But a massacre wouldn’t solve our problem, and despiteEdmund’s delusions, maintaining appearances mattered now more than ever. I couldn’t afford to look weak, especially not to opportunistic parasites like him.
“This is my home. Did the council decide that it wasn’t?” A few council members shook their heads in response to her. “As for Valentino, he’s staying here as my guest.”
“You’re going to fulfill your father’s wish and marry him?” Edmund asked.
I couldn’t see Amari’s reaction, but I felt him tense. Nicolas paled visibly before a scowl settled on his face.
Evidently, she hadn’t told him about our arrangement, and now the four of us would venture into the wilderness together to find a missing village, our complicated past and uncertain future hanging between us like a storm cloud ready to break.
CHAPTER EIGHT
SAMARA
It was as if Lilith had never been in the castle. The staff bustled around, bringing us drinks as if the centuries of tyranny under Lilith’s rule had been nothing but a bad dream.
Everything felt strangely normal, yet entirely wrong.
My brother should have been sitting at the head of the table. Reve had acknowledged me publicly, gotten the council to allow me to stay, and then... disappeared again. Just like that night when he’d told me to run and pushed me toward the window.
Why come back only to leave again? There had to be a reason. There always was with Reve. I just wished I knew what it was.
“Shouldn’t we be concerned that the servants might poison us?” Val’s question pulled me from my thoughts as Amari eyed his glass with deep suspicion.
“They are tied to whoever has control of the castle. They’re loyal to me now, I think.” I wasn’t entirely sure how the magic binding the house staff worked, but they seemedhappy enough to serve me. Perhaps they were relieved Lilith was gone.
Nico and Amari sat in tense silence, both of them abnormally quiet after Edmund’s marriage bomb at the council meeting. At least their mutual jealousy had put a temporary end to their hostility.
I stole a glance at Nico, remembering the night before—his hand wrapped around himself, his voice rough as he described what he would do to me. Heat crept up my neck. This morning, he’d barely looked at me, slipping out of bed before I woke, creating distance where there had been none.
Had I pushed too far? Crossed a line we couldn’t come back from?
He’d started it, but I could have stopped it. I’d been fully aware of where the line was drawn, and I’d watched myself step over it anyway. I traced invisible patterns on the table as I remembered the strain in his voice, the conflict in his eyes. I knew his feelings about becoming more intimate than we already were. How many times had I caught glimpses of his struggle? The way he’d pull back, reset boundaries, create distance whenever we veered too close to something more.
Despite that, I’d pushed. Some part of me had wanted to break through that wall he’d built and be the exception. But people don’t heal on command, even when you desperately want them to.
As the servants brought steaming platters of food, Val’s voice cut through my spiraling thoughts. “So, why is your hair purple?”
I nearly choked on the drink I’d taken. I was honestly a bit surprised the council hadn’t asked me about my hair.
Nico cleared his throat beside me. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
“Everything’s my business. Witches are the only ones whocan change things to those colors.” Val took a bite of meat and chewed slowly, his eyes never leaving mine.
My hand instinctively reached for the end of my braid. The purple had appeared when I’d been struck by lightning. “I’m not a witch. I woke up one day, and it was like this. It was probably the stress of losing my parents and my brothers.” I pushed food around my plate, suddenly not hungry. “And even if I were a witch, what would it matter?”
“Yeah, Val, would it matter? It’s not like you two aremarried.” Amari stabbed at his food with enough force to crack the plate beneath, then viciously chewed once it was in his mouth.
Val shifted in his seat, the movement drawing my attention to his elegant hands. Hands that had once caressed my cheek with such tenderness that I’d almost believed his promises of forever. “It would be nice to know what we’re dealing with.” His gaze slid to Nico. “What’s your deal?”
Nico narrowed his eyes, chewing deliberately. “What do you mean, what’s my deal?”
I sighed and put down my fork, looking between the three men. This was a disaster. One I had created by letting Val stay, by not sending Amari away after his attack, and by crossing lines with Nico that couldn’t be uncrossed. “We need to start being civil toward each other. I know it’s going to be hard, but we really can’t afford to be fighting.”
“I’m not the one who has issues. Maybe you should let them go at it.” Val wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “I like to watch. You evidently do too.”
My face burned hot enough to light the castle torches as I snatched my wine glass with clumsy fingers, nearly knocking it over. The liquid sloshed dangerously close to the rim as I brought it to my lips and gulped down half its contents in one desperate swallow.
Of all the innuendos Val could have chosen, he’d picked the one guaranteed to make this excruciating dinner worse.
