Saltbound and Bloodsworn (by Allison Franklin) novel Chapter 31

Chapter 31 Chapter Thirty-One

Isla closed the curtain of the windowsand scoffed. She picked the duster back up and started dusting off the various books lining the shelves of the Mate Killer’s library. What a show. Seven carriages, each with its own team following closely behind. Prince Sylvan and his entourage were there to welcome them to the Eredhal harem. She recognized a few of the girls… Or at least the flags they flew. She wondered, only for a moment, if she hadn’t walked into the Mate Killer’s encampment, if she might be considered one of the hens being forced into his coup. Instead, she was his prisoner, already in his rooms, dusting. She decided she preferred it that way as opposed being in a guest wing with eight other women, trying to outwit and outperform each other for a

man with no soul.

“Isla!” someone yell whispered.

Isla turned and smiled as Eloise waved from the doorway.

“What are you doing here?” Isla asked.

The two girls met in the middle of the room and embraced.

“Missus assigned me to laundry,” Eloise explained, pulling away but continuing to hold on to Isla’s arms. “How are you? How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine, a bit sore, but Delilah’s poultice seems to be doing wonders,” Isla said. And the Mate Killer’s saliva, but she wasn’t about to bring that up.

“Good, that’s good. What exactly is going on here?” Eloise asked, looking around.

“I can’t say much is happening. I’ve just spent the morning cleaning,” Isla answered.

Eloise gave her a look filled with doubt. “That is no way what I was referring to,” Eloise said.

“I’m not sure I know what you mean,” Isla said, turning away to begin dusting again.

Eloise scoffed. “Prince Sylvan broke through our door last night and carried you over his shoulder to his rooms, Isla. That’s what I mean. Where did you stay?” Eloise’s eyes grew huge. “In his bed?!”

“No! Of course not! I stayed in the guest room,” she explained, feeling her cheeks heat in shame.

“Really?” Eloise asked, already walking from the room.

Isla followed behind as Eloise walked down the hall, past the Mate Killer’s room, and into the guest bedroom she’d stayed in the night before.

“Oof, you slept here?” Eloise asked, running her hands over the bed. “How luxurious.”

Isla wished to say something about the old bed she’d slept in. How it felt like a cloud, and how her window would open up facing the ocean so she would wake with the scent of fresh sea air blowing in along with the sound of soft nickering of horses in the stable below. No, Eloise slept on a rock each and every night. This was more than luxurious; it was heaven on earth.

“You could stay here, and I’ll switch places with you,” Isla prompted.

This earned a bark of laughter from Eloise as she sat on the edge of the bed. “Yeah, that would be quite wonderful.” She sighed and fell back onto the mattress. Isla walked up and joined her. They stared up at the ceiling and the red wallpaper covering it. “I think he would notice it wasn’t you.”

“I’m nothing to him,” she repeated for the dozenth time. “Just a prize. Something to break before he puts it on his shelf, forgotten. Like all the other prizes

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Chapter 31Chapter Thirty-One

Eloise rolled over, propping herself up on her elbow and looking down at Isla. “Is that what he said? That you were his prize of war?”

“Mhmm.”

“Wow,” Eloise stated with an exhale. She rolled again to her back. She chuckled. “He took the library in Oselcech as his prize for that war,” Eloise began. “Before the war, it was cordoned off, only to be used by the royal family. Its texts and artifacts were stolen and shoved on a shelf. Once Prince Sylvan claimed it, the library became a university for the entire continent. Anyone can attend, and anyone is allowed through its doors. In Solelei, he took a colt from an ancient royal bloodline. It is the destrier he rides to this day. He cares for it like a child. Their bond is stronger than I’ve ever witnessed between

man and animal. The horse trusts him with everything as he has zero recourse not to.”

“So I should hope to be treated as his horse?” Isla asked, looking over at Eloise.

Eloise smiled and met her gaze. “I’m merely stating that perhaps there are worse fates than being a ‘prize’ to a warrior prince,” Eloise stated, running her

hands over the fabric of the blankets beneath them.

“I never thought I’d be jealous of my brother,” a male voice spoke from the doorway. Both women shot up and gawked at the future king in their midst. “Seeing two beautiful women such as yourselves lying together in his bed, though…”

Eloise shot to her feet and pulled Isla with her. “Your M-majesty, my apologies, we were just…”

“Taking a break?” Prince Tristan asked, tsking. “I only hope Missus doesn’t hear of this flagrant disrespect of duty. In Prince Sylvan’s quarters, no less.”

While Eloise kept her head bent and her eyes on the floor, Isla met his regard without flinching. This prince was nothing like the threat that was his brother. He was lean, perhaps not skinny, but definitely without the muscle that made his younger brother intimidating. His eyes were green, like the earth, and his olive skin tone made him attractive. Attractive, not appealing, at least to her. His clothes were of the finest quality: silk, velvet. The jewels he wore glittered as if trying to keep people from seeing the unpolished gem beneath. This man was a politician, not a warrior, not a king.

He cocked a brow at her inspection. “Normally, a servant to the throne of Eredhal bows when royalty enters the room,” Prince Tristan noted, pushing off the door and stalking into the room. Isla immediately calculated the movement as that of a predator, analyzing his plan of attack on a prey.

“I’m afraid I’m new to servantry in Eredhal,” Isla quipped back.

Eloise reached over and gripped her arm, hard. Isla hissed but dipped down into a curtsy, though she refused to drop her eyes. Tristan stood before them then, but instead of keeping his attention on Isla, he turned his gaze to Eloise. He touched her chin and forced it upward, though Eloise continued to not

heather

make eye contact.

“You’re a pretty thing. I’ve seen you around the castle. If a luxurious bed is something you’re after, my brother is not the only one with comfortable sheets,”

Tristan noted. Eloise visibly trembled.

“Leave her be,” Isla said, standing from her curtsy, refusing to cower before a second man of Eredhal.

As if she’d just handed him precisely what he was after, Tristan’s eyes snapped to her. “Very well, then. But my curiosities must be sated somehow.” He

tilted his head.

“Let her leave, and I’ll answer whatever you want,” Isla submitted.

His eyebrows shot up once in surprise. “Leave us,” Tristan said, releasing Eloise’s chin with a hard shove that sent her a step backward.

“Your Majesty, L…

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Chapter 31 Chapter Thirty One

By Tistan commanded as he turned his body to face isla fully.

Eloise stond there for a moment, uncertain.

“It’s okay.” Isla assured her, taking res eyes from Tristan’s calculating expression for the first time to look her way and smile. “Please, leave.”

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