My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 149

Torin

“Are you not enjoying the celebration tonight?”

She didn't look angry. She didn't look feral. She looked completely relaxed, like she had been sitting there watching me struggle for the last ten minutes.

"Saddle would have slipped completely under the beast's belly the second you hit a full gallop," Yvara noted. Her dark eyes flicked down to the loose straps hanging from the horse, then back up to my face. She smiled. "You'd break your neck before you even cleared the tree line."

I dropped the reins. The heavy leather straps hit the dirt floor. My mouth opened, but no sound came out. My throat was completely paralyzed.

"Going somewhere, Lord Torin?" she asked, tilting her head slightly. She set the lantern down on the hay bale next to her.

"I..." I swallowed hard, the taste of my own blood still sharp on my tongue. "I am leaving. The Queen ordered me back to the capital. I am carrying a message for King Aldric."

Yvara let out a soft, breathy laugh. She wasn’t buying my lie. She slid the hunting knife smoothly back into the leather sheath strapped to her thigh. She hopped down from the hay bales, landing silently on the dirt floor.

"A message," she repeated softly. She walked slowly toward me. The horse shifted nervously, stepping away from her approach. "You packed a bag full of velvet and dropped half your gold on the floor of your room just to deliver a message in the middle of the night?"

I took a step back. Had she been following me?

My shoulders hit the heavy wooden doors. There was nowhere left to go.

"Let me pass," I demanded. I tried to inject some trace of authority into my voice, but it cracked horribly. "I am a high-ranking lord of Valdris. If you touch me, Fenris will answer to King Aldric."

Yvara stopped three feet away from me. The amusement completely vanished from her eyes, replaced by a cold, predatory stillness that made my stomach drop.

"Aldric doesn't rule here," she stated flatly. "And neither does your desperate, pathetic Queen."

"You don't understand," I stammered. My hands came up defensively in front of my chest. "Irina... Irina is with the Luna right now. She is negotiating our sanctuary. If you kill a Valdris Lord, you ruin whatever treaty she is building. Fenris will have to answer for it."

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