I decide to drop the subject for now. “We should tell Izolda.”
“No.”
“Aodhan knows. I think.”
“He doesn’t know, but he might guess if he sees us susurrating into one another’s ear.”
I nibble on my lip. “You started it,” I childishly feel the need to point out.
Konstantin cocks up a brow, unamused. Actually, one corner of his mouth twitches, revealing that he might be a teensy bit amused.
My father appears out of thin air, bringing my escort and I to a stop. His golden gaze traces the fingers fastened to my hip. “I’m so sorry, khráach, but I must head back. Your grandparents will stay until the morning. Vance and Imogen, though, have expressed a desire to remain in Glace for the foreseeable future.”
I love how my father makes it sound like it was their choice. I doubt those two desire sticking around in the north. Imogen and Vance are two political beasts, whose passion is running Luce at Dádhi’s side.
“When will you be back?” I ask.
“Any time you need me.” His gaze cuts toward Konstantin. “I’m such a short flight away.” It’s no secret the reminder is aimed at my fake fiancé.
“Supper here next weekend?” I suggest.
“Yes.”
“With Mádhi?”
“If she feels better, then yes.”
My chest prickles as though the modiste had forgotten to line my gown and the stitching was digging into my skin. “Is there a possibility she won’t feel better?”
“No.” Dádhi’s pupils flicker. “Of course not.”
When he arrived without her earlier, I was disappointed, but now…now, I’m a bit alarmed. Is Mádhi staying away becauseshe truly feels under the weather, or did she keep her distance because she’s disappointed by what I got myself into?
He must read my thoughts because he says, “Imade her stay in Luce. I preferred she rest after our harrowing flight home.”
He caresses my cheek like he used to do when I’d come home upset after uncovering a graffiti of a racist slur against Crows. For some reason, I had no trouble reading those.
“Can I get a hug before I depart, ínon?”
I throw my arms around his middle and press my cheek to his chest.
I know you’re staying because you think that’s what the Cauldron wants, but if at any point, you feel unsafe or unhappy, you come home, you hear me?
I nod, a lump forming inside my throat.
And if you need to talk to me, simply shift. I’m always listening.
He gives my cheek one last stroke, gives my body one last squeeze, gives the top of my head one last kiss, and then he fades, leaving me alone.
Well, not alone…with Konstantin Korol, my fated co-conspirator, whose gaze traces over the blue diamond he had to part with. How cruel that the Cauldron made him pluck it out of his drawer and stick it on some random woman’s finger.
“If it hurts too much to look at it, I could take it off. At least, until wint?—”
“No.” There’s no hesitation.
The same way there’s no hesitation when he scoops my hand and fits it into his.
The man is clearly determined to sell our bond, and for the most part, it seems to work. Even Aodhan stops watching us like a hawk…well, like a Crow.
