Saltbound and Bloodsworn (by Allison Franklin) novel Chapter 30

Chapter 30 Chapter Thirty

Sylvan reluctantly returned to the castle after Morias was blowing and lathered in sweat. Cole and Nikolai were waiting for him near the stairs leading into

Aerhart. He handed Morias off to Dimitri, who clicked his tongue at the state of the stallion but kept his mouth shut when he most likely would have loved

to give the prince a lashing. The only thing keeping him from doing so was the fact that they were in the presence of ladies.

“Seven carriages, carrying seven suitors, Your Highness, Nilai announced as he stepped up beside them.

“And Rose watching her competition from a window somewhere,” Cole added with a chuckle.

“Nice to see you dressed for the occasion,” Nikolai grumbled, giving the prince a side-eye.

Sylvan adjusted the shirt that had started the day off as white but now sported a few stains of mud and a thin coating of dirt from his desperate ride

through the woods. “They want to mate with me, do they not? Surely they don’t think I’ll be in my armor every hour of the day.”

“If you’re trying to give them realistic expectations, perhaps you should strip entirely,” Cole suggested.

“That would certainly cause a scandal, wouldn’t it?” his mother asked behind them.

The three men turned, and they each bowed. “Your Majesty,” Cole and Nikolai chanted together.

“Mother,” Sylvan said, taking her hand and kissing the back of it.

*I like your choice of clothing, Sylvan,” his mother said, her face hinting at a smile.

Sylvan glanced down and brushed his palm across his chest to dislodge some of the caked-on pieces of mud. “I went for a ride this morning.”

“I saw,” she told him, facing the carriages starting to line the drive, waiting for their introductions. “I think it shows your true nature. You want a mate who

will accept you. Your morning rides are a part of who you are. I do not expect you to change for these women,” his mother explained, turning slightly so he

could see the genuineness shining in her eyes. “I know you do not approve of this, Sylvan. It is enough you are willing to try at all.”

“I do not have much of a choice,” he reminded her.

She sighed and nodded to the footmen to begin allowing the women to exit. “I wished so badly you would find your fated mate.” She chuckled. “I think both

me and your father did.” She gave him a meaningful look. “Him for different reasons than Your happiness is more important to me than the throne. I need

you to understand that.”

“Then why saddle me with a woman?” Sylvan asked, his face serious, though his mouth twitched with the joke.

The queen swatted his arm, then stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. “All I ask is you give this a genuine chance,” she whispered in his car. “Who knows, perhaps your fated is among them.”

With that, the queen disengaged herself from her son’s arm and walked down the steps to begin ushering the women inside. Sylvan sighed and stood straighter as the first carriage door was opened.

“She isn’t wrong.” Cole said over his left shoulder. “She is among them.”

“Do not.” Sylvan warned.

“This is pointless,” Cole continued, nevertheless. “Your mom wants you to choose a mate. Remind me again why you’re going through this charade with

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therether women when your fated is…

“I am not going through with anything. I will not be choosing a mate. Period,” Sylvan sighed and nodded as the first woman stepped out. Her hair was done up in a bird’s cage with heavy make that hid her natural skin tone and a dress that looked as though it weighed five stone. “I am merely entertaining my mother’s notions and will dismiss each girl with one reason or another why she won’t be suitable,” he added under his breath.

“Prince Sylvan of Eredhal,” the queen said, standing before him with her first offering. “May I present Princess Isobel of Boregard.”

“Your Majesty,” the young woman panted, thanks to the weight of her dress as she dipped down in a low curtsy.

“It is a pleasure to see you again,” Sylvan said, keeping his hands behind his back as his mother helped the poor woman to stand straight again.

“Hopefully this encounter will be more pleasant than the last,” Isobel remarked, referring to their last meeting being at her father’s funeral: a funeral brought about by Sylvan’s own hands.

Sylvan nodded, and the queen ushered the princess inside.

“Awkward,” Cole stated.

“Where did you go this morning?” Nikolai asked.

“For a ride,” Sylvan responded as the second carriage pulled forward.

“Did you meet with Theodore?” Cole asked.

“Yes, apparently, there is unrest, and suggestions we’ve stolen some kind of living relic. Some great power. Nikolai, I want you to…”

“I will hold discussions with the commanders to find out what, if anything, the men claimed for themselves after battle,” Nikolai assured him.

There was a beat of silence as the queen walked down the steps past them again to retrieve the second girl.

“I’m assuming based on the longevity of your ride that you saw her again, too?” Nikolai asked.

Three people knew of the oracle’s existence. Well, four, seeing as how the third was his mother and she withheld nothing from her mate, the king. The other

two stood behind him.

“Yes.”

“And?” Cole prompted.

Sylvan sighed. “The gods want me to claim my fated mate.”

“That is absolutely preposterous,” Cole mocked.

“The one who tried to kill you,” Nikolai stated.

“The one you tried to remove from my apartments and defied my orders in doing so.” Sylvan acknowledged, glancing over his shoulder at his beta. “Don’t think I didn’t know. We will discuss your intentions later on.”

“My intentions are to the crown, Prince Sylvan. I am to protect the crown at all costs. The woman is dangerous, unpredictable, and wished to leave your side. All I did was allow her to do so. I didn’t force her out or put her in harm’s way.”

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Your duty may be to the crown, but it is to my crown, Nikolai. Lest you forget. I make the decisions when it comes to my personal life,” Sylvan growled as his mother stepped forward with her second tribute. The irony of what he said was not lost on him.

*Prince Sylvan, Amora of Littaly, mother presented

Sylvan bowed as the young woman curtsied. She was petite, cute, with strawberry-blonde hair that sparked in the light and kind eyes with a shy smile. Under different circumstances, she might catch his eye. Unfortunately for her, she was about a week too late, and he wished it were a shallow green mixed with the light blue of her eyes rather than the gold that was showcased in her gaze.

“Littaly is a beautiful province,” Sylvan remarked.

“I would love to show you the beauty for myself one day, if you’d allow it,” Amora suggested, her voice steady but quiet

The queen ushered her away, and Sylvan groaned as the third carriage pulled up.

“The oracle told me I must claim Isla,” Sylvan continued, needing to get some of the weight of the issue off his shoulders. “That there would be catastrophic

consequences if I don’t.”

“I do not understand the predicament,” Cole said.

“Of course you don’t,” Nikolai snapped. “Not only would him claiming his fated mate endanger her in the castle, as Tristan would see it as a personal threat to his claim on the throne, there will be assassins sent from across the continent hired by alphas bent on revenge. Other countries will see him claiming a fated mate as a weakness and consider invading or taking back already won territories while the prince is distracted. There is a monument of consequences piled up before us, not the least of which is that none of us really know this woman, nor her intentions or even her true identity.”

“Well, I would think the gods would have thought of all this, no? What exactly did the oracle say?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sylvan said.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You heard me. Even if I were to consider it, the woman hates me and I would never force a mark upon someone. She won’t get within a foot of me without

me commanding her to do so. All because I killed her queen.”

“Devoted and loyal,” Cole rationalized. “Good qualities.”

“Best to let it lie,” Nikolai added his two cents. “Keep her close, but don’t claim her.”

Sylvan let out a long breath as his mother passed by yet again. “I have never known a woman who carried so much hatred of me.”

“Ah,” Cole said, laughing.

“What are you on about?” Nikolai asked as Cole’s laughter filled the open air.

“The man doesn’t know how to court,” Cole explained. “He’s never had to woo a woman before, and now that he’s found his fated mate, the one person he

shouldn’t have to work to get…”

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