Turpis raised an eyebrow, eyes scanning over her. “Really? So even though you’re wholly unattached… you still refused Prince Nikias?”
“I’m full of surprises like that.” Aimilia looked over at the guards who weren’t paying as much attention to her now that she was engaged in conversation with Turpis.
“You sure are, Commander.” Turpis followed her gaze. “Ah, yes, the newest rumor this morning is Prince Nikias just issued an order that the guards aren’t supposed to let you leave the palace grounds.”
She’d suspected as much with the way they’d been eyeing her. But why? Some petty revenge? An attempt to look like he was still in control?
Well, if he thought he could stop her, he was a fool and she would enjoy making sure everyone knew it if he was going to force her hand.
“I’m not scared of him.” She turned to Turpis. “Are you?”
“Let’s see, we’ve got a perfect case study here of the consequences of defying Prince Nikias. If I do, I risk being suspended like Prince Nikias has already suspended you before. Or, since I’m not a pretty commander he can propose to, who knows how much worse it’d be for me?” But then his lips twitched up in a grin. “Tempt me. What do you have in mind?”
Aimilia grinned wider in response.
Chapter 8
AIMILIA
Nikias needed to hire better guards.
If Aimilia could get past them just by enlisting Turpis’ help to sneak through the courtyard gates, they were in bad shape.
Aimilia threw open the door to Marcella and Gavril’s quarters after a brief knock. As soon as she stepped inside, she spotted Marcella spinning around from the window while Gavril sat at the desk, shoving some paper in a drawer.
“Knocking doesn’t do anyone any good if you don’t wait for a response before barging in,” Gavril said, shaking his head as Aimilia closed the door behind her.
“Sorry!” Aimilia cut through the room, waving one hand behind her. “Forgive me, I’m a little rattled from having tosneak outof the palace!”
Marcella closed the window, pulling the curtain back into place as she said, “The—ah—the talk is that bad?”
“The gossip,” Aimilia supplied. “I wouldn’t know, I didn’t stop to find out. I’m sure it is, but I have nothing to be ashamed of or hide from. No, I wasn’t sneaking out because of that.”
Gavril’s brow furrowed. “Then why?”
She glared at him. “Your brother gave the guards orders not to let me leave.”
Gavril groaned and Marcella came up beside him, leaning against the desk. “I shouldn’t be surprised, and yet…”
“I thought you said he was moving on?” Marcella asked.
“Wait, have you spoken to him?” Aimilia came up to the other side of the desk.
Gavril sighed. “I should have known better. He… Maybe he didn’tlieper se, but he led me to believe he was going to be moving on from this whole debacle and searching elsewhere for his next wife. And, yes, I went to the palace this morning to speak with him. I was only there a few minutes, mostly because he wouldn’t talk about what had happened with me. I was more concerned this could cause him to react… poorly.”
Marcella reached over and took Gavril’s hand as his eyes fell on the scars visible on her neck.
“Turning me into a prisoner for rejecting him is not the action of a reasonable, healthy man,” Aimilia said, crossing her arms and hoping her voice didn’t betray the way her stomach was turning.
She wasn’t afraid of him.
But then the memory came surging up to the surface, and she was standing back in that dark hallway once more. Nikias’ hand slammed into her shield, as he seethed on the other side, a wild, enraged look in his eyes, his voice cutting through the air and each word a weapon perfectly crafted to make cuts so deep she’d never recover.
Fine. Maybe she was afraid of Nikias. But it hadn’t stopped her from defying him before, and she wouldn’t let it stop her now.
“Maybe there is more to it?” Marcella’s voice pulled Aimilia back to the present.
“I’ll find out when I return.” Aimilia shook her head, but she couldn’t shake off the specter of Nikias. She could feel the ghost of his hands grabbing her wrists after the shield came down, ready to clap limiter cuffs on them.
