The War Bride Who Waited No More

Before heading off to war, Sebastian Crawford made a solemn blood vow on his honor—just to keep me from worrying while he was gone. He promised to come back and marry me with a grand ceremony, the whole nine yards. Eight years later, Sebastian returned as a general, draped in glory. But by his side was a woman—dressed like a man, her very pregnant belly sticking out like a sore thumb. I took a deep breath, calmly slipped off my engagement ring, and called the whole thing off. Sebastian scowled, clearly annoyed. "Lena bled with me on the battlefield. I've always seen her as a brother in arms. She's pregnant because she helped me take care of a physical need. It was simple and practical. No strings attached." I let out a bitter laugh. Then I sent a messenger pigeon. "Fine. Then I'll find someone to help me out too." Chapter 1 Before I could say another word, Sebastian's temple vein bulged. He grabbed his bow and shot the messenger pigeon right out of the sky. "Don't say things you don't mean. Lena and I will stay in your guesthouse tonight. Better than going back to the barracks and having the whole garrison gossip." I didn't hesitate. "If you insist on keeping her here, then consider this engagement dead. I'll go to the King myself and have the decree revoked." Lena stepped forward and punched Sebastian lightly on the shoulder. "Let's just go back to camp. No need to trouble Miss Lindon—she's a sheltered noblewoman, after all. Besides, the men already know how close we are. We've stripped down and shared a hot spring together. No one bats an eye." She looked up at me, a dare in her eyes. "Hope you don't mind, Miss Lindon. On the march, we don't stand on ceremony." I let out a dry laugh, too tired to play along. "You have ten seconds to get off my property. After that, I'm calling the sheriff for trespassing." Sebastian's jaw tightened at my icy glare. Lena reached out on instinct to calm him—and that's when I saw it. My father's heirloom locket, dangling from her belt. I crossed the distance in three steps and ripped it clean off. Then I slapped Sebastian across the face. Hard. "That was my father's dying wish—to keep you safe on the battlefield. And you gave it to her?!" His cheek flamed red, but his eyes burned with anger. "It's just a piece of metal." He snatched the locket from me and smashed it against the floor. "If it protects my deputy, then it's serving a higher purpose." The crack of gold against marble—I'll never forget that sound. I lunged forward, locked my fingers around his throat, and squeezed. "Don't forget, General. If it weren't for my father, you'd be a nameless corpse in a ditch." My father taught me to fight from the time I could walk. He only kept me off the front lines because he couldn't stand the thought of me freezing in some border wasteland. But hand-to-hand? Sebastian once called me his teacher. His face went purple. He couldn't breathe. Lena drew her sword and pressed the blade to my throat. "Kill a war hero, Miss Lindon, and it's your head the King collects." I glanced at the sword, considered my odds, and let go. Sebastian coughed once. Then he ordered thirty mounted guards to escort Lena back to camp. He didn't turn around until their dust had settled on the horizon. I didn't wait for his lovesick stare. I wiped the blood off my neck with a handkerchief and walked into the family chapel. Three candles lit before the wall of family portraits. I kneeled on the prayer bench, lowered my head, and spoke softly, "If any of you were still alive, you'd never let me marry a disgraced general who keeps a mistress under my own roof." I didn't get to finish. Sebastian stormed in and hurled a handful of wild berries at my knees. Then he yanked me off the prayer bench and slapped me across the face. "Lena is a decorated officer who fights for this kingdom. You're a woman trapped in a gilded cage. Lena and I share something pure—brotherhood in arms. Don't cheapen it because you don't understand." His brow still bore the scar from his blood oath, but I barely recognized the man in front of me. "Pure enough to knock her up?" I asked flatly. His knuckles went white. Then something vicious flickered across his face—the same look he probably wore before running down enemy soldiers. He grabbed a wine decanter and hurled it at my family portraits. Then he drew his saber and split the carved memorial table in two. Candles and ashes scattered across the floor. My eyes burned, but I didn't cry. I kicked him square in the stomach, twisted his arm behind his back, and lashed him to the banister with his own belt. "Pig," I said. The sound of carriage wheels on gravel pulled me back. I stepped outside and opened the gate. Charles Crane had arrived—bearing engagement gifts, a full marriage contract, and absolutely no shame—to formally ask for my hand. Chapter 2 Charles shot a mocking glance over his shoulder at his men, his voice dripping with arrogance. "Ten years ago, I told you not to marry this guy. First, he's not as fit as me. Second, his family's not as wealthy as mine. Third, he doesn't treat you half as well as I do. Marrying me? That's just common sense." I didn't have the energy to trade barbs with him. I spoke softly instead. "Did you ask the King for his decree? And if I say no mistresses—ever—would you agree?" He snorted, nodded once, then waved lazily and headed back to the palace. A small laugh escaped me. But before the smile even left my lips, I turned and saw the chaos inside. Lena had somehow gotten her hands on all the jewelry Charles had brought—the hairpins, the necklaces, the rings. She was wearing them like they were hers. And Sebastian was right beside her, smashing everything she didn't want against the floor. I crossed the room in a flash and slapped him across the face. "Put it down!" Lena flinched at my shout, clutching her belly and scrambling behind Sebastian for cover. That only triggered his protective streak. His brows knitted together, his eyes full of contempt. "It's just a pile of cheap trinkets. What's the big deal? You're not even the Crown Prince's wife yet." I didn't bother arguing. I reached over and ripped the jewelry right off Lena's head. "Without permission, that's called theft. And if a general covers for a thief, he's no better than one." Sebastian swept his arm across the table and sent an entire box of jewels crashing to the floor. His voice came