The following week passed in a blur. Guests trickled in, and Reid spent a lot of time greeting people. Most were eager to meet their future princess. Per Nara’s request, Reid dressed the part of a fine northern lady, smiled a lot, and reiterated over and over again how happy she was to be in Axian, how much she looked forward to marrying Prince Dexter, and how thoroughly impressed she was with the prosperity of Axian under Prince Henrick’s management.

For the first time, the palace sentries wore matching livery and the servants wore uniforms. The women Reid encountered had on dresses instead of pants. When she questioned Nara about it, the princess reminded Reid they had to abide by the law with the king due to arrive for the wedding.

That night, Reid tossed and turned, feeling like she was being sucked back into northern Marsden. As her freedoms were slowly stripped away, chains clamped around her wrists and ankles, shackling her to the stone flooring. She tried screaming for help…

“Reid,” Ackley said, shaking her awake.

Her eyes flew open. It took but a moment to determine she was in her bedchamber in Axian—not in the king’s castle. Sitting upright, she pushed her hair away from her face. “Bad dream.”

“I figured.”

“Did I wake you?” He shouldn’t have heard her. His room was at the other end of this level, separated by sentries.

“I was coming to see you. When I heard you screaming, I entered without thinking.” He patted her thigh. “I feared Eldon was in here squeezing your neck or he’d sent an assassin to murder you in your sleep.”

The room was dark, the curtains closed, so Reid couldn’t see Ackley’s expression that well. “What did you need to see me about?”

“I was just leaving for a meeting with Dexter when word came that your father is here.”

Her father had arrived in the middle of the night? She scrambled out of bed, searching for her robe.

A shadow moved by the door. “Did you not think me capable of doing my job?” Gytha demanded. “That I am so incompetent I couldn’t protect Lady Reid?”

Reid had forgotten the woman was asleep in the sitting room. Had she heard Reid cry out in her dreams?

“Why didn’t you wake Lady Reid from her nightmare?” Ackley asked Gytha.

“My job is to protect her from harm. A bad dream never hurt anyone.”

Reid put her robe on, tying it.

“I managed to get by you and into Reid’s bedchamber without you stopping me,” he said.

“When you burst into the room, I was behind the door with a sword in hand. You are lucky I didn’t kill you.”

“Why didn’t you?” He cocked his head to the side.

“I could tell it was you by your smell.”