She snorts. “Yeah, okay.”
“If anyone kidnaps her, I will trade the kingdom itself to get her back. If any of these assassins reach her, I will kill them inside a fairy ring. Then their entire family.”
Her smile falls as a thick, weighted silence crushes my lungs. Her eyes rove over my face, seeing things I don’t want her to see but don’t bother to hide. Her nostrils flare as she wars with her desire to use Arienna to get me to admit to killing my sister. Her jaw clenched, she fists her hands so hard, her body shakes.
And still the silence stretches.
Until finally…
“I will make sure no harm comes to her,” she grits out. “For the protection of the kingdom.”
I incline my head, then move away from her to head into my bedroom. I’m going to grab the things I originally came in here to get, then I’m going to see my fucking wife. At the archway though, I stop.
For over twenty years, Evangeline has pursued the truth of what happened that day. For over twenty years, she’s kept the memory of Aurelia alive when the rest of the world has forgotten her. And now, she’s prepared to lay down her life to protect my wife. She is suffering all alone.
Reminding myself that I once trusted her almost as much as I do Jace, I turn around.
But she’s gone.
And it’s just me and my thoughts.
And my desperate need to be in the arms of my wife.
Ten
A queen doesn’t just understand that there will always be casualties. She uses them to her advantage.
Shecannotdie.
- King Richard
Stepping over the debris, I make my way into my bedroom. Holes from tossed knives mar the walls. The bed frame sags, its splintered pieces stabbing the floor. One of its posts is lodged into the ceiling, with little flakes of wood in a pile beneath it. Jace kicked it up there after I threw it at him.
Crossing the room, I open the door at the far end. I head inside. The light comes on, a soft red glow that still leaves the place mostly in the dark.
Walking over to the whips lining the wall on my right, I pull one off and stretch it between my hands. The muscles on my back tighten. My knuckles turn white.
I could’ve lost her today.
Jace could’ve seen the bomb too late. I could’ve been too far away from my queen, talking to one of the Dragons of Kholar. A piece of shrapnel could’ve torn into her skull. And tomorrow, I’ll be using her as half-bait, half-shield.
Smacking the whip against my palm, I bask in the pain. I look at the restraints hanging on the adjacent wall, then at the sex swing hanging from the ceiling.
Tied up and at my mercy, Arienna might be bloody and bruised, but she’d be safe.
I could keep her in here while I attend to my kingly duties. I’ll reinforce the door, add a bed…
The whip slaps against my palm hard. A growl escapes my lips, welcoming the pain.
I could’ve lost her today!
Yet, I’m still expected to be at dinner tonight. To pretend with the ladies and lords that everything is fine – a show of strength, a silent ‘fuck you’, a dare for our enemies to try again. I’m expected to dine with the Vylian king and show our people that our treaty remains strong.
So I need to get showered and changed. I have nobles to piss off. Threats to make – some subtly, some not so much.
But all I can fucking think about is how I almost lost her. How I might lose her still. Evangeline is good at her job, but if there is a member of the Court willing to start a coup just to kill me, then she isn’t safe by my side.
I smack the whip down harder, its sharp little claws tearing through my skin. Pain rips up my palm to my wrist.
