Page 6 of Ties of Starlight (Tethered Hearts #2)

N yrunn held his breath as his hands hovered in the air where Idonea had been a moment before. Now she was stumbling away from him, eyes wide and horror pouring over her.

Or maybe through the strange bond they now had, letting them sense each other’s emotions.

He’d forgotten that the bond was emotional in nature and not just magical.

“No. No—” Idonea wrapped her arms around herself as she shook her head. “I don't know what's going on here, but it's not funny, Your Majesty. I don't know how you did it, but this stops now. Get out of here and bring me my husband. You can't be in here!”

He'd known she would be in shock, but this level of denial was more than he'd anticipated. He lifted his wrist, showing the glowing lines on it, matching hers. “I am your husband.”

Idonea stumbled back again, the back of her legs hitting the bed, and she caught herself on it. Her eyes were still locked on him. “No. No. You can't be. My duty as Gytha's chosen is to marry Agnarr's chosen, which the Constella himself said was Olaug one year ago.”

“He was. Now he's not. I am.” Nyrunn took a small step toward her. “Idonea, I know you're confused and—”

She glanced at the bed she was sitting on and quickly launched herself back to her feet, skirts swirling as she started pacing, putting distance between them. “No—I can't—I can't be married to you. This—This has to be a horrible trick or a nightmare, or something. This—” She gestured at him and a sharp pulse of something dark and horrified ripped through him but it wasn’t his. “This is not how this is supposed to be! This needed to be perfect, and now—”

Idonea's breathing was rapid and her eyes were spilling over with tears, and Nyrunn caught her by the arm, stopping her frantic pacing. Her emotions kept crashing into him, rising with each second. If he didn’t calm her down now, she would fall completely into hysteria and he’d be completely helpless.

This panic was far beyond what he’d been anticipating.

“Deep breaths. Everything is alright.” Nyrunn held her in place, taking a deep breath as well. Given her words the night before, if she could see that the rituals were still intact, he’d be able to explain everything else. “We did everything perfectly, and we'll finish the rituals—”

She ripped her arm away and her voice darkened. “It wasn't supposed to be you !”

The force of her fury hit him in his chest, sending him physically staggering back.

Nyrunn couldn't help his voice rising slightly. “If you would stop interrupting me, maybe I can explain why it was me!”

Idonea stumbled back to the other side of the tent, wrapping her arms around herself and glaring at him. The hurricane of emotion settled into a faint, frazzled hum. When she said nothing else, he took that as his chance to explain.

He was only going to get one shot.

“Everything was set to go according to plan this morning, but complications arose.”

“ What complications?” Idonea’s voice wavered. “Where is Olaug?”

Nyrunn had the letter. As much as he wanted to rip it to shreds since he couldn't rip Olaug to shreds, he'd held himself back. It was the only proof Olaug had left her at the altar. He could tell her the truth and show her a letter that wasn't even addressed to her.

And it would devastate her.

Even if she didn’t love him like she claimed to, how could it not rip her in two?

He couldn't expose her to Olaug's cruel words; Olaug’s actions would surely be enough to demonstrate his true character to Idonea.

“We don't know where he is.”

Idonea blanched, taking a step forward again. “How can you not know where he is?”

“I was alerted to the complication when I was going to see him myself and speak to him before the wedding. The castle had already been searched and I dispatched men to search the city, but the chances of finding him in time were nonexistent and we needed a new plan.”

“Nonexistent?” Idonea sputtered.

He couldn’t help his cold laugh. “You'd be surprised how hard it can be to find people who don't want to be found, especially when there are only hours left before the most important wedding of the century.”

“What are you talking about?” As she spoke, her confusion and concern poured into him across the bond. “Surely it can't be beyond your guards' abilities to track down kidnappers before they escape the city?”

She was going to make him say it.

“Idonea…” Nyrunn swallowed, voice lowering. “He wasn't kidnapped.”

She scoffed. “Of course he was. It wouldn't be the first time.”

What was she talking about? Olaug had never been kidnapped. Unless she meant a previous chosen had been, that was possible. But it certainly wasn’t the case here.

“There were no signs of struggle,” he said. Her immediate disbelief dug under his skin. If he wasn’t careful, this was going to explode right in his face. “Idonea, he... he chose to leave before the wedding.”

But she just shook her head. “No. That—That's not possible. It was—it was something else.” She then fixed her gaze on him, eyes sharpening. Oh no. “Why didn't you send word to me when you discovered he was missing?”

His heart jerked in his chest and he schooled his expression to give nothing away. Hopefully she was too wrapped up in her emotions to notice his threatening to pour into the bond and betray him. “There wasn't time. We couldn't delay the ceremony, so we had to focus on getting a replacement ready.”

Idonea's brow furrowed and she took a long breath, hands fisting and releasing her skirts. “Even if that explanation—Fine. Say I accept there was no time to find him or tell me. Why you?”

Why him? Surely it had to be the shock confusing her. Did she really want him to say it?

