Phantom of the Library - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,11
seen in modern memory.
“Princess Hulda of the House of Cyprium…do you take Lord Abiron Ter Adras’ei to be your husband, to love and obey?”
I swallowed. Vows were never to be made lightly, not even in a dream. In the magical world, you had to assume that every oath would be taken seriously.
Even if it turned into a shit show, I didn’t dare agree to this vow.
“I can’t obey any man,” I said. “But I do love him.”
I saw Lady Hulda’s mother shooting daggers at me. I guess Hulda was just supposed to break her oath and kill her husband. I wondered what Hulda had chosen. It must have been hard either way. There was no way she wasn’t charmed by Lord Abiron.
The priest looked at Lord Abiron.
He smiled. “It is well with me. I don’t demand obedience. Nor do I expect I will ever need to…”
Some of the demons and fae laughed a little. The wizards seemed on edge.
“Lord Abiron, do you take Lady Hulda of the House of Cyprium to be your wife, to love and faithfully protect?”
“I do swear it,” he said.
“In the eyes of our lord and the high gods of the three realms, I now pronounce you man and wife.”
Lord Abiron slipped his large hands around me and drew me close to him, and kissed my lips, and as I shut my eyes I started to feel dizzy again. I clung to his clothes, digging my fingers into his solid flesh, as everything swirled around me and now he was still kissing me but we seemed to be alone in a room in the castle.
What is happening in these gaps? I’m only seeing what I need to see, I guess, but…
His body was folded over mine and he was very turned on, his erection pressing against my skirt. “My lady…”
I gasped as he pulled back from my mouth. “My lord…” I tried to roll with it.
“I said I wouldn’t demand your obedience…” He gave me a mischievous smile that was very Byron. I wondered if he’d been with the real Hulda a second ago. If so, Hulda was clearly into it.
“Oh, you certainly do not,” I said.
“Are you ready for me?”
“I—I suppose I will know soon.”
“You will have to manage somehow. I will go very gently with you tonight, my dearest. This is but the beginning of what will be demanded of you and I will have failed if you aren’t begging for more. I look forward to choosing a second together.”
“Oh…yes.” I must have looked confused. What was a second?
“I suppose you might prefer a fae to a demon. But perhaps I presume.”
“What…would you prefer?”
“Well, of course I would prefer an incubus,” he said, lifting my hand and giving it a kiss. “It will make the experience more enticing for both of us.”
This marriage was planned as a threesome from the start? “The drink tonight has muddled my head,” I said. “What is the purpose of the second, again?”
He looked at me like he didn’t quite buy that some ale had made me forget something this important, but he said, “My child will someday be the guardian after me, of course, and as I have the blood of the three realms, so shall they. Since you are of Etherium, we must also have a second from one of the other realms, and so the seed of two houses shall mingle in the third house.”
“Like…three parents for one child?”
“Precisely. But the second is something we will both choose together and we will find someone we can love.”
“A handsome incubus…” I laughed. “You know, I might have already crossed paths with someone like that…”
“Truly? You surprise me pleasantly. I must confess that I was reluctant to wed a human witch, with all of the conflicts between our races as of late, but I think this might be the beginning of a very happy union.”
“The—the conflict has nothing to do with my feelings.”
When he drew back, I could see the room a little better, although it was now dark and just a few candles pierced the shadowy stone and heavy wooden furniture. It wasn’t hard to spot the triangular shape of Pandora’s Box, sitting on a chest in the corner. The three maps were fit together, and they sparkled, with little shooting lights running between the three pieces. It was like a living map of the stars.
“You brought Pandora’s Box with you,” I said, with a rising sense of dread.