Yet, he doesn’t stay here. He heads for the door to talk to the guards. He steps out into the hall, but he keeps the door ajar so he can keep an eye on me. I try to sneak over to hear what they’re saying, but his eyes catch mine, and I turn away.
Then I spin back around, deciding I’d rather be rude than ignorant. Marching over to the door, I reach for it to yank it open, but he beats me to it.
“Come on,” he says as he grabs my hand.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Jace –” I start, begging him not to shut me out.
“I don’t know,” he says as he pulls me into the hall. “It’s just a feeling.”
Like the horrible one twisting me up inside?
Fabia hurries after us, but Nicholas stays behind, being the obedient brother. My heart racing, I head for his study. He’s in there all the time, trying to solve some problem of Raza’s. But the room is empty.
He isn’t in the barracks or up in the aviary with Maeve either. I suggest looking in the library, but Jace tells me Richard has never stepped inside since its completion. “He refuses to go near it.”
His voice is flat, and at any other time, I’d comfort him, but there is too much fear inside me. I need to find my king. My gut twisting, I hurry through the halls of the castle.
As soon as I arrive outside of the Council Room, I know he’s in there. Marrabel’s standing on one side of the door, her eyes screaming an apology. Irin’s on the other, her eyes not looking at me at all.
My stomach plummets.Something’s wrong.
I hurry towards the door, but Marrabel moves in front of it. “I’m sorry, Arienna, but you don’t have permission to enter.”
I flinch at the sound of my name on her lips. It’s always been, ‘Your Majesty’.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Fabia snaps. “She’s the soon-to-be queen.”
My belly churns and twists. I look past her at the door. My king is in there. I need to get to him so he knows he isn’t alone.
“Explain.Now,” Jace says, and I realise, it’s the first time I have heard him give an actual order. His voice is cold, a promise of discipline.
“The king requested an annulment half an hour ago.” Her words wrap around my throat, suffocating me, and for a moment, they don’t make sense.
Then I realise they don’tactuallymake any sense to me. I have no idea what an annulment is. She just said it so damn pitifully, I’m assuming it’s bad. “What’s an annulment?”
“He’s erasing your marriage as if it never was,” Fabia says behind me.
My throat closing, I stare at Marrabel, begging her to refute it, but she doesn’t lift her gaze off the floor. My lips work wordlessly as I fight to get something past the hard lump in my throat.
I thought he might be giving up his crown so we could go away somewhere.
Instead, he’s giving up mine.
Without asking.
Without evendiscussingit with me first.
Mr Communication Is Important.
Mr Safeword and Safeactions so he knows my limits.
MrTrust Is So Damn Important to Me.
The fucking bastard.
