“I’m duty-bound,” he reminded, losing his patience with her. “Tell me you took care of it, Lyra.”
“Of course. There’s nothing left for anyone to find even if they do come looking. Aodhan helped me with that.”
“What?” He pulled away from her a second time. “You involved my brother?”
“What’s the point in knowing someone like him and not utilizing him?” she asked. “You should be pleased. I gave him a warm body to carve up. That should help curb his appetite for a little while, don’t you think? He’s back on Emergence now, but he’ll be returning for a conference in a couple of weeks. We should get together and have dinner. I’ll invite Kel and ask him there.”
“Lyra, please, stop.” He tried to mask the panic that was bubbling within him, trying to keep his cool. If she sensed his nerves, she’d use them against him, like a shark smelling blood in the water.
Which was ironic, now that he knew how her past lover had gone out.
“Why would you kill Ansel?” Maybe if he could distract her, he could avoid this conversation long enough to separate and head to Kelevra first. If he explained things to the prince, Zane was almost certain Kel would take his side.
Almost.
Shit.
There was always Rin though, right? Rin had told him he’d be there. Maybe he could ask him to vouch for him with Kelevra if it came to that.
“You could have simply ended things with him,” he said. “He didn’t have to die.”
“No one ever has to die, Zane.” She shrugged. “I told you. It wasn’t entirely on purpose. I wanted to see if he could reenact what Pavel did with you, but he couldn’t.”
“You know I can hold my breath longer than the average Vital.”
“Can you?” She hummed. “It must have slipped my mind.”
“You really liked him. You said—”
“I was wrong. Gods, Zane. You’re starting to sound like my sister, chiding me. This is because of him, isn’t it? Because of the Hart boy.”
“We’re the same age, Lyra.” Both were younger than her, sure, but hardly boys. “This has nothing to do with him. This is about you and me. We’re not a match. We’ve had fun together, sure, but that doesn’t mean—”
“We’re a match if I say we are.”
He blew out a breath. “It’s not like you’re going to take me as your Royal Consort, so can we please just drop—”
“Should I?” Her words were spoken softly, more to herself than him. “I’ve never considered it before but…If our baby brother can choose anyone off the streets as his life mate, why can’t I choose a Royal as mine?”
“No.” Zane’s reaction was swift and visceral. This was not a part of the plan. Becoming her Royal Consort would not make him important or an integral part of the planet's workings the same way becoming the Royal Doctor would. The benefit would be she could never get rid of him, because they were only ever allowed to take one Royal Consort, but still.
Zane did not want a life in which his life partner got bored of him and he was ultimately treated no better than the furniture, and that’s what would happen with Lyra. The only reason her interest in him had been renewed was thanks toPavel. She didn’t like Zane. She just disliked the idea of him ending up with someone else.
“Lyra, the school year is only halfway through and it’s an important time. Can we discuss this later?” Like when she no longer had an interest and the novelty of the idea of claiming him had worn off. Telling her outright that he didn’t want her wouldn’t work, if anything, it’d only make her cling to him harder. He knew what she was like. He couldn’t risk it. “I’m under a lot of pressure right now.”
“If you were my Royal Consort you wouldn’t have to be,” she said. “You could drop out and—”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because you would no longer need to be the Royal Doctor.” She looked at him like he was stupid.
Having his other fear confirmed—that she would also make him quit med school so he could do nothing but stay home and service her—had bile rising in the back of his throat. How the hell had they gotten here?
Fucking Pavel.
This was all his fault.
“Kelevra wants me in this position,” he reminded, frantically searching for anything he could lob at her to get her to either change her mind or give him time to come up with another solution. “He personally selected me for it.”
