The Bride I Refuse

RONAN POV

I stirred slightly, my arm gone numb where it was tucked beneath Isolde's neck—a habit I'd warned her against more than once, though she never seemed to remember it by morning.

I pulled her closer against my chest instead of moving it, my eyes catching the faint tracks of dried tears at the side of her face. She'd cried again in her sleep, hoping, probably, that I wouldn't take a new bride.

She'd never said it outright in the daylight. She didn't have to. I'd learned the shape of her worry a long time ago, the way her jaw tightened even in rest.

"No one can replace you," I murmured against her hair, stirring her gently awake. Her pale blue eyes found mine almost immediately, the way they always did, like some part of her stayed half-alert even in sleep.

"You were moving," she said, groggy, rubbing at her eyes.

"It's nothing. Get a little more sleep."

I brushed the hair back from her face and pressed my mouth briefly to the side of her head before turning to stand. Her hand caught mine before I could move away.

"Do you think the witch bride will stay?" she asked, worry threading through her voice.

"I told you. No one can replace you. She'll come for a while and leave, same as the others; nothing is special about her."

She nodded slowly, though I could see it didn't fully settle whatever had been sitting in her chest since the arrangement was announced.

She settled back against the pillow instead, closing her eyes, and I let her believe I hadn't noticed how tightly her fingers had gripped mine before she let go.

"I'll ask the kitchens to send something up for you," I said. "Rest a while longer."

She hummed something that might have been agreement, already pretending to be halfway back to sleep, and I allowed myself one long moment just looking at her before I made myself move.

Only if she knows how much I want to mark her just to keep her to myself. I moved my gaze from her peaceful state.

She will leave, my wolf murmured, before retreating to the back of my mind. They always do.

I shook my head, trying to figure out what it means now. There will be no next one, he added; the word settled in my chest with determination. The conclusion of yesterday's conversation sounds almost comforting in their bleakness.

My wolf had grown resigned due to the recurring loss, and I'd long since decided resignation was easier to live alongside than false hope.

I nodded to no one, remembering the vow I'd made to myself after the eighth grave. No one else would be pulled into this. Not if I could help it. Even if it meant the curse finally consumed me instead of another woman who'd never asked for any of it.

I dressed in silence, buckling leather over old scars that never quite faded the way a wolf's wounds were supposed to. Isolde, now fully awake, watched me from the bed, chin propped against her arm, tracking my movements with the attentiveness she reserved for mornings like this one.

"You're not going to be here when she arrives," she said—not a question.

"The northern boundary needs checking." I reached for my sword belt, testing the buckle out of habit more than necessity. "There've been reports of movement near the Hallowmere treeline. I'll take the eastern patrol after midday and see it settled myself."

"Convenient timing."

"Necessary timing," I corrected, knowing exactly what she was trying to say. "The patrol's overdue regardless of who happens to be arriving today. Garrick's already assembled the second unit. I told him I'd lead it personally."

"You could send Garrick without you."

"I could." I didn't offer anything further than that, and she didn't push, though I could see her weighing whether to.

She sat up slowly, drawing the sheet around her shoulders, watching me the way she always did when she was deciding whether a fight was worth having this early in the morning. Apparently it wasn't—not yet.

"Welcome her for me," I said, before she could ask outright what I actually intended to do about the bride waiting to arrive at my own front gate.

Her brows lifted slightly. "For you?"

"You know this palace better than she does. Better than I want to spend the day pretending to care about teaching her." I fastened the last buckle and reached for my cloak. "Show her the wing that's been prepared. Introduce her to the staff. Whatever needs saying, you're better suited to say it than I am."

"And what will I tell her, exactly, about her husband's absence?"

"Nothing she doesn't already need to know."

Isolde held my gaze a moment longer, a flicker of mischief crossing her features. I knew what she was up to, but I didn't bother to address it.

I found Garrick already waiting near the stables when I came down, going over the boundary reports with the kind of thoroughness that made him useful and occasionally unbearable in the same breath.

"Eastern patrol's ready whenever you are," he said, not looking up from the map spread across a barrel top. "Though I heard we've got company arriving today. Thought you might want to be somewhere visible for that."

"The boundary doesn't wait for weddings," I said.

He glanced up at that, something knowing in his expression that I chose not to acknowledge. He'd served under me long enough to know exactly what I was doing and long enough to know better than to say so out loud.

"As you say, my lord."

I mounted without further comment, and the small procession of us rode out through the eastern gate while the palace behind us was already stirring with preparations for an arrival I had no intention of witnessing.

I paused once at the tree line, glancing back toward the towers I'd grown up inside, some old and useless instinct making me hesitate a moment longer than I needed to.

Don't go back, my wolf said.

I assumed he meant the bride. The marriage. Whatever obligation waited for me the moment I let myself think about it too long, the way obligation always seemed to wait for me no matter how far east I rode.

I don't intend to, I told him.

Then I turned my horse forward and didn't look back again.

By the time the Ashwynn carriage crossed the northern border, I would be halfway to the eastern forests, boundary reports in hand and a bride I had never met somewhere behind me.

I tightened the reins around the horse, and we sped off far from the palace.