Malina swallows, delicate throat bobbing, before placing her spoon down on the napkin in front of her. “The soup seems to be disagreeing with me,” she states. “I think I’ll head up to my rooms, after all.”
“Would you like me to escort you?” Midas asks.
“No, thank you.”
I can’t help it—a sigh of relief passes my lips,and my eyes lighten with the weight of her presence lifting.
But I should’ve hidden it, shouldn’t have reacted, because she notices. Her eyes narrow, an acrimonious chill meant to freeze me out.
I immediately install my cordial, careful expression again, but it’s too late. The damage is done.
A servant rushes forward to pull out her chair as Malina rises to her feet. She pauses beside Midas, her ghostly pale hand coming down to rest on his shoulder. I can see the blue veins beneath the cream of her porcelain skin as her fingers toy with the short ends of his hair.
“Coming up tonight?” she asks him, voice dropped low.
Midas’s leg moves away from mine before he nods at her. “Yes, of course.”
She beams, but her attention is on me, stealing every bit of that relief and replacing it with something that makes my stomach churn.
“Wonderful,” Malina purrs before bending forward to place a kiss on his cheek. “Have a good supper with your pet, Midas. I’ll see you soon in bed.”
The ice from her gaze goes right through my heart.
I don’t know what she sees in my expression, but it makes the grin of smug vindication spread on her face. Satisfied, Malina straightens up and turns away, walking with the click, click of her heels, while I’m left stuck in grim jealousy that I can’t let show.
Don’t cry. Don’t you dare cry.
When the dining room door closes, Midas immediately reaches over, his bent finger tapping the bottom of my chin. “Auren.”
My eyes lift to his, his expression apologetic yet stern, soft lips pressed together.
“You can’t react to her,” he tells me.
A well in my eyes fills up, like water in a bucket, threatening to spill over. “I know.”
“Oh, Precious,” he murmurs, gaze caressing my face. “You know you have my heart. I need an heir, that’s all.”
I may not be a queen, I may not be his wife, but I have his heart.
It’s enough. It has to be. Yet this keeps happening, this gutted feeling, over and over again.
I liked it better when Malina ignored me. I think she thought he’d tire of me at first. Maybe now, she’s come to realize that he never will.
When a tear slips down my cheek, Midas brushes it away with his thumb, and I lean into his touch.
“Come here.” He scoots back, and that’s all the invitation I need. I slip into his lap, and his arms come around to hold me as the servants scurry away. “You’re still adjusting,” he says, his hand brushing my braided hair off my shoulder.
“I guess so.”
“It’ll get easier with time,” he assures me.
I sniff, pulling myself together. “Yeah.”
His chin rests securely on the top of my head, his thighs beneath me, holding me up. “We both knew what was going to happen when we decided to come here to Highbell.”
“I just...I didn’t know it was going to be this hard,” I admit in a soft voice. I didn’t know it was going to hurt this much.
A comforting stroke skims down my back. “Marrying Malina was necessary. Not only because it secured the future of Sixth Kingdom, but also because it’s secured a future foryou,” he says, the timbre of his voice rumbling evenly against my ear pressed to his chest.
