12. Stig

12

Stig

I STOOD AT THE RAMPARTS, MY HANDS DIGGING INTO THE ancient rock, grit sliding beneath my shorn nails as wind buffeted me. The joints of my fingers ached as I watched her go, stone crumbling in my palms.

My gaze strained, peering through the morning air at the winding tail of warriors, a snake slithering away, fading into the distance.

This couldn't be real.

Nothing about this felt real.

And yet it was. Permanent. Terrifying. All too real. I felt off-balance. Dizzy. Sick. As sick as I'd felt during the bedding ceremony. It was the stuff of nightmares. I'd tried to flee, to step out from the room, unable to bear it, unable to stomach the sounds, the knowledge of what was transpiring behind the curtains...

But my father had stopped me, his hard hand pressing into my chest as he hissed in my ear that I would not leave, that I would not run away like a coward. It's your duty as captain of the guard to stay and maintain security. Now act like a man.

I'd stiffened my spine and remained, but not for the reason my father believed.

I agreed with him on one point. It was my duty to maintain palace security, and that extended to Tamsyn. So I had stayed put in that room just in case. For her. In case she needed me. In case she changed her mind and called out for help. Nothing would have held me back then. I'd stayed and endured, biting the inside of my cheek until blood filled my mouth.

I inhaled through my nose, trying to supply my shrinking lungs with air as I struggled to make sense of it all. One moment Tamsyn was here, with me. Now she was gone. And not just gone... but gone with him. The Beast. The thought of her out there alongside him...

Bile surged in my throat. She wasn't safe.

It wouldn't be permanent. I vowed that. My fingers clenched, tightening around the rampart. I leaned forward as though I could reach across the distance and pluck her from their midst.

It wouldn't be forever. I wouldn't abandon her. Somehow. I didn't care what my father said. I didn't care what the king decreed. I didn't care that she had married another man. It was all a lie—something forced upon her. It would not stand.

I would see her again.

I would save her.