Nyrunn wasn't sure when he'd managed to cross the distance between them without her noticing. He took a deep breath. This was it. “I met the requirements. ”

“I'm sure there are other elves who do as well. You're the king.”

He’d start with the arguments he made to Frode, and then he’d prove Frode wrong about her reaction to his more selfish reasons.

“Precisely. As king it's my responsibility to protect Adastra and ensure this ceremony still happened so we can strengthen our magic.”

“No. I mean, you're the king. ” She gestured her whole hand at him. “Why would you lower yourself to marry a half-elf you hate when you could order someone else to do it?”

What?

“I—” Nyrunn stared down at her. “What did you say?”

Maybe he’d misheard her.

“You're the king. You can order someone else to step in. Why would you ever condemn yourself to marrying someone you hate?”

The water that had been poured over his hand earlier might as well have been poured over his back, sending a frigid chill down his spine. He shifted back, taking in the unfettered, honest confusion in her eyes.

She had no idea.

Worse. She wasn’t just ignorant to his feelings…

She thought he hated her? All this time she'd thought that?

“Really, even if you are responsible as king for this ceremony, it can't be worth marrying someone who hates you in return? It doesn't make sense.”

Not only did she think he hated her, but she truly hated him.

Oh. He'd had it all wrong.

He hadn't had his chance taken away from him the day she'd been chosen as part of the Cometa Couple. He'd never had a chance to start with.

She’d meant every word she’d said the other night.

This was so much worse than he'd imagined.

“I... I did what had to be done,” he whispered.

He couldn't tell her. Not the truth, not now.

It wasn't that she loved someone else because any affection she'd felt for him she could never have acted on before because of their stations and then her engagement. Even if she hadn't been selected and he'd been able to propose to her the day his mourning period ended like he had intended, she would have laughed in his face.

She would never have willingly married him.

And deep down he’d known that, hadn’t he? All his other rationalizing it away didn’t matter in the end. He hadn’t trusted her to marry him if she’d known it was actually him and not Olaug.

So why did it still feel like a punch to the gut?

She scoffed. “That will be a cold comfort after we finish this. You've condemned us both. You've ruined everything.”

So he had.

Tears were welling up in her eyes, but all Nyrunn could focus on was the way each word out of her mouth took the wind out of him.

“I can't—” Idonea covered her mouth with a hand for a moment. “I can't do this. You—How could you do this?”

Nyrunn didn't understand how much clearer he could be on the practical reasons. Heavens above, he couldn’t tell her now just how selfish and manipulative his other reasons had been. If she thought she hated him now, how much more would she if she knew the truth?

At least he wasn’t feeling anything that could betray him. He was completely numb. “I didn't have a choice. The ritual had to go on. ”

But Idonea was rushing past him again, pace increasing as her voice rasped. But it was like she wasn't even listening to him. “Everything is ruined. I—Again. I failed again, and I can't do this. I can't keep doing this.”

Nyrunn turned on his heel and followed her, but she wasn't speaking to him. Her hands were in her hair, destroying the beautiful, elegant style. Tears were spilling over from her eyes.

“I'm never going to be free. I can't escape—”

“Idonea—” He tried to catch her again, but she was rushing about so much, when he did, she jerked them both to the side. They stumbled, and she hit the bed, and he barely flung his arm out to catch himself before he crushed her. But it left him hovering directly over her as she stared up at him, hatred and horror and fury all rising anew and flooding into his veins.

His stomach rolled and bile rose in his throat.

This was what she’d been feeling every time she’d looked at him?

Her hands had caught his shirt, but she quickly slammed her palms against his chest, trying to shove him away as she scurried back. “Get away from me!”

He stumbled away as she practically threw herself off the other side, the whole bed now between them, and sank to the floor.

It was clear. Being married to him was the worst thing that had ever happened to her.

But he ignored the pieces of his heart scattered on the ground around them and whispered, “What can I do? How can I make this right?”

She fixed him with a glare darker than any she'd ever given him before. “You can't.”

“Please—”

“I don't care about your excuses! Claim it was all for your people if you want, but that doesn't change the fact that you forced me to be your wife.” Idonea dug her nails into the blankets. “You deceived me. You knew full well I thought I was marrying the love of my life and you let me. That's all I wanted. Marrying him was all I've ever wanted.”

Why hadn’t he listened?

Why had he let himself believe that had just been a lie for his sake? How foolish was he?

Idonea whispered, “I don't know why you really did this. I don’t know if this is just another way to torment me, but if you have any shred of compassion in you, you'll leave me alone. Since you've taken away the only thing I wanted, just stay away from me.”

Nyrunn stepped back, unable to tear his gaze away from hers as a sob ripped out of her throat and she curled in tighter. Anything he could say or do would make this worse. She'd only hate him more, and she already hated him more than he could imagine.

And she was right to.

In his selfish desperation to have her, he’d only ensured he would never actually have her in any way that mattered.

Maybe he was the monster she thought he was.

He was leaving his bride sobbing on the ground the night of their wedding. Of course he was.