Chapter 5

The stenchof hay and horse greets me as I slip into the shadow-drenched stables. Jude leans against a wooden post, an apple in hand, crunching away, like he hasn't a care in the world.

Loose black strands fall over his forehead as he cocks his head to the side, a smirk playing on his lips when I come to a stop near him. "Well? Did you see her?"

"I might have caught a glimpse," I admit, feigning indifference as I stride past him and pretend to inspect the bridles hanging on the wall.

"A glimpse?" Jude laughs. "Jasce, brother, you're more transparent than you think."

His words strike deeper than I want to admit. To be smitten is to be vulnerable, and vulnerability is not a luxury I can afford as chieftain. And yet, here I am in Bakva when I should be in Sharhavva—the capital city of House of Crimson.

I cannot help it. Not when I need Annora with me, and I'll be damned if I allow anything to stop me from bringing her to Sharhavva.

I'm chieftain now, and if I want a wife from House of Silver, then I shall have a wife from House of Silver.

Jude takes another bite of apple as he studies me for several moments before speaking again. "Will she leave with you?"

"Yes," I say, knowing I will not leave Bakva until Annora is next to me.

Things were different with Lyra. I enjoyed being away from her, but with Annora, I feel an overwhelming need to have her nearby.

"Did Annora agree to go with you?" Jude doesn't bother concealing the skepticism from his voice.

I shake my head. "Not yet, but she will."

A hint of a smirk pulls at the corner of Jude's mouth as he raises an eyebrow at me. "What if she doesn't like you, brother?"

The way Annora melted into my arms overwhelms my thoughts. "Oh, she likes me," I say, a note of smug confidence in my tone. "Trust me on that."

His smirk turns into a grin. "You strut around with such confidence. It's almost endearing."

I pick up a bridle and examine it closely. "I'm not sure what you find so amusing."

"The fact that you think she'll just trot off with you like a well-trained mare." He takes another bite of his apple and eats it louder than necessary.

I drape the bridle back on its hook and face him, arms crossed. "Annora is no mare to be trained."

If Jude had seen Annora the way I found her standing in her bedchamber, the moonlight spilling through the windows and framing her face, he would never call her a mare. No, he would have seen the side of her that I see, the fire burning calmly inside her. And he would have seen the light in her eyes, refusing to be quenched despite many summers of living with her scars.

She may see herself as merely a sapling, fragile and easily broken, but I see a strong, mighty oak who refuses to be cut down.

Soon, she will understand there is far more to her than she can grasp right now. She has Lyra's magic and her own gifts living inside her, and when she learns how to use them, nobody will stop her from achieving her goals.

"And yet here you are…" Jude gestures with the apple as he continues, "…trying to coax her from her perch with sweet words."

"Women like sweet words." I lean against the stall door and fold my arms again.

Jude tosses the apple core out into the night. "But tell me, brother, does she know you want to take her to Sharhavva? Does she know you want to marry her?"

I hadn't exactly gotten to that part. All I wanted to do the moment I finally laid eyes on her was kiss her.

I scowl at him. "I know what I'm doing."

"Do you?" Jude brushes past me, heading toward the stable entrance, where he steps outside and leans down, snapping up a long blade of grass. He twirls the slender green stalk between his fingers as he continues. "Because from where I stand, it seems like you're more likely to get pecked than nested with."

It doesn't matter to Jude that he has never even met Annora. He just enjoys trying to rile me. He always has.

From the pile next to me, I grab a handful of straw and toss it at Jude.

He dodges easily and laughs. "You'll have to be quicker than that if you want to catch anything, let alone Annora's heart."

"Maybe I should take lessons from you? You were quite adept at catching... What was her name? The scullery maid with the crooked smile?"

Jude continues twirling the blade of grass between his fingers. "Low blow, brother. But unlike some, I don't aim for falcons when sparrows are just as sweet."

To Jude, every woman is worth the chase. Rich or poor. Silver or crimson. If not for his connection with a woman who can open portals with silver flames, we wouldn't even be here.

"Go on," he says, "woo your falcon with grand gestures and poetic verses. Just remember that birds have wings for a reason."

Like Lyra?

She took flight the moment she married me. Then, she ended up dying with only her mother left to witness her demise.

Her mother kept that a secret from me until Annora disappeared. Maybe because by then, Lyra's mother realized she wouldn't get any coin from me.

I shake my head at him. "You're enjoying this far too much."

Jude slaps me on the back. "Of course. It's not every day I get to see you brought low by love."

"I am not brought low."

"No?" Jude smirks. "Then why do I feel like I'm watching a mighty dragon brought to heel by a mere slip of a girl?"

"Because you have an overactive imagination."

"And you have an underactive sense of self-preservation," he quips without missing a beat.

Maybe he's right. After all, I'm deep in House of Silver territory, where Asha would relish capturing me.

"You know," he says in mock seriousness, "if things don't work out with Annora, there's always that nice widow from Dharhavva. What was her name? The one with more goats than teeth?"

I roll my eyes at him. "Thank you for that horrifying image right before bed."

"Jasce," he begins, then pauses as if searching for words before continuing. "If Annora does decide to fly away with you, promise me one thing."

"What?"

"That you'll at least learn how to duck when she goes for your eyes." He bursts into laughter at his own joke.

Instead of answering him, I find a thick area of straw to lie on. Jude follows me and sits on a nearby bale.

"Is this really what we have been reduced to? Sleeping in stables?" he asks.

I shrug, knowing I would spend a hundred nights in a stable if it meant bringing Annora to Sharhavva with me.

"You could have any woman you want," he says after a while. "Why her?"

The question spins through my thoughts like a relentless whirlwind seeking truth. I ponder it, searching within myself for the reason that draws me to Annora.

Is it her gentle spirit? Or perhaps her resilience?

As I wrestle with the reason, the answer gradually crystallizes in my mind. "Because she makes me feel like I'm more than just a chieftain. More than what my ancestors have tried to write in stone. With Annora, I am free to forge a future that is different from my forefathers."

Jude sits up enough to peer over at me. "Well, that was nauseating."

"Nauseating? This coming from the man who once composed a sonnet comparing a woman's eyes to ripe olives."

Jude laughs. "Ah, but you forget, that sonnet earned me a night of passion I shall never forget."

"A night of passion?" I scoff. "More like a night of indigestion from all the olives you consumed trying to impress her."

His laughter echoes in my ears as I settle back against the scratchy straw. The prickly stalks poke through my thin tunic, but I hardly notice, my thoughts already drifting back to Annora.

Soon, I'll see her again, and I'll tell her she is coming to Sharhavva with me. She may resist at first, her kind heart rebelling against the idea of leaving her people behind, but I know I can convince her. I have to.

The thought of being apart from her again is like a dagger twisting in my gut.

No, I won't let that happen.

I'll do whatever it takes to keep her by my side, even if it means facing the wrath of both our houses.