Bride by Command by Linda Winstead Jones

dropped to her knees and absorbed all the information she had been given. Her child was alive. Alive and well, as long as she did what was asked of her. A part of her was filled with terror, but she did her best to push the terror away. These people, whoever they were, wanted the same things she did. They wanted her to be empress. They wanted her to have another son.
    All that she desired would come at a high price, perhaps even requiring her to take a life. She didn’t think she could do that; didn’t think she could kill anyone.
    But they would hurt Ethyn if she didn’t do as they asked. Who would hurt a child? Danya remembered the hooded man’s horrible whisper, and she didn’t doubt that he was capable of anything. More tears ran down her face, and she hugged herself to try to rein in the sharp feelings that were tearing her apart. She had denied these emotions for so long that they felt fresh and raw. They tore at her insides.
    A familiar voice interrupted her whirling thoughts. “Are you all right?” Rainer managed to sound genuinely concerned.
    Danya lifted her head and looked at him as he neared. This was it. The choice had to be made now, at this moment. She could tell Deputy Minister Rainer about the hooded visitor and his threats, or she could prove that she had not been lying to herself when she’d said she’d do anything to become empress. She could ask this kind man for his help, or she could claim the position of empress—and save the life of the son she did not know, yet still loved.
    “Of course I am not fine,” she said sharply. “I’m sore from riding in the saddle for so long, and look at my hair!” She tossed back a tangled strand. “Is this any way for a potential empress to look? It is the first day of a long journey, and already I suffer.”
    Rainer’s concerned expression turned cold. “I did offer to escort you by coach,” he said.
    Danya struggled to her feet. The deputy minister could’ve offered a hand of assistance, but he did not. “And double or triple the time of this journey?” she said. “No, thank you. I will deal with the pain and the assault on my appearance, but that does not mean I have to like it!”
    “There is no need to rush,” Rainer said coldly. “There are six weeks until the First Night of the Summer Festival, when the emperor will make his choice. You could choose comfort.”
    “I choose speed.” She walked past him, head held high. When he was behind her, she allowed a few more tears to fall. If Rainer saw them, he would think the tears were brought about by her sore backside or her tangled hair or her bruised dignity. He would not know, could never know, that she had just taken a step which would further darken her already bruised soul.
     
     
    MORGANA’S steps quickened as she found herself upon a stone pathway which ran between two tall buildings. The buildings blocked the sun, casting her in shadow and increasing the chill in her heart, a heart which beat much too fast. Someone was following her. At least two men, she was certain. They were roughly dressed and very large, and she was almost certain she’d seen them in the tavern as she’d made her escape.
    Some escape. She had no coins and no skills with which to earn them. As she’d walked through the city, Morgana had had that truth hammered into her very soul. She did not know what she’d been thinking when it had occurred to her that she might actually remain married to a sentinel and live in such a common, coarse place. She did not belong here. She could not survive here, not alone. She had no place to go, no home but the one Jahn provided for her, no friends, no family, no one to turn to but the husband she did not want. She had nothing.
    Many of these thoughts had come to her as she looked at the canted bed which dominated the room Jahn Devlyn called home. The choice to share that bed with a man who’d claimed her as his wife should not be made on a whim! She should not give in to