They Gave the Doomed Duke the Wrong Bride novel · Chapter 19 of 32
Chapter 19: Tonight
I didn't let him in.
Not yet.
I leaned on the doorframe in my shift with the fire behind me and looked at him.
"Ask properly," I said.
He looked down at me. Then, slowly, he went down on one knee on the cold stone of the landing.
"Bryony Penhallow," he said. "I married you by sword, without asking, without meeting you, without knowing your name. I'd like to do it the right way now. Will you be my wife?"
"I have terms."
"I'd be worried if you didn't."
"One," I said. "Frostmere is mine as much as yours. I've fed every soul in it. I sit at the table when the March decides anything. Not behind you. Beside you."
"Done."
"Two. No more secrets. Not to protect me, not to protect anyone. If you're afraid, you tell me you're afraid."
"Done." He hesitated. "I'm afraid right now."
"Good. Three. I keep the key." I touched it at my throat. "It's mine. It was my mother's. Nobody ever asks me to open a door I don't want to open. Not you. Not a king."
He looked at the key.
"I'd never ask," he said.
"Say it anyway."
"I'll never ask you to open a door you don't want to open."
I stepped back from the doorway.
"Then get up off that floor," I said, "before you freeze to it and I have to explain to your mother."
He got up.
He came in, and I shut the door behind him without the key.
For a while neither of us moved.
The fire cracked.
He stood by the hearth, waiting to be told where to sit.
"Do you know what I thought," I said, "in the vault? With your knife on my neck?"
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of They Gave the Doomed Duke the Wrong Bride are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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