out rough. "You've barely set foot outside this estate your whole life. And you think you have the right to judge us—people who've bled across every border this kingdom has?" I refused to engage. The mess was bad enough. When Charles got back, he wouldn't let this slide. Then I heard the crack of splintering wood, followed by a heavy crash. My heart dropped. I turned. The magnolia tree was lying on its side, torn from the earth. My fists clenched. "Who gave you permission to cut that down?" Sebastian's handsome face twisted into a cold smile. "I did. Lena can't stand the smell of those flowers. And she's pregnant. So the tree had to go." My eyes burned. My hands wouldn't stop shaking. "My father used his last breath to plant that tree. He hung a wooden cross on its branches and told me it would watch over your career, Sebastian. Do you have a heart at all?" For a moment, he froze. He looked at my red-rimmed eyes and didn't seem to know what to say. It was pouring rain by then. I didn't care. I dropped to my knees in the mud and started digging through the broken branches, searching for my father's cross. The wind ripped through my clothes. The cold didn't matter. Finally—soaked to the bone—I found it. Splintered but still whole. I pressed it to my chest, tears streaming down my face. Then came the thunder. A bolt of lightning split the sky and struck the stump of the fallen tree. Sebastian lunged forward and pulled me into his arms. I stared at the ruined courtyard—the smashed jewels, the shattered tree, the muddy ground—and sobbed. "Sebastian... I don't have a home anymore." His throat bobbed. He reached up to wipe my tears. But before his hand touched my face, a scream tore through the house from the inner quarters. Chapter 3 Sebastian let go of me immediately and rushed inside without a second glance. There was Lena, sword pressed against my maid's throat. "No one in the army dares defy me. And you, a servant girl, think you can bar my way?" The maid stood her ground, voice trembling. "My lady has never allowed strangers inside her bedchamber." Lena pressed closer. Blood beaded along the blade where it touched the maid's neck. Her voice came out choked. "The west guest room was prepared especially for you to rest during your pregnancy…" I moved before I could think. I reached for Sebastian's sword and pulled it from his scabbard in one smooth motion. The blade stopped at his throat. My eyes were bloodshot. "Let her go, or I'll kill Sebastian." Lena's smile was cruel. "Do you really think you can kill him before her head hits the floor?" She didn't wait for an answer. She swept the blade across. Blood splashed across the floor. The maid collapsed in front of me, eyes wide and unseeing. I dropped the sword and fell to my knees beside her. Tears fell onto her cooling skin. She had been with me for twenty-five years. She was supposed to marry tomorrow. I picked up the sword and lunged at Lena's chest. The blade bent. It didn't pierce anything. Lena laughed—soft, almost sweet—and pulled a vest of chainmail from beneath her tunic. "I should thank Sebastian. He cut this right off your father's corpse for me." My vision blurred. I grabbed Sebastian by the collar, my voice cracking. "You told me you left his body untouched. You said you gave him a hero's burial!" He pulled my hands off, looked away from my desperate eyes, and spoke quietly. "Catherine… don't make such a fuss over nothing." I let my father's cross slip from my fingers. It hit the floor with a hollow sound. "Sebastian, I have spent my entire life waiting for a man who never deserved me." Then I dragged my maid's body into the bedchamber. I washed the blood from her skin with my own hands. I dressed her in the wedding gown she was supposed to wear tomorrow. I sat at the desk and began to draw her portrait—one last time. I was just about to add the small mole beside her eye when the door slammed open. Sebastian's veins bulged. His hands closed around my throat. "What have you done? What did you put in that room?" I kicked, gasped, clawed for air. He threw me onto the floor of the west guest room and forced my head up. Lena was writhing on the bed, clutching her belly, her face twisted in pain. A physician rushed in, bag in hand. He checked her pulse, panic flashing across his face. He forced a pill between her lips—then stopped. His eyes landed on the oil burner in the corner. "This scent should never be used on a pregnant woman. Add to that her weak constitution… another hour, and the child would have been lost." Sebastian's hand was around my throat again. He pinned me to the wall with his boot. "Everyone in this house answers to you. You're the only one who could have ordered that placed here. So that's it—you'd kill an unborn child just to marry me?" I shook my head, choking. And then I saw Lena, propped up on the bed. She smiled at me. A slow, deliberate smile. Then she closed her eyes and let out a soft moan. Sebastian released me instantly. He didn't look back. He went straight to her bedside. I watched him hover over her—every ounce of his attention hers—and felt something inside me go quiet. I turned to leave. A servant ran in sobbing and dropped to her knees in front of me. "Miss… they're digging up your parents' crypt. The general's men say your parents don't belong in the Lindon family tomb anymore…" My blood went cold. My father died a war hero. He was only allowed to be buried beside my mother as a special exception from the Crown. "Whose orders?" I asked. The servant could barely speak. "The General's…" I turned to Sebastian. My knuckles were white. I waited. "General Lindon has just been posthumously charged with treason. I'm acting on orders from the Crown." I lunged. I didn't feel my fists connecting with his face. I just kept swinging. "My father was an honorable man. You will not do this." He smiled through the blood on his lip and said like a demon's whisper, "He's dead. Who's going to know the truth?" I pulled a dagger and pressed it to his throat. "Call them off." Sebastian didn't flinch. Blood dripped down his neck. His smile never faded. "The King already has men watching me. Kill me, and you die today too." My hand shook. The blade trembled against his skin. Then, a bell rang from the end of the street. A long, drawn-out voice called through the rain. "The King's word has come—" Sebastian smiled. He didn't see Charles standing behind the royal herald.