The Arranged Marriage (35 page)

“You always have to spoil it for
yourself don’t you?” She sniped back at him, moving herself against
the wall. “Selfishness has its own punishment.”

“Oh, but weaved rightly my dear it
also has its own rewards, and you will be one of mine.”

He leant into kiss her but instinct
had her bringing her knee up to his groin. It was just a pity the
size of her stomach restricted the force of it; he laughed again
but took a step backwards.

“Brave until the end.” He smirked at
her then, as if looking for something to provoke her further,
pleasured by her wrath. “I listened and watched when you grieved
for your father. I am sorry for that.”

“You speak of him again Minley, and I
will make sure I do not leave this world until I see a sword in
your gut.”

“There!” He shouted with glee as he
clasped his hands together. “That’s the Rohesia I know and love. I
want you all riled up when I take you with his seed in your
belly.”

“Never.” She growled, her hands ready
to pounce.

“Don’t you want to know the rest of
the plan?”

He bravely moved closer to her, but
not so close she could attempt a similar attack.

“I am to wed you,” He continued.
“After my coronation I will then become king and it will be off
with Dondayas and the Mookai fools. They will all be smoked out and
killed, and my dear Rohesia,” He moved closer until his body was
against hers, this time restraining her hands. “You know I can do
it.”

“My husband will not allow it. You
will be dead before the eve is out.”

He apparently found this hysterical
but quickly composed himself.

“Your husband is dead as we speak my
lady, just like your father.” He gently pushed her hands above her
head. “It was so easy to convince Yena of our love and our marriage
if she was to get rid of Argarth. She didn’t want to do it; hence
the poisoned brandy. She slipped in to do it the eve before she
left so she didn’t have to face him as his life drained away.
Perfect timing.”

“No. Shut up.” She shouted, her rage
ready to eat her alive.

“She felt guilty afterwards by the
way. But I convinced her that it was all for a bigger purpose, and
I was happy when Ison shipped her off. She became such an
annoyance.”

She struggled hard against his
grip.

“
You’ve just signed your
own death warrant,” She growled through her anger. “Should my
husband not make it, which I very much doubt, I will make sure your
blood is on my hands.”

He practically moaned aloud as her
anger ignited his lust.

“We shall get on very well my dear.”
He said as if not seeing the flaming hatred in her eyes. “It’s a
pity your father intervened. And then that stupid idiot I sent
after you couldn’t get the job done and kidnap you for me to
lovingly compromise. Ison had to come along and rescue you. Of all
the damn luck.”

She sneered at him, but every move she
tried to come up with, every bit of fight she could think of, could
result in a bad reaction from him. She could not risk a hit to the
child inside of her if she had just one chance out this. She had to
keep him talking, hope and pray that by some miracle, when he took
her out of here, Ison would be waiting.

“You think the rebels will follow you
when they find out your plan? Some of them have family in
Dondayas.” She said in a condescending tone.

“Who cares? Once I have the loyalty of
those who I snuck on to the Isle the rebels won’t mean anything to
me. They were a means to an end. Their cause and the tunnels they
had discovered were a blessing in disguise. Then there was Yena.
She would sneak out jewels and coin from the treasury so I could
fund the passage for those who sought refuge. It was only right.
And of course there were the officials to bribe to save them going
through the painstaking process of entry. They didn’t mind looking
the other way for a bit of gold.” He laughed. “If this land wasn’t
so up its own ass you may never have given me the opportunity to
try for this kingdom a third time. Third time being the
charm.”

“You’re forgetting one thing about
this land Minley,” She said with pride. “We look after our
own.”

“You will be so good for the people my
dear,” He said, as she turned her head from another onslaught of
his kisses. “They look up to you, and when you have no choice but
to bow down to me for the sake of your child’s life, they will look
up to me also.”

“You’re forgetting about someone
stopping you.”

“And who would that be?” He said, his
eyes burning with lust.

“Ison.”

“Here.” Ison shouted, as they found
the Ecripian guard Ison had posted earlier at one of the tunnel
openings. He was sprawled out on the grass, unconscious. They moved
passed him quickly into the tunnels from an entrance that had been
found in the woods near the castle. They made their way through the
maze of tunnels that had not yet been blocked until Ison neared the
one he wanted.

“It’s just up here, on the
left.”

“Are you sure she is in here?” Fabian
said quickly, his own worry clouding his senses.

“You said you sensed her stronger down
below; there is only one down below in this damn place. Plus, you
saw the guard.”

“And what if I’m wrong?” He said as he
moved swiftly in Ison’s stead.

“Have you ever been before?” He
snapped.

“Not that I know of.”

“Then you’re not wrong now. It makes
sense from what they said upstairs, it makes sense that she would
go down here.”

“To be safe.” Fabian said.

“To keep us all safe.” Ison finished,
knowing his stubborn, courageous wife more than anyone.

“I didn’t love her.”

“Yena? Why do I care?” Rohesia replied
quietly as she rubbed her wrists. He had finally released her when
she had refused his kiss him, his temper being pushed aside, for
the moment.

“She was a means to an end. I did not
expect her to get with child.”

“Usually what happens when a man and
women get together in that way.” She murmured sarcastically. He
ignored her.

“However, she will be kept close until
the babe comes, and if it’s a boy, well then my heir will override
yours.”

“You will never lay a hand on my
babe.” She said quietly, but the threat was evident.

“Oh I will never harm it my sweet. How
satisfying would it be to poison a child’s mind against its dead
father’s memory?” He smiled at her, as if not hearing his own
twisted words. “But should my own blood be male, he will be my
heir.”

