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Belonged to Tolomon

Eight Years Prior

I couldn’t sleep.

I tucked my feet in closer under me and tightened my grip on the blanket around my shoulders. I sat in the center of a bed that could easily sleep five people, and I’d never so keenly felt the absence of companionship.

Tomorrow was my wedding, and tonight was the first night I was spending in this strange lowland house; my betrothed had called it a manor. He had many fancy names for simple things that we didn’t bother with in my clan.

Not that this house was in any way simple. It was huge and empty. It could have housed most, if not all, of my clan. The only ones who lived here were Tolomon, his family, and their servants. It seemed like a waste of space to me. Too empty.

That emptiness was pressing on me now. Taunting me. It had been less than a day and I already missed my home.

My old home, I corrected myself. I was marrying Tolomon Becker in exchange for strengthening trade and peace between the gryphon clans and Verksland—to show the Allied Gryphon Clans weren’t interested in conquering our lowland neighbors—which meant that this big empty manor was my new home .

But in the dark quiet of this room, I let myself miss my old home. The close, cool caves with their calming heavy silence, silence that was frequently broken by the members of my clan. The meals around a firepit, where no one cared if I didn’t know why there were two forks.

I missed my mother. I missed Sigrid. And most of all, I missed Daenn. We had been constant companions since we were little, since Mama had taken up the role of caretaker to Daenn when his mother died. Yes, he was the future king, but Daenn and I hadn’t cared about that. We’d been friends. We’d played together, sat through boring lessons together, told each other every secret.

A quiet part of me had even hoped that maybe one day we would marry. Not that I was madly in love with him; I simply couldn’t have imagined a life with anyone else, and I couldn’t imagine a life where another woman butted into our friendship, claiming Daenn’s attention and time for herself.

Fine. In this quiet room, now that he was entirely beyond my reach, I could admit it: I was a little in love with Daenn Henriken. Who wouldn’t be? He was funny and handsome and kind. He was my best friend. I’d never had any illusions that he might feel the same way about me, of course, which was why I always shoved that feeling down. I wasn’t going to jeopardize my friendship with gushy feelings.

I couldn’t shove it down in this great empty darkness, though. It unfurled through me, sharp at its edges and cutting at my heart. Now that I was promised to another, it was impossible to ignore how much I wished my future husband were Daenn instead.

But when the lowlanders had wanted a daughter of the clan, the highest-ranking one we had, I was the closest thing Daenn’s father could find. In ways, I was practically his daughter, with how I was raised up beside his son, and even without that, my family held a high status in the clan, thanks to my father having been the king’s foremost warrior before he’d died.

So, here I was, on the eve of marrying Tolomon Becker, son and heir of the Earl of Eastern Verksland. He lacked Daenn’s warm, easy manner. His smiles seemed far more calculated and controlled than Daenn’s. But he seemed to like me. His eyes followed me when we were in the same room, he flirted with me, and he didn’t seem like too much of an idiot. It would take time to get to know him the way I knew Daenn, that was all. To try to view him the way I viewed Daenn.

A commotion in the hall tore me from my thoughts, and I tensed. It had seemed silly to me when they’d said they were posting guards at my door. What use was there for guards? I was proficient enough with a dagger and a few other weapons, though a dagger was all I had. Daenn had gifted it to me before I’d left—with a teasing order to use it on my betrothed should he turn out to be unsuitable—but I loved it. I couldn’t imagine having another possession I prized more, because this one was like an echo of Daenn, his strength and support. It sent his familiar voice whispering encouragement through my mind.

I could handle myself should anyone try anything.

I crawled off my bed and grabbed the dagger now. It was a thing of beauty; the blade was wickedly sharp, and Daenn had carved intricate gryphons over the hilt. I could only imagine how long it had taken him to make it, since we used to spend every waking moment together.

I left the blanket behind on the bed and, wielding my dagger, crossed the room to the door. I eased it open, making sure to keep the dagger out of sight .

Tolomon stood beyond, his hands fisted in my guard’s leather jerkin, his face screwed up in a snarl. At the sight of me, he dropped the man and a smile immediately smoothed his features. That could have been my magic curling out from me, though. Not by any intentional choice on my part; it simply reacted to high emotions—especially negative ones—around me and automatically reached out its tendrils to soothe them. I could sense it happening, but I had no sway over it.

“Lady Emana.” He swaggered toward me, his eyes too bright, his cheeks ruddy in a familiar way. Exactly how much drink had he had? “Just the woman I was looking for. We didn’t get much time together today since your arrival.” His words slurred slightly, and behind him, the guard scowled, disgusted at his master’s behavior. “I was hoping we could get to know each other more… intimately tonight.”

My shoulders tensed, my mind torn between shock and horror that he would proposition me before we even married. I swallowed and tried to be flattered. Since learning of the king’s order, I had worried that my husband would be old, worried that he would hate me or not care. But Tolomon was young, he was handsome, and obviously he cared a great deal.

Daenn never would have done something like this to his betrothed the night before their wedding, though.

I reeled my dismay in, attempted a small smile. I didn’t want to alienate Tolomon before we’d even had a chance to get to know each other. “That’s very improper, Lord Tolomon.”

“I only want to talk,” he protested, but the way his eyes glittered, the way they dropped down to the slip I used as nightwear, lingering far longer than was appropriate, made it clear how much of a lie that was .

Heat flushed up my neck. “We can talk ”—I stressed the word so he would know I knew what he really meant—“as long as you want tomorrow after our wedding.”

Even if the idea of doing anything beyond true talking with a man I barely knew scared me more than I would ever admit.

He sighed in a beleaguered sort of way. “Such a tease. Then I suppose I’ll bid you good night, Emana.” He drew my name out, guttural in his lowland accent, as he raised a heavy hand to brush over my cheek, trailing it down my neck and over my shoulder.

The guard started to step forward. “My lord, I think that’s—”

“Don’t touch me,” Tolomon snarled, whirling to grip the guard’s jerkin again and raising a fist as if to hit him.

I lurched forward even as my magic did and I grabbed his raised fist with my free hand. “Tolomon, my lord,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “He’s just doing his duty. Protecting my honor. He should be celebrated for that, not punished.”

Slowly, I tugged Tolomon’s fist down.

It was another moment before Tolomon released the guard, shoving him back into the wall as he did so.

“You’re right, of course,” he said to me, flashing me a smile. “I look forward to seeing you”—his gaze trailed down my body, and my grip tightened on my dagger—“tomorrow. Good night, Lady Emana.”

“Good night, Lord Tolomon,” I murmured, dipping my head slightly and watching as my soon-to-be husband staggered away.

Disloyal as it was to my clan and my duty and my soon-to-be-husband, I wished Daenn would come and take me back home with him.

But he wasn’t coming. I belonged to Tolomon now.