I pale, trying to think if I noticed a single one.Nope. “And no one thought to tell me?”
She shrugs. “Most of them were only here to kidnap you to torture later. We would’ve found them before they killed you even if they did manage to grab you.”
My mouth flaps uselessly before I close it. Not knowing what else to say, I revert back to my brownie upbringing. “Thank you?”
She waves me off. “It’s part of the job. Which brings me to why I’m here. You’ll talk to Richard. He’ll probably say something utterly stupid that makes you want to ball punch him. Feel free to; it’ll do him some good.” Her hand flutters again. “But you will accept his apology. You will become his mistressafter we marry if it so pleases him. And you will do it with a smile.”
I stare at her, absolutely certain none of the words I heard is actually what she said. “Sorry, could you repeat that?”
“No. Because you heard me, and I don’t like wasting time. Well, my time. I’m perfectly content to waste other people’s time.”
I stare at her. Then shake my head. “No,” I say softly.
Clearing my throat under her stare, I lift my chin. “You can tell Richard… he can go fuck himself.”
Her brow rises again. My heartbeat increases so fast I feel faint. But I hold her gaze, refusing to be a good little brownie who never causes trouble. Or a good little slut who does nothing but obey.
I’ve found myself in these five days. And I’m not giving her up. Not even for him. Tears burning my eyes, I refuse to let myself look away.
“Sit down, Arienna,” she says.
My knees buckle to instantly obey before I lock them and stay standing. Heat rushes to my cheeks. But bugger, does she know how to command a room.She already acts like a queen.
She chuckles as my heart hurts. “If it helps, I think he’s an idiot. Granted, I thought he was an idiot long before he pulled this shit.” She inclines her head with a grin. “But there you go. Nowsit. And if you’re wondering, that is not a choice.”
When I stay standing, she rolls her eyes and goes to grab my ankle. I kick out at her hand. She wraps her fingers around my foot and twists my leg out sideways. Yanked off balance, I hit the ground hard.
“Ow, ow, ow,” I say as I cradle my ankle.
“Yeah, yeah. It hurts. But you being here almost caused Richard to kill himself today, so you are going to sit down and listen.”
“He what?” I rasp as I forget all about the pain in my leg. “Why did he – Is he okay?”
“Yes. Jace got him a healer before he stabbed himself too deeply.”
Shivering over her flippancy, I swallow hard. “Why did he do that?”
“Clearly because he’s not right in the head when it comes to you, whichagainis why I’m here. He’s stopped being king in your absence, and Nicholas is doing a pretty shitty job in his place. So Raza needs you to woman up and finish doing whatever it is you’re doing here.Tonight.” Her eyes harden. “Then I will be taking you back to the castle before he does something even dumber.”
I want to leave now. I want to see him right nowand make sure he’s really okay, but my legs won’t move towards the door. My body’s shaking too hard at the thought that I almost lost him and didn’t even know. That horrible scream I made the night Fabia poisoned him rings in my skull, making me want to claw at my ears in a desperate attempt for silence. But if I do as Evangeline says…
“If I go to him tonight,” I say, each word increasing the volume of that scream, “I will lose him.”
He will never see me as his equal because I haven’t made it there yet. He will ‘protect me’ like a delicate flower in the breeze, not realising that flowers bend in the wind; they do not break.
“No, I don’t think you will,” she deadpans. “I’m pretty certain he’s going to lock you in his sex room after this.”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” I say, standing up. The pain of my decision is shattering every breath inside me. I can’t bear thinking my decision is going to hurt him in any way, but I want forever with him. I want forever where it’s meandhim. Not him with me on the sidelines just doing what he asks, letting himcontrol my life like some corpse in a Brownston play. “I don’t want our relationship to be like that.”
“But you do want a relationship with him still?” she asks slowly, her head cocked to the side.
“Yes! Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because he’s an idiot.”
“Well, yes, but…” I step towards her. “I just want us to be equal. I want…” My breaths are coming too quick. My brain is struggling to get the words out without jumbling them. “I want to be his queen.”
“You know a queen executes people in the square, right? You’ll have to torture them.”
