He didn’t know how things had gone so bad, so fast.
Somehow he was worse off now than when he’d even started months ago. At least when Aimilia had been trying to avoid him it had been different. She looked at him with annoyance and frustration.
Now?
Aimilia looked at him like he’d let her down. The worst part about it was Nikias couldn’t figure out how to get out of it. How could he make her understand it wasn’t as simple as just standing up for her to his mother?
It was easier to let her say what she wanted to say and then work behind her back.
There was no standing up to her. She always won.
What would accusing her of sabotaging Aimilia’s tower accomplish?
All it would do was tell her she needed to be subtler. It wouldn’t stop her.
Nikias would just have to find a way to keep Aimilia safe regardless, and it would only be harder if his mother knew he was onto her.
Nikias donned the black mourning clothes again. He hated them. He couldn’t stand the sight of himself in them anymore, but there was no getting around it. It was required, but at least the trials brought a reprieve. The sooner Nikias never donned black again, the better.
He stood in the courtyard beside his mother. He’d spun her a story about sending some Runai to the surrounding villages to try and catch these alleged stone mages. Although they weren’t publicly claiming Aimilia’s tower falling had been Stonai, that was the current pervasive rumor. Even if there were some mages who might suspect someone else, they were smart enough not to whisper about it.
Accusing Queen Clelia wouldn’t end well foranyone,not even her son.
Did Aimilia want him to have even more bruises to hide? Did she even care anymore about the consequences there would be if he accused her?
He wasn’t just hiding bruises under illusions, but also the bags under his eyes. He was doing his best not to yawn in front of all of the Runai assembled. He hadn’t slept in days. His nightmares hounded him again and again. Every time he got close to rest, they woke him up with a scream. If it wasn’t past fights with Faustina or her death, it was past fights with Aimilia and her death, her taking Faustina’s place in his arms and choosing death over him.
Was Nikias trapped in an endless cycle?
Each trial brought her closer to it. Would she really rather die trying to prove something than marry him? Had he been right? She hadn’t really wanted to kiss him. She didn’t really want him—or rather, she didn’t feel any affection for him. She didn’t love him.
But then again, she’d kept the necklace. She hadn’t said she wouldn’t marry him when he gave it to her. That still meantsomething.
Nikias was ready to claw himself out of his skin, if only to get a good night’s rest.
She didn’t want to see him, but why? What had changed after the night he held her? What was going on in her head?
Every time he came to her, she ran away or pushed him away. Months of progress were slipping through his fingers.
Aimilia was slipping through his fingers.
He was going to lose her.
He couldn’t lose her. He was so close. There had to be a way to save this. There had to be a way to make her love him. She had to love him.
What else had it all been for?
Nikias couldn’t endure this torment any longer. He could no longer be resigned to loving her in silence. But she wouldn’tlethim do anything. Even if she would, he didn’t knowwhatto do.
The commanders came out again, and this time, Cyprian didn’t fight Aimilia about bearing the casket. Aimilia didn’t look at Nikias once as they set off.
He tried to catch her gaze, but she stayed at the front with Cyprian bearing the casket. Nikias spotted Ovidius, his eyes red-rimmed, looking as gaunt as Nikias was beneath his illusion.
A pang ripped through Nikias’ heart. He knew exactly what the poor man was feeling.
He looked over at his mother, who was completely stone-faced and impassive. Nikias had learned well from her. His mother didn’t even seem to care that a completely innocent woman was dead because of her.
Nikias didn’t doubt Aimilia’s words, although he had no idea how she had come across that information.
