Khiran was no longer in the doorway, for which Velario was grateful. He needed a moment to process the last few minutes. He hadn’t thought before deciding to confront Enzi. Actually, he hadn’t even really made a decision. It just happened. He had leapt to Reyn’s defense instinctively.
The door opened, and Khiran poked his head out into the hallway.
Velario tugged his jacket straight and went to the door. He’d pretend everything was normal and analyze his reactions when he got home. It wasn’t a brilliant plan, but it would get him through the rest of the evening in company.
Or, it would have if he had been the only witness. The way everyone in the box stared at him when he stepped inside told him he wasn’t.
“Well done,” Selona exclaimed after a moment’s awkward silence.
Velario glanced over the side of the box. The adjoining box was empty, leaving no one between them and the Sablon’s box. Five hells, they had seen, if not heard, the whole thing. He didn’t acknowledge his cousin’s praise. Velario couldn’t talk about what he had done. He couldn’t think about his actions with everyone watching him.
And he could not think about Reyn as his queen. What in the five hells had prompted him to say that?
Thankfully, the lights dimmed before anyone but Selona decided how to react. Velario walked over to his seat, grabbed the champagne next to it, and swallowed half of it. No one else spoke when he sat down and fixed his eyes on the stage.
Just before the first song of the second act began, he felt Reyn’s fingers brush over the back of his hand.
“Thank you.”
He didn’t acknowledge her whisper, either. Velario didn’t know what would come out of his mouth at this point. He was afraid that if he said anything, he might do something idiotic like beg her to marry him.His queen. He shook his head. No. He had simply been acting the part of a besotted and possessive swain. Like he was supposed to.
He didn’t even like Reyn.
Enzi’s words had been completely beyond the pale, and Velario had reacted the way anyone with an ounce of honor would to hearing a woman talked about in such a way. And if he had gotten a little carried away in defending Reyn, calling her his queen, well, that made sense too. He had spent the better part of the past couple of weeks pretending he and Reyn were lovers. That habit combined with the desire to knock Enzi down had combined to make the words feel natural.
It’s not like Velario actually wanted Reyn as his queen.
He reminded himself that everything was an act for her, too. Her smiles and touches weren’t for him; they were the role she played. A role she played with consummate skill. Her flirting came from experience.
He already knew she had flirted with both Enzi and Arvin. The only reason for any woman to flirt with them was because she wanted the power of their name.
Even if their courtship wasn’t fake, Velario wouldn’t be so naïve as to believe that Reyn didn’t use her looks to get what she wanted out of men, be that a dance, a present, or the power of their name.
