White Horse Black Nights: A Dark Forbidden Fantasy Romance (The Godkissed Bride Book 1) by Evie Marceau

Author:Evie Marceau [Marceau, Evie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kestrel House
Published: 2023-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Sabine

When I wake up, my mouth is parched. I feel jolted out of sleep, with lingering nightmares flashing in my mind. I don’t know how much time has passed. Hours, maybe? My muscles are cramped from sleeping on a knotty pile of fishing nets, my limbs balled up in the sloop’s narrow cabin. The crofter’s dress Adan gave me is itchy.

I comb my fingers through my hair instinctually, freezing when it doesn’t have its usual heft. For years, in the Convent of Immortal Iyre, I fantasized about being free and light, with shoulder-length hair blowing in the wind as I rode Myst at breakneck speed through open fields. Now, I’m outside the walls, but I don’t recognize this version of myself from any fantasy. Not this frightened girl in a hole that reeks of fish.

The sloop jolts again, and I realize we’re docking somewhere. The repetitive rocking of floating on the river has been replaced with clomping footsteps on the deck overhead. Someone calls out, then throws a thunking rope.

My breath goes rickety. I grip the cabin’s narrow walls to steady myself against the boat’s jostling. I barely have time to chase away the remnants of nightmares and get my head on straight before the cabin’s trapdoor is thrown open.

Bright sunlight stings my eyes. I turn away from it, holding up a shielding hand. Adan’s silhouette eclipses the opening.

“We’re here.” His voice is laced with excitement like a kid on a summer morning. He extends his hand down to me. Outside, seagulls’ lazy caws, mixed with a warm breeze, unwind the worst of the knots that formed in my muscles overnight. In the light of day, my fears look overblown. Adan saved me. He might be a stranger, but that doesn’t make him a villain. He could truly be the kind-hearted boy from a big, boisterous family who wants to take me to Salensa and marry me.

Even though my rational mind tells me all this, however, my gut doesn’t believe it. I saw something in Adan and his brothers last night that scared me.

Still, I’m here, now. And gods, I want off this stinking boat.

So, I let Adan help me up. It’s mid-morning, judging by the sun’s position. On deck, I get a clear view of an open river valley. An overgrown apple orchard hugs one side of the river, and the other is bare fields, plowed into tidy rows in preparation for planting. The dock belongs to a mill with a rusted-out waterwheel; it doesn’t look like it’s been operational in years.

On the riverbank, a blonde man in a cloak sits atop a horse with four more saddled horses at the ready.

I glance at Adan’s two brothers, who are unloading duffle bags of supplies and affixing them to the saddles. Last night, they didn’t bother to introduce themselves. They still don’t.

“Where are we going?” I ask Adan, nodding toward the horses, trying to keep my voice from breaking and betraying my nerves.

“A cottage—it’s a few hours’ ride. It belongs to a friend.

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