Page 43 of This Is Not True Love’s Kiss

“Did you two have a disagreement afterward?” Wolfe asked.

“Not exactly. Aoife did something nice for me.”

Cillian barked out a laugh. “That’s why you’re rattled? Because your wife was nice to you?”

Vine formed into a question mark with its body.

“I don’t know. I can’t figure her out. I don’t understand what she wants. Well I know what she wants,” I said. “She wants to get rid of me. Rule on her own, but then I can’t understand why she did what she did.”

“Which was? . . .” Ambrose asked with a raised brow.

“She just helped me in a difficult situation. She didn’t have to. She could’ve walked away, but she stepped in and helped. And then, afterward . . . we didn’t argue.”

Cillian choked on the wine he was drinking, and Wolfe reached over to bang on his back.

My younger brother cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, but did you say that you and Aoife didn’t argue? You were in the same vicinity.” He gestured with his hands. “But you didn’t fight?”

“Yes, that’s what I’m saying.” I couldn’t help the edge to my voice. “It’s not that astounding, is it?”

“Kind of,” Nevan said, and Vine nodded in agreement.

“Maybe your plan is working?” Wolfe asked.

“What plan?” Ambrose asked, sharp gaze landing on me.

“Lor is trying to show Aoife that the best way forward is to work together, that they can get along and rule side by side.”

“Well that’s interesting since Aoife is planning the opposite.” Ambrose tipped his head, his thick blue hair perfectly coiffed, not moving at all.

“I know,” I said.

“She told you?” Ambrose asked with wide golden eyes, the same shade as Aoife’s.

A pang of jealousy shot through me that clearly she’d told Ambrose. Their relationship had always bothered me, even though it shouldn’t have. I’d told Aoife ours was a marriage of convenience, nothing more. If she wanted to engage in a relationship with someone else—she could. I didn’t actually know if that’s what was happening, but either way, she’d confided in Ambrose.

I huffed. “She didn’t tell me in so many words, but after that edict we got from Castle, I’m not surprised.”

“She doesn’t want to get rid of you, Lor,” Ambrose said in a quiet voice.

His words sucked the breath from me. “She told you that?”

He laughed. “Course not. But I know her. And I also know that Aoife admires you, even if she won’t admit it.”

“She views being married to me as another form of enslavement,” I said.

“Yes, that’s true,” Ambrose confirmed, and suddenly my mouth tasted like ash.

This was ridiculous. She’d done one nice—albeit huge—thing for me, and what? I hoped that everything would change? Of course it wouldn’t. Of course she was still trying to get me to cede my crown.

“But,” Ambrose said, “nevertheless she does respect you. It’s the way she talks about you.” He peered at me. “I think deep down she knows what you’re doing is good, that you are good, but she won’t admit it.”

“Why?” Nevan asked the question I couldn’t.

I hated getting these pieces of my wife from other people or overheard conversations. I wished that Aoife was the one telling me these things. Not one of her lovers.

Ambrose gave a sad smile. “Because she’s scared. If she admits that you might be a good king, then where is her place?”

By my side, I wanted to say, but I didn’t dare. That was the kind of thing my brothers would use as fuel, that Ambrose would use. I couldn’t have it getting back to Aoife. The only reason things had felt different lately was because she thought we were both playing the same game. It made no sense, but I knew it was true. She relaxed more around me thinking I was trying to oust her as queen.