And terrified, I realise, my eyes seeing past the mask he is clinging to.
“You willneverhave to execute someone.”
“You will not be queen.”
“Well,” I say, begging him to trust in me, “I agreed to marry him of my own free will. Brownies do not turn down marriage proposals even if blackmailed.”
His jaw tightens; pain briefly flashes in his eyes. Turning from me, he addresses the Court. “Grant me the annulment, and I will marry Evangeline.”
“Peace treaty,” I blurt, tugging on his arm, trying to get him to face me, but his eyes stay on Petre.
“You will marry Evangeline Sinclair,mydaughter?” she demands.
“My king,” I plea, panic rising in my chest as I realise I am about to lose him. “Peace treaty,” I say again.
This time, he flinches, and his nails dig painfully into my arm. But he does not look away from Petre. “Yes.”
“Then the annulment is granted.”
He pulls me into the hall, my feet a dead weight underneath me. My mind reels, screaming that didn’t just happen.
But it did.
“I can’t believe you did that to me.”
But I can. Because my heart wouldn’t be hurting this much otherwise. He got an annulment. He threw away our marriage. He –
Fabia steps in front of us, anger flaring in her silver eyes. “What the hel did you do to her?”
Before Richard can respond, Jace yanks Fabia out of the way. “Sorry, my goddess, but the Court is watching.”
“I don’t give a da–”
“Pick up Marrabel,” he orders.
Spreading his wings, Richard lifts me up. I think about resisting, but he’s in the air before I can, and then my stupid arms wrap around him. The terror of flying doesn’t seem to care that I’m more scared of what he’s done between us.
“Why did you do that?” I demand as he flies out of the castle, then heads up to our floor.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like that.”
“No? Because it looked like it happened exactly how you wanted it to.”
His jaw tics as his eyes focus on something above us. “I was just planning on getting an annulment, not marrying Evangeline.”
“Youoffered!”The words fly out raw and strained. Each pulse of my heart feels as if it’s breaking my ribs. I want to be sick and not just because I’m flying. Will he understand my pain if I puke all over his face? I’d have to lift myself up to manage it, but fuck it.
Fuckhim.
Crashing onto the forest floor can’t feel much worse than this. And he would have puke on his face. That sounds like a win-win to me.If I wait until he speaks first, I can get some in his mouth…
“I only did that –”
I push down on his shoulders, lifting myself up as I turn to face him. I open my mouth, but my stupid stomach isn’t playing ball.
His eyes narrow in confusion as his arms shift to hold me in place. “What are you doing?”
Come on, stupid stomach.
