The King's Cursed Bride

Unfinished Business: Part 4

Carissa remembered when Elon had lowered her down into the streets of Zonah, mere hours ago. She'd feared the rope would snap, and gravity would suck her to the ground before crushing her bones. That's what she felt now: she was falling, feeling a strange lurch in her chest, the world a passing blur. She was so numb that she could almost pretend this wasn't real.

"Carissa?"

The fall ended with a crash, a fierce pain exploding through her chest as she collided with reality.

Akar lived.

"Carissa." Rough hands gripped her shoulders, fingers digging into her skin.

Images and sensations flashed through her mind: strong hands, a rough grip, tears, pain. She jerked away, and the images fell away like a veil she'd torn from her eyes, revealing the world around her.

Algernon was hovering nearby, bent towards her so far that he was nearly falling off his horse. Likely he'd been the one to grab her. Kybelle and Lyron were glancing back at her, and Elon had slowed his horse's pace to better match hers.

Akar was alive. And that meant he would come for her. After her rebellion last time he'd tried to violate her, he would be merciless when they next met. And she likely wouldn't walk away from this encounter.

Elon guided his horse next to hers. "Carissa?"

Carissa glanced at him, words dying in her mouth before she could speak them. What was she supposed to say? That she was scared? That he should have told her sooner? That he shouldn't have let her know at all?

Elon took in her expression silently. "I won't let him touch you again, Carissa."

Like he didn't let Akar touch her last time? Bile singed the back of her throat, and she swallowed. Elon could try to protect her, but what if something went wrong? What if Akar got ahold of her again?

Elon was still examining her quietly, and he clenched his jaw. "I'm so very sorry, Carissa." He surveyed their group. Everyone's gaze was on them. "We'll stop early today. We all need rest."

Lyron squinted, his gaze skimming the trees. "But where could we stop that's safe from Yare wolves?"

"There's a refugee camp a little ways from here." Elon glanced at Carissa. "In fact, one of Carissa's... friends operates it. He's a healer by the name of Viltus."

Carissa let his words wash over her. Perhaps she should have been surprised to hear they would be seeing Viltus again, but after Algernon's news, she doubted anything could surprise her.

It seemed she'd left behind more unfinished business in Zonah than she'd realized.

***

Lyron sighed. "Finally."

As if in response to his words, the horses lurched forward, quickening their pace.

Carissa lifted her gaze from the ground for the first time in hours. There was a large stone cabin in the distance—windowless and two stories high with a thatched roof. If it had windows or was made of a less crude stone, she might have called it a mansion.

A wall of mud and stone encompassed a large patch of land around the building. At the base of each wall was a trench with wooden spikes. Some spikes were coated in flaking dried tar. Others were blackened from fire.

Within the walls, tents and sod huts had been erected around the cabin-turned-fortress. They were low to the ground, their structures hunched, as if they were servants bowing to the stone building. Finally, they were so near that the wall rose up above the tents and huts, obscuring their view.