19

The icy cold breeze roused her from her slumber. She tried to hide her face in the warmth beneath her but froze as she inhaled the smell surrounding her. Death smelt like him.

Jza lifted herself upwards and found herself face to face with her captor whose pale face shone under the moonlight. His hair was in mild disarray, his clothes crumpled and his eyes shut. Jza closed her own as she marvelled at her mortality.

She was not dead but why? She had broken the vow to protect her sisters twofold. By putting herself in danger with her obvious treachery was the first way she broke her vow. She was the only one who knew where her sisters were. Putting her own life in peril meant her sisters would have been lost forever. If this had not broken the vow for her then revealing her sister's treachery most certainly did. Treason was death in their kingdom and so was the consequence of breaking a vow you were bonded to it. She had not known the consequence back then but she did now.

Jza heard the steady heart beat under her ear increase pace and for a second wished the moment would not end. She wanted to lie there in peace and forget her woes. She was just so tired.

"When am I to be executed?" Jza murmured with her eyes still closed. To her surprise her captor's chest rumbled with mirth.

"Why would I go through the motions of saving your life if I was only going to hang you," Tarquin answered with an amused snort.

Jza lifted herself up again and stared at his face. Was he the reason she was still alive? Her wet eyes widened as she remembered the words he had uttered right before she had lost consciousness.

"What have you done?" She hissed, furiously as she unconsciously held onto the man.

"Why do you presume I had anything to do with.. this," Tarquin casually remarked, his voice low from their shared slumber.

"I was dying! I do not need to read from a book to know this. The metallic taste has not left my mouth," The Princess' voice shook with emotion.

"Once the vow is broken the justice is swift and instantaneous. It is a sure death. I have seen the end of many a coward. It is true you were losing the battle but far more slowly than usual. Your vow must have been a unique one to have such an effect."

"I heard your words.. the ones they make the vow with... Why did you need to say them?" Jza asked after a moment's pause as she pondered over his words.

"A bond for a bond. That was the only way to save your life. You chose a very dangerous path bonding yourself to an unpredictable vow you could not keep. You would have died had I not reached you when I did," Tarquin explained with a strange look in his eyes..

Jza pushed herself away with confusion bleeding thorough her anxiety, "I do not understand. How is that even possible? How could another bond save me?"

"Let me tell you a story about a Princess trapped by an ogre," Tarquin sighed wistfully as he looked at the stone floor, "He made her bear him a son for his own ego. Over the years her son watched him destroy her. He brutalised her until he chipped away her sanity and she was just a fragment of her former self.

"Her son knew he had to slay the ogre and capture the throne for himself before he robbed her life like he had done with her mind. The boy accumulated friends fast but his foes were equal in number. They found out his plans and took his mother away.

"That night there was more bloodshed in the palace then there had been in a century. The boy ran and ran all the way to the temple. His spies had informed him the ogre had married his mothet but he was not done yet. The ogre was to bind himself to the Princess. If the son killed the ogre his mother would die too. The boy's swift feet won that night. He reached there mid vow and slaughtered his father in front of the high priest."

Tarquin had a faint smile on his face as if reliving the bloodshed. Jza exhaled the breath she had trapped through the story. The realisation of what he had done was numbly starting to come to her.

"Is that what you did? You bound yourself to me like that ogre."

"No! Not like that ogre, never like that ogre!" Tarquin's voice echoed around the stone walls. The fury in his amber eyes was evident even in the dim light. He took a shaken breath in before he continued, "It was the only thing I could think of. People bind their vows to their marriages, careers, ambitions. My father taught me that day that people can bind themselves to people. That's the only way I could remember to steal you back from death."

"Why? Why would you... even attempt ... to save me..." Jza trailed off in whisper. His motives were a mystery. Was could he possibly gain from keeping her alive?

"I- I do not know why," Her captive's words was equally quiet.

"There has to be a reason," Jza leaned in, her loose hair swaying along with her. Tarquin stared at her as if hypnotised.

"It's only fair that I save your life after you saved mine," He said as his eyes were still fixed on her.

"No, no, no. I do not believe you in the slightest. Why would you bind your entire existence to a girl whose name you do not even know," Jza was relentless.

"I am not an ambitious man but I never lose and I don't intent to start with losing you," He bit out with a mirthlessly smile. There was no humour in his eyes. He was deathly serious about his proclamations

"That's insane. You have been so meticulous and ruthless in the capture of this country. Why would you throw it all away for.. for... Me..." Jza was hesitant to put out such presumptuous words out of her mouth.

"I have done what I aimed to do. I have soothed the vengeance of my barbarian blood. I have shown my father's people I am more than worthy of this throne. Why should I not choose to follow my own desires," Tarquin finally looked away. His jaw was clenched as if it pained him to speak.

"I am already your captive. You already have... whatever your heart desired."

He did not answer. It was clear he disagreed with her.

"I thought you meant to use your vow on a girl, any girl from the ball. Is it not true there is only one vow to be had. I may not know much about bonding to vows but I do know this much," Jza asked, trying to make heads or tails of this conundrum. Tarquin had once again caught her eyes and heat of his gaze burnt her. Her face flushed from his attention but she could not look away.

"Yes, one vow for eternity," He paused, "They had no use for me and I had no use for them. They would sell their daughters to anyone but I know what they think of half breeds."

"That's a disgusting word."

"I have heard it all my life. It still follows me when they think I am not listening. They have no loyalty in their bones to a harem girl's bastard," Tarquin snorted.

"And you think bonding us together would be any different. If I am not a traitor than who is?"

"You never vowed for me or my kingdom. You were never mine. I always knew where your loyalty lay and even with your head on the line you would never chose to betray them."

Jza was suddenly embarrassed by his words. She had broken her vow to protect her sisters. If that wasn't a betrayal than what was. Even while living with the man she had failed to take the key back. She continued to fail to do her duty every day she tolerated his existence.

"You won't ask me what vow I broke. It is after all the reason we are.. in this position," She asked, unsure what demands he would make off her now. He had revealed so much of his life to her. Did he expect an exchange of information.

"No. No point in risking you all over again."

"Of course, after all your life is now intertwined with mine. You need me to survive," Jza was deliberate in keeping her voice light.

"Yes," Tarquin said quietly his voice barely audible in the night breeze.