Her Journey Beyond the Script novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Chancellor's Bargain

Aveline stood up from the bench and walked to the bars.

She made sure the two guards at the foot of the corridor could hear every word.

"Say that again, my lord," she said. "Slowly. So that I understand."

"Marry me, and the prince lives."

"You'll withdraw the warrant? Tonight?"

"On the day we are wed, I will burn it in front of you."

"And the scaffold?"

"Hester will not like it. But a Varrick bride is worth more to me than a Varrick corpse."

"The lords will love a wedding." His rings clicked on the bars. "She will find she needs me."

Aveline looked at him for a long moment.

She let her eyes go wet.

It was easy, after the days she'd had.

"Then I accept," she said, loud and clear. "I'll marry you, Lord Crale, if the prince is spared."

One of the guards at the foot of the stair shifted his feet.

"But I'm in irons," Aveline said. "I smell of a cellar. I won't be a bride until I've washed and slept. Give me tonight."

"Tomorrow at noon, in the chapel," said the Chancellor.

He was smiling.

"If I find so much as a hair out of place, the warrant is dated and signed."

"You'll find me there."

He bowed to her, almost courteously, and went up the stair with his robe whispering behind him.

The guards looked at one another.

One of them whistled low through his teeth.

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