Free The Underground Witch (Incenaga Trilogy) by Debbie Dee

you watch as I slaughter your people one by one. At least, until you submit.”
    Emmeline cringed.
    “Any woman would break under such circumstances. You would have yielded to me eventually and we would have been on our way. But where is the satisfaction in that? They are only commoners, easily expendable.”
    Emmeline opened her mouth in protest, but Tiergan dug his fingers into the flesh of her left arm and, with his other hand, held a finger over her lips. She jerked her head away and glared at him.
    Ti ergan brought his hand back down to her other arm. “But you bring to light a much more enticing idea. Tell me, for the life of your lover, the last hope of Dolmerti, what would you be willing to do?”
    “You wouldn’t. ” Emmeline said through her teeth. “Dolmerti would hunt you down. No rock would be left unturned. They would find you and you would die a miserable death.”
    Tiergan smirked . “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure. You see, right now, each of my men has someone within the palace grounds in their sights. They will sacrifice each and every one of them should you prove too difficult. All they need is a signal from me.” He held up his hand.
    “No!” She choked on the word. “The people love Erick. They will cry for justice!”
    He le aned in to her and spoke with menacing softness. “Tell me, how long do you think your people will remain loyal when their loved ones are in danger? How long will they fight for their Crown Prince? Or their witch Princess?” He straightened and flashed a confident smile. “It wouldn’t take long for me to instill terror into the hearts of your people. They only need the proper incentive to obey.”
    Emmeline’s stomach rolled.
    “But, I’m no longer interested in killing off your pathetic people,” he continued. “One of my men is in the garden, near your husband-to-be, with a weapon of his choosing. He awaits my signal.”
    Emmeline looked to the trees again. Still, she saw nothing. And then she saw it, a flicker of movement at the top of a tree near the courtyard. She focused harder until she could make out a leg, then a torso, and finally a bow and arrow grasped by two strong arms.
    Knowing where to look and what to look for, it became very easy to see the others. Emmeline’s heart plummeted. They were everywhere, and yet the guards remained oblivious. She looked to the garden, searching near Erick. At first she saw nothing, but she searched harder, desperate to locate a threat. A small glint caught her eye, the flash of metal hidden behind a shrub. The man crouched low to the ground, an arm’s length away from Erick, his weapon posed for the kill. Unaware of the danger, Erick relaxed on the bench, while her father rambled about something. How could he not sense a threat so near?
    She pressed her lips into a hard line and faced Tiergan. “What do you want me to do?”

     
     
     

Chapter 10. Goodbye
     
    “Come with me to Griet,” Tiergan said.
    Emmeline stared ahead at nothing and responded in a tone that sounded flat, dead. “Erick will follow us.”
    Tiergan’s voice turned fierce. “You have to give him a reason not to. He must believe you don’t want him to follow you. He must think you don’t want him anymore.”
    He shook her shoulders and Emmeline focused her gaze.
    “He’ll never believe it,” she said. “He knows how much I love him. This is too sudden. He’ll suspect something is wrong.”
    “Let me help you understand something, Incenaga. If he suspects anything at all, he will have an arrow through his neck before he can raise a single question. I don’t care how you manage to get away, but it must be convincing. His life depends on it. If he follows, he’ll die. If he suspects anything, he’ll die. Am I getting through to you?”
    Emmeline nodded and stared out the window. Erick seemed so happy waiting for their special day to begin. He loved her, and yet she was about to walk away from him, from the life they could have shared.