I thought of how the healers would take him back anyway and how they’d torture his body to get him to regain some semblance of consciousness. Either way, even if they found an ounce of who he had been, he’d never be the same.”
Bron turned to face her, a tear running down his cheek. “I thought of you. I couldn’t allow you to suffer seeing him as a monster.”
He pulled away from her as if he expected her to slap him across the face. “I ended his life with my blade, making sure he died with his dignity. I should have been imprisoned for a traitor. No one knows how he died except for you.”
Danika froze as his words sank in. Walls came crashing down inside her as everything she’d once believed turned on its head. She’d known from the first night when they brought her father home, she didn’t have the entire story. Bron would never leave the king’s side and someone as great a warrior as the king would never allow a dead creature to cut his throat. That sense of not knowing had plagued her for the past year, like a book with the end ripped out.
“Why did you tell the historians my father killed the necromancer king?”
“I only defeated him because your father gave me time. I wanted him to be remembered as a hero.”
“I would have never allowed such a thing to happen.” She stepped toward him, finally feeling a sense of closure, knowing her father’s last moments were with someone he loved, knowing he’d thought of her. As horrible as his end was, her father knew he’d be taken care of, his last wishes carried out. Bron’s story comforted her. “You helped him, Bron. You showed enormous courage and for that, I thank you.”
She took his hand and held his palm to her heart. His skin warmed the sleek fabric between them. “I thought you’d failed, and yet you gave him the greatest form of protection: that of his honor, his pride. Now they think of him as a war hero, when you are the true hero. You saved the kingdom by defeating the necromancer king. Yet, you gave my father the credit and the glory.”
Bron shook his head, not speaking, but he didn’t have to. Danika wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on her tiptoes, pressing her lips fiercely against his. This was not the gentle kiss she’d given to Valorian, but a passionate embrace, giving her whole self.
Bron stiffened, but Danika continued undeterred. She smoothed her hands behind his neck to his strong jaw and pulled his head down to hers. She sucked on his lower lip before opening her mouth, inviting him to kiss her back.
Bron cupped her waist, pulling her body against his as he opened his lips against hers and kissed her like she’d never been kissed before.
She moved her hands to his chest, trailing over his muscles, and down his arms over where his hands held her. She wove her fingers through his and tightened her grip as though she never wanted to be parted again.
Danika lost all sense of propriety. She released his hand and wandered her fingertips up his chest, pulling the ties of his tunic open and feeling his bare skin. So many times she’d thought about what he would feel like under her touch. Her dreams could not compare.
Bron pulled away, chest heaving, his muscles taut with restriction. “We cannot.”
“I don’t care anymore about duty.”
He pressed a finger to her lips. “Princess, you are not yourself. Be true to your title. Remember who you are.”
In all the pain, the sorrow, the anticipation of battle, she’d allowed herself one blissful moment to forget. Bron had made her into a swooning puddle by opening up to her, by being himself. But, his caresses offered a false comfort. If she ran away with him, she’d be the same as her mother. Many people depended on her and Bron to run the kingdom.
He spoke again, his voice now soothing. “This is not the time.”
He was right. Their kingdom lay at siege, and the only hope they had was allying with the House of Song. What if word of this traveled to Valorian? Their indiscretion could bring down two kingdoms at the very time they needed to be joined. Many would die because she couldn’t contain her heart.
Shame heated Danika’s cheeks and stilled her heart. She pulled back, tears brimming. She was stronger than this love lust. She turned away, unable to meet his gaze.
“Princess, wait. I didn’t mean--”
“Leave me.” She crossed her arms, back turned to the one person she cared the most about. Many times she’d chided her mother for running away with her own inclinations, and now she realized just how hard it was to avoid temptation. She’d been a judgmental fool.
Her muffled sobs covered Bron’s steps. When she turned back, he was gone.