His expression twisted into something dark and angry. He took a breath and continued between clenched teeth. “Beforeyoubetrayed me.”
A rush of sound distorted her hearing as blood pounded through her head. She pressed her fingers to her temple and focused her gaze on him.
“You are not making sense.” Though Eleanor feared she understood exactly what he was saying, she tried to draw him back into reality. “I never betrayed you, Lord Ackerly. I thought we were friends. You never made an attempt at courting me.”
He sneered and laughed an evil sound. “Why would I court my own promised bride?”
Her jaw clenched. “I’m not—”
“Don’t be obtuse,” he shouted, then shook his head with a look of supreme disappointment. “I thought you cleverer than this. Have you truly no idea who I am? Whoweare?”
Chapter Thirty-Six
“Surely, you arefamiliar with your own history,” he continued, losing patience as his focus fell again to the necklace at her throat. The look in his eyes was covetous and possessive. “You must know the story of that fortune you are wearing. You were promised to me hundreds of years ago, princess. And now… after generations of separation, you will finally be mine.”
She could no longer deny it. He fully believed what he was saying. Something of her acceptance must have reflected in her face as Ackerly nodded and pressed his lips into a smile.
“You see me now, for who I am.”
“You believe yourself to be an ancient Indian maharaja,” she offered carefully. “Reincarnated into this life.”
He growled in frustration and his fingers dug deep into the flesh of her arms, bruising her. “I am Naresh Dehuri, the only son of a powerful maharaja, and you are Savita Padhan, daughter to another,” he spit. “There is no point denying it. My family has been watching and waiting for this moment for hundreds of years. Do you think I wouldn’t seize this opportunity to correct fate?”
“Your family? Lord Ackerly—”
“You will address me as Your Highness,” he interrupted sharply. “From this moment forward, we are to begin the lives we should have had all those years ago.”
Eleanor watched him carefully. Panic swirled with confusion andastonishment in her mind. The man deeply believed what he was saying. He believed he was fulfilling a stolen destiny.
As her thoughts tripped over his earlier words about making sure Phin could not interfere, a horrible fear threatened to claim her. If Ackerly believed the viscount to be his rival, would he attempt to repeat history in that regard as well?
Steeling herself, she refused to believe the worst. Surely, Phin was all right. He was just delayed, no doubt fighting off whatever Ackerly had instigated against him. He was probably racing behind them right now.
She desperately needed to believe that.
But she also knew that she couldn’t rely on it. She had to find a way to escape. She didn’t know where they were heading, but perhaps…if she could get Ackerly to let down his guard, when the carriage stopped, she might have an opportunity to run.
Maybe…if she could convince her captor that she was willing to go along…
Taking a deep breath as studied the man across from her. He was tense, a light sheen of sweat glistened on his brow, and his gaze darted frequently out the carriage window, as if he too believed someone might follow them.
There had to be something she could do.
Lifting her hand to the necklace, still warm and heavy across her throat. She traced the honeybee motif with her fingertip and thought of that tragic, long-ago princess who’d dared to believe in the honor and promise of true love.
That woman had paid the ultimate price for her courage.
Like her, Eleanor would not go quietly into a destiny she did not choose. She would fight with whatever she had available to her. And hope that she too did not lose everything.
Realizing that what she was about to do could easily fail and anger her captor, she decided she had no choice. Shifting her posture intoone she hoped was regal and demure at the same time, she borrowed just a hint of the lyrical cadence she’d always loved in her grandmother’s speech.
“How did you find me?” she asked gently, her head slightly bowed, her hands folded gently in her lap. “Across so many continents and generations?”
Ackerly’s flickering gaze slid swiftly to her, chilling her blood as she held her breath. For a moment, she feared he wouldn’t accept her ruse. But then something shifted in his manner. A visible wave of pride and superiority rolled through him.
“My princess, I never fully lost you. Not in spirit.” His smile was grossly condescending, but there was no suggestion of suspicion in his eyes. He was a willing victim to his delusion. “My father may have wanted to punish you for your betrayal, but all I ever wanted was for us to be together.”
“But how?” Eleanor asked innocently. “How did you find me here? How did… how did you remember who you were?”
