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“You look lovely, my lady,” he said.

It felt odd, to be complimented without even a hint of a smile. I matched his energy, returning the favor with a stiff nod. Just because he looked good didn’t mean I had to be nicer to him. “Thank you, Beric.”

“Where is your cousin?” he asked, approaching casually.

As if I wasn’t embarrassed enough. He still didn’t refer to Anise as a squire, as if he knew for a fact that she wasn’t one.

When I didn’t reply, Beric added, “She should be here to see you off.”

He was a mere few feet away now, close enough to inspect me, and I don’t know what had possessed me to allow him to get so close. His nose scrunched the smallest bit, as if he was confused.

“What?” I demanded, feeling self-conscious beneath his gaze.

“What has she done to you?”

I assumed he meant the mild mess that was my armor, the sections I hadn’t been able to see on my own. I didn’t acknowledge it. My cape was a very delicate muslin and lace, but it covered all of me and more, trailing along the ground behind. The courtyard looked large enough that perhaps no one would see the imperfections from a distance.

“I told her to go enjoy the ceremony