The Reckless Reign (Book 3, The Culled Crown Series)

Chapter 37

Reubinon Palace, Pellarmus.
Five days after the attack.

I woke to the creak of the bedframe, the dip of my mattress. I smelled the clove and ash scent of her before I even opened my eyes. I squinted through the darkness of my bedroom to find her with her back against my headboard, her green eyes bright in the moonlight cascading through the balcony doors. Outside, even the ocean seemed to calm, grow still.

"Isla?"

She swallowed hard, her throat bobbing as that gaze turned down to me. Her eyes were shining. "I'm sorry—I'm so sorry to wake you. I just...I didn't want to be alone and Annalise...I don't think I can go to her about this. Not—Not yet. I have no one else." Her voice broke over and I pushed myself up, wincing in pain as I slid to sit against the headboard next to her.

I took her hand in mine. My voice was rough with sleep and the tears I'd shed only hours earlier as I asked, "What is it? What's happened?" My mind automatically went to Cohen. But surely, if something had happened to him—if he'd died—someone else would have been sent to tell me. Still, by chest seized as I asked, "Has something happened to Cohen?"

Isla made a small sound, a strained laugh. "No." She shook her head. "Your prince is just fine. It's me—I'm broken."

"Broken?" My eyes darted to one of the candles on my bedside table. I willed fire to the wick and it appeared, casting the room into partial light. I pulled the thin bedsheet higher, covering my bare legs as I turned my gaze once more towards the princess.

Isla's throat bobbed as she swallowed. "We are at war, Monroe Benson. My country and your country." Those emerald eyes slid to mine. "And wars have costs. And someone's got to pay them. The money to fund a war does not come from nowhere. It comes from treaties and well-made matches." She fell silent, as if she expected me say something in response. When I didn't, only tightened my hold on her hand, she said, "Britta did not come with a dowry. Her kingdom, her country, is my brother's reward for marrying her. It's a reward he doesn't yet have. One he will have to win. Their marriage...it is like most marriages for people like us. People with crowns. It came with strings attached. Valuable strings."

She was speaking in riddles and it reminded me of that day when she's caught me looking for Kai. She'd spoke in riddles then too, not fully saying what she knew to be true. Back then, I think she'd done that to protect me from any listening ears. Now, I wondered who her vagueness protected. I got the sense that she was afraid to speak plainly—not because anyone was listening, but because to admit the truth of whatever was upsetting her would only make it more real.

I cleared my throat. "What's happened, Isla?"

I'd seen Isla smoke many cigarettes, but I'd never seen her look like she needed a smoke more than she did in that moment. "He—He's giving me to Haniver."

"Haniver?" I asked, confused. "Isn't that..." I thought about it, considered what I knew. "You mean the kingdom in the Scattered Isles?"

She racked a hand through her dark hair. "It's what he was doing today. He signed the papers. Signed me away and didn't even—Darragh—Darragh signed me away before he even gave me the chance to meet—to argue—I—Oh, gods, Monroe...I can't even believe it." She shook her head, her eyes closed tight against a new wave of tears. "And I just stood there. I was so stunned, so stupidly stunned. When I got to the throne room and saw him and he told me..." She shook her head. "He was so nice and he had no idea I hadn't been told already. Justinian had no idea that I didn't—that we were—that I'd been—And Annalise. How am I going to tell—"

"Isla, slow down. You're going to make yourself sick."

Each breath was a gasp as she said, "He—He kissed my hand and—and introduced himself as my betrothed and I—Monroe, I just stood there. I just stood there gaping at him. And—And then Darragh got there and I thought—It had to be a mistake. It had to be."