Keira would never have left without telling him goodbye, even if it was the end. She’d told himshe still loved himand thatthis was for the best. She’d told him thatit would hurt for a time, but that he should move on. She’d told him thathe’d heal one day.Caspian had held onto those words, to that hope. They were the one thing keeping the shattered pieces of him from falling apart completely.
Yvette
Yvette watched Caspian’s expression, trying to keep her gaze impassive. He was thinking about that night. If he considered it enough, the magic she had laid wouldn’t be able to hide itself any longer. He would start to see the gaps, the lies. She just needed him to try to recall details, specifics.
“Yvette, darling!” Victor’s voice carried through the night and stopped her heart. They both turned to face him. “What are you doing out here at this hour?” He wore an easy, teasing smile as he came and wrapped his arm around her. Yet beneath it all she could see his suspicions. Ever since that awful night, he had kept a close watch on her.
“The hour is late,” Yvette said. “Should we go to bed?”
Victor smiled down at her, pleased at the suggestion. She’d been avoiding him for the last week. What they’d done had not rested easily on her conscience, and the fact that he carried Magebane… that still stung deeper than she could say. She didn’t know if she could trust him anymore, if he’d ever trusted her at all. It was an uneasy feeling to carry for someone you’d loved since you were fifteen.
Caspian distanced himself, offering them an uncomfortable good night before retreating back to the castle.
“What were you two talking about, pet?” Victor asked her quietly.
“He’s grieving,” Yvette said. “I was trying to be kind.”
Victor’s hands rested on his hips. “You’ve got to let go of this insane self punishment.”
“Guilt?” she said, turning on him. “Why shouldn’t I feel guilty? It wasn’t right, what we did. It was selfish. It was cruel.”
“It’s over is what it is,” Victor said sharply. Studying her, he softened. “Come inside. It’s cold as death out here.”
Yvette followed him in silence all the way back to his room. She’d been sleeping with Pricilla’s handmaid for the past few nights, but she knew there’d be no slinking away tonight. He shut the door behind them, a final action if ever there was one.
“You know it pains me to see you upset, darling,” Victor said, his tone apologetic as he opened his arms to her.
Yvette gravitated toward him naturally, though she was still ill at ease.
“Should I take your mind off things?” he breathed, unpinning her red hair to fall down her back.
Yvette’s breath was shallow as his hands traced down her shoulders. As conflicted as she felt, her body responded to his touch, especially as it had been so long. She soaked in the gentleness of his touch, the affection blossoming beneath her skin.
Victor seemed to scent her submission in the air as he turned her sharply, her back flush against him as he pushed her hair out of the way.
“I’ve missed you, pet.” His words were heavy with the weight of relief, as if she was a need that he’d been denied for too long. She felt it too. The familiarity of his breath tickling her neck washed over her as he loosened the strings of her dress. Wasn’t this what she’d wanted? All that horrible business to be over so they could return to moments like this, where she was loved, where she wasneeded.
She gasped as the garment relaxed around her frame. His knuckle trailed down the column of her spine, and already Yvette’s legs grew weak.
“What we did was wrong, Victor,” she said breathily. The words ambushed her, pushing through her lips before she could consider them. But as they hung in the air between them, she found herself desperate for him to agree. Just to say that what he’d asked her to do had been horrible, to apologize for letting his ambition blind him. “You must see that.”
“What we did was for the best.” Victor’s hand spread over her chest, holding her against him. “I know this has been troubling you, but you haven’t given me a chance to explain. I spoke to Lady Isabel after you left the feast. The first night at dinner, the witch told us she came from Stormhaven, and so I thought she might know more about her.”
“What did she tell you?”
“There was a price on her head,” he whispered as his hand began to knead her breast, the other spreading over her stomach. “She was wanted by the southern cartel for a sizable bounty. She wasn’t innocent, pet.”
Yvette took in a heavy breath, trying to make sense of what he was telling her. “How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”
Victor’s hands stilled for a terrible moment before he released her. “You doubt me?” he said, pinching her chin and turning her to face him. “You think I would lie to you?”
Instinct told her to deny it, but she couldn’t. He had lied, kept secrets.
She could see Victor’s fury growing by the moment, every second of silence like a betrayal. “Fine. I have the proof here.” He released her and marched over to the desk on the other side of the room. She felt every inch of distance between him, the familiar cool shame that came whenever she angered him thisway.Is it worth it?she always asked herself, the words coated in regret.
She flinched as he snatched up a piece of paper, wrinkling it in his grip as he presented it to her.
Yvette took the page with shaking fingers. It was marked with the seal of the Highwind Trading Company, thanking him for the delivery of a dangerous criminal, promising payment to follow. Even as she held the truth in her hands, somehow, this only made things worse.