“Can you hear yourself?” She said,
suddenly flabbergasted. Forgetting where she was for the moment as
her anger took over. She pushed herself away from the wall to get
her point across. “You are so twisted up Minley that I wonder how
it is you can walk straight.”

She moved up to him and poked him in
the chest.

“You who claims he wants power, who
claims he is clever. I know you would have arranged for the death
of my father if you had managed to wed me, if my father wasn’t the
king he had been and sussed you out.” She flickered her eyes over
his shoulder to a notice movement, someone else coming out of the
hatch. Her senses reared. She moved her eyes back quickly to the
baron before he followed her visual. “You are the most selfish,
stupid, and foolish idiot I have ever known, and from all the
things you have done, you will pay for the death of my father along
with your bitch of lover.” She continued , before he could say
anything, before he heard anything of the shadow slowly creeping up
behind him. It sickened her that Minley was starting to look more
aroused by her rant. “You will never know love, or respect, or
honour. Those are things that give you power, those are the
things,”

She never got to finish her words as
Minley drew on his own instinct and sensed the movement behind him.
He withdrew his sword and spun on the attack to meet Ison’s. Fabian
moved in and pulled Rohesia across the room and behind him for
safety.

“Can’t you just die Ison, for me?
Pretty damn please?” He shouted as his sword clashed the steel of
Ison’s.

“That’s your job Minley, or should I
say Denta?”

“Screw you.”

They fought, and they fought hard, as
if they both knew one of them wouldn’t be leaving the room alive.
Rohesia tried to look over Fabian’s shoulder to see what was going
on, but every time she did Fabian would block her view. She tried
pushing at him but he was like a rock, and she stamped her foot in
frustration.

“I want to see my husband Fabian.” She
was almost crying in fear for him.

“He can handle himself Rohesia. You do
not need to see death.” His voice was quiet but Rohesia’s
wasn’t.

“Let me see him or I swear I will tell
everyone that you used to pee in the lagoon.”

Fabian would have laughed if he wasn’t
watching every step Ison and the baron were making.

“Rohesia I was six at the time, I
doubt my reputation will receive too bad a hit from that. Now
shush, I am trying to be a second pair of eyes for your
husband.”

“Let me see.” She said through gritted
teeth, her heart constricting from the worry.

“Trust him Rohesia.”

“I do,” She almost whimpered as she
heard the clashing of the swords reverberate around the
room.

“If you have harmed a hair on her head
I will torture you until you have nothing left.” Ison shouted as he
met each swing Minley gave.

“Jealously is not good on you Ison.”
He shouted as he tripped on the rug behind him. He rolled
sufficiently out of the way and collected his sword just in time to
counteract another blow. He jumped up to face Ison again, a smile
on his face.

“You will not get anywhere near her
again.” Ison promised.

“I’ll be licking her from top to toe
before sundown.”

That was it. That was all Ison was
going to allow the bastard who had pushed him too far in every way.
Fabian cringed as he sensed what was coming, and made sure
Rohesia’s view stayed blocked.

“You’re dead.” Ison practically
whispered, before dropping his sword and using the moment’s shock
in Minley’s stance to punch him three times in the face. He yanked
on his arm so quickly that Minley didn’t know what was happening
until he saw the brick wall in his face. His own sword clattered to
the floor as the pain of the action shot through him, just before
Ison thrust a dagger into his back.

“This ending is fitting for you.” Ison
said quietly, before letting Minley drop to the floor.

Chapter
Eighteen

“I thought I’d lost you, just for a
moment, and it damn near killed me.”

Ison was holding Rohesia tightly as
they lay on the bed. She sat in front of him with her head against
his chest, his arms wrapped around her waist as if he never wanted
to let go.

“I knew I couldn’t think that of you
Ison, not even when the baron said it. I couldn’t have even
contemplated it and stayed sane.”

He kissed the top of her head as they
both relaxed, staring at the fire in their chamber, both feeling
the after effects of an eve of battle. It had taken them a while to
sort the injured from the dead, as a burial was ordered for each
man deceased in the cemetery, just outside of the castle grounds.
Rohesia had been adamant to devise a list of names of those who had
fallen, from both sides including those from the Foreign Lands.
They had been given numbers for now, but each number would have a
name as soon as she could see to it, even if only to notify their
families. They were men, who had been poisoned and promised by
another, and she would not have their kin or the land vilified for
it.

It had taken time for both Ison and
Fabian to urge her to delegate the workload and take rest upstairs
whilst they took care of everything, but she wanted to make sure
the Coronation was fulfilled before she did so. She had refused to
move anywhere until the Honorary had proceeded with the brief
ceremony in front of the Mookai, her people, and those who had
surrended from the other side. She had been adamant that they would
all witness the coming of the new king, and the stubbornness and
strength inside her had shone.

It had taken an age to get her to move
through her people as she chose to stop by everyone who was
hysterical, injured or who had taken to helping. She assured them
with her presence, even though the concern of her fatigue had
haunted Ison at every turn. He was in turmoil up until the point
Fabian had stepped in and threatened to have her carried upstairs
if she didn’t bow out gracefully. Ison had decided then that he
would owe Fabian for a lifetime when she reluctantly
obeyed.

They lay here now, knowing how much
there was to do on the morrow, and not certain of what to say to
one another. He pulled her closer to him again as another memory of
her in danger entered his mind.

“Are you sorry I killed him?” He
whispered, not quite knowing how to wear the guilt of an enemy’s
death. It was not something he had let concern him before. She
turned to face him.