Ah, there he was, walking toward me from the outer perimeter. Smart, since it was faster and easier to go that route. Lucien walked with him, so Helena would also shortly have her partner.
“—like to recognize all the hard work our son James has done this year.”
With the utterance of my name, I snapped back to attention and looked to the king. What was this? No one had mentioned anything about me when preparing for this ball. I was supposed to be decorative up here, nothing more.
Both king and queen were steadfastly avoiding my gaze, which unnerved me. Something about this appeared very off…my gut told me to either shut them up or run. I was inclined to agree with the instinct.
“He has worked very hard for this country ever since joining the family, and we wish to reward his behavior.”
Why did I have this sense they were about to declare me crown prince?
They’d better fucking not. I would throw hands right here if they tried. If theydared—
King Patrick still wasn’t looking at me. “On this day, we declare James—” He abruptly cut himself off, head snapping to the right and staring hard. “What… Victor?”
What did he just say?
I took two steps forward so I could see around everyone else, and lo and behold, there was Victor, striding into the room like he had every right to be there. As if he weren’t supposed to be on a naval ship. How the hell had he escaped his punishment and returned like this without anyone knowing?
I’d get to the bottom of this, see if I didn’t.
Victor looked very different from every other time I’d seen him. He was cleaned up, hair brushed, and actually properly dressed for a start. He looked the proper prince.
The entire room erupted into conversation at his abrupt appearance. The exiled prince had returned, and with someone on his arm, no less.
With all the people between us, it took me far longer than it should have to notice who he escorted. Then I finally had the right angle to see her face and my head spun with disbelief. Had I walked into a living nightmare? The churning in my gut, the fear seizing my soul, made the situation feel all too real.
She was younger—far younger than I remembered her being. She couldn’t be more than fifteen, surely. Right now she looked victorious, her smile bright and stretching from ear to ear. Still, there was no mistaking her fiery red hair, the porcelain skin, her favored all-black apparel. She looked impeccable, her dress elaborate with pearls and lace, the jewelry she wore elaborateand rich enough to pay for a manor. Every inch the pampered princess.
Valentina Erzei.
My former wife and the most evil woman I’d ever met.
How thehellhad Victor fallen into cahoots with her? Another question I needed an answer to, but not something I could figure out tonight. No, they’d played this very carefully to avoid tipping their hands and somehow managed it, Zinos take them.
“Yes, let us make an announcement so that all may celebrate with us!” Victor stepped onto the dais, all smiles. “I have not only returned to my fair country, but I come with my fiancée in tow. Ladies, gentlemen, and gentlefolk, I hereby announce my engagement to Valentina Erzei, Third Princess of Ascor.”
He’d…what?
This fucking imbecile had gone off and gotten engaged to theone personhe should never have touched. And he had no idea how much she would ruin him, ruin all of us. I stared at him, my heart sinking into my stomach. My head started swimming from lack of air, but I couldn’t seem to draw a full breath no matter how hard I tried. Dark memories hovered at the edges of my consciousness, threatening to suck me into a spiral of despair. Could this please all be a dream? One I could wake up from immediately?
“You didwhat?!” Beatrice for once put her screeching voice to good use and laid into her son immediately.
Victor just stood there, gloating, like he had trumped his parents by making such a public announcement. The fool had no idea an engagement wasn’t even legal until both monarchs signed the betrothal documents. Did he think being engaged to a princess would force his parents to reinstate him? It sounded like Victor logic, even though he was dead wrong.
Patrick barked, “Inside! Not here.”
Really, the whole country was aware Victor was a screwup, so no one was surprised when the parents whisked him and his supposed fiancée abruptly into the back room, meant for breaks during these long parties.
A hand touched my forearm and I looked down, finding Edwin staring up at me with concern written all over his face. His touch allowed me to draw in deeper breaths, though they still punched out faster than I could take them in. It felt rather like I was on a downward spiral, in a tunnel, heading out to a sea of doom. The sense of falling into that inevitable ruination was so strong I damn near choked on despair.
“Come,” he urged me quietly, pulling me toward the balcony doors.
I followed blindly. Seeing my former wife withVictor, the one person in the world I distrusted more than her, was… They were a pairing that should never, ever exist. An abomination.
Vuheia save me, just how much havoc could they wreak before I stopped them?
How had she even latched on to Victor? The man who avoided commitment as if it carried several plagues?
