Turpis laughed, but it was dark and sharp. “I think it’s cute you think I’ll believe that. I wouldn’t waste your breath, Commander. I know what I saw. You were melting in his arms and practically begging him for more. I know a she-wolf when I see one. And your simpering, vulgar behavior proved you just might be the biggest she-wolf of them all. I can only imagine how much worse it would have been if I’d come any later. Now that would be a sight I don’t need burned into my head.”
Aimilia was torn between the part of him that was right, that hadn’t resisted Nikias like she should have, and the stronger part of her that was now boiling over. “How dare you? Nikias kissingmein no way makes me a she-wolf. He’s the one who came after me. If you had stayed around a moment longer you would have seen me push him off.”
Turpis laughed. “Only because you’d gotten caught.”
His words wrapped around her like weighted chains. He was right.
“I’m telling you, this is exactly what Nikias wants you to think. He’s manipulating both of us, and that’s why we can’t let him win. He wants you to think I’m some kind of she-wolf, so that way you give up. You’re playing right into his hands.”
Turpis said, “I have absolutely no interest in being a pawn in whatever strange game you and Nikias are playing.”
“It’s not a game. I want nothing to do with him.”
Turpis raised an eyebrow. “Really? Then, why have the guards who traveled with the two of you been spreading rumors about just howclosethe two of you were? I brushed it off before, but after seeing with my own eyes, I looked into all these rumors going around about the two of you. Spending the night in his tent doesn’t exactly line up with wanting nothing to do with him.”
Aimilia was going to kill them. Every single guard that had traveled with them was dead. They knew better than to run their mouths. “I’m guessing they left out the part where Nikias had been injured the day before and needed someone to watch over him.”
“You always have an answer for everything, don’t you? How about the fact that every single guard saw the two of you dancing in some village when you were supposed to be on your way to your grandfather’s funeral? Everyone saw how disgraceful you were.”
Aimilia’s voice cracked as that one, awful word lodged into her chest. “I’m telling you the truth.”
“The truth always seems to be conveniently in your favor. At least the truth according to you. Still, you can’t blame me for believing those men now that I’ve seen it with my own eyes. You’re tainted goods, Commander. Considering who you’vemade an enemy of, I don’t know that you are worth all of this work.”
Tainted goods?
Turpis raised an eyebrow. “You think we don’t all know it? I was just willing to overlook it when I thought you were finished with the younger prince. But now that it’s clear you’ve just been passed between our esteemed princes, I really have no interest in picking up what’s left, even if it comes with a whole house to command.”
Aimilia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was that really what people were saying about her? Did everyone think she was some kind of a she-wolf that Gavril had used and when he was done Nikias had as well? Did people really think both Gavril and Nikias were so dishonorable as well as Aimilia so loose with her skirts to allow it? And from what it sounded like…
Turpis had already been thinking it and not being fast enough to push Nikias away had simply just confirmed it to him.
“Noneof that is true. Gavril always treated me with the utmost honor, and nothing untoward ever happened between him and me, or Nikias and me. I am not something to be used or passed around.”
Turpis shook his head. “Sure. Whatever lie you want to tell in order to try and defend your name. It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s become quite clear to me you’re not going to win tomorrow.”
What did that mean? What did he know? Aimilia took a step forward, narrowing her eyes. “Turpis, if you found out something about the next trial, I need you to tell me right now.”
Turpis shook his head and grinned. “You’re on your own for this one, Commander.”
She grabbed his chiton and jostled him. “I have been extremely lenient with you while you stood here and did nothing but insult my character and accuse me of things I haven’t done. Youwilltell me what you know.”
Turpis said, “Or what?”
Aimilia’s lip curled up in a sneer. “Would you like to relive our graduation tournament where I beat you so thoroughly you never had a chance at becoming a commander?”
Turpis said, “I’d like to see you try. It certainly won’t help you win tomorrow.”
“Turpis—”
“I’d stop wasting your breath. If our crown prince wants you so badly, he’s more than welcome to have you as far as I’m concerned. It’s baffling to all of us that His Highness is so committed to taking Gavril’s castoff as his own, but I suppose when you lose a prize like Faustina, you’re willing to settle for whatever’s right in front of you.”
Aimilia’s blood boiled. “These are big words coming from you. Like you know anything about Gavril or Faustina.”
“I know enough. You don’t think you’re better than her, do you?”
Aimilia clenched her jaw, and Turpis laughed at her.
Silence.
