I forced myself to stand. To seal my betrayal with a kiss.
I crushed my lips against Alanna's and pulled her close. She tasted nothing like Alice. Too wet. Too desperate. Too wrong.
Everything inside me screamed.
Alanna pulled away, beaming, and clasped my hand. She turned us to face the crowd—to face Alice.
I had no choice but to look.
Alice stood frozen. Tears streamed down her cheeks, cutting trails through her makeup. Her face was ashen, her lips trembling, her shoulders slumped as if the weight of my words had physically broken her. “You’ve gone completely mad.”
She looked at me like I'd driven a blade through her heart.
Because I had.
“Ari,” Alanna called, her voice bright with triumph. "Take Alice Ravencrest back to her room."
Room. The dungeon.
The bitch.
I wanted to scream. To call her out. To wrap my hands around her throat and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze until the light left her eyes.
But I forced myself to stay silent. To keep my face blank. To watch Ari drag the woman I loved away.
I'm sorry, Alice. I'm so sorry.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Alice
Ari jerked my arm, and I stumbled, my legs barely holding me. He dragged me toward the doors, but I couldn’t stop myself from looking back.
Darius had kissed Alanna. Not a polite kiss. Not a performance.
He was devouring her.
His mouth moved against hers with a hunger I thought had been reserved for me. Her fingers dragged through his thick black hair—hair I had touched just hours ago. Hair I thought was mine to touch.
Something inside me shattered.
The doors closed, cutting off the sight, but it was already burned into my mind. Branded there forever.
Betrayal.
Rejection.
Again.
I used her to get Queen Alanna’s attention.
His words echoed in my skull, each one a knife twisting deeper.
But even as they cut me, something didn’t fit. Darius hated Alanna. He’d told me so himself. He’d spent years running from her, fighting against her.
This wasn’t betrayal.
This was madness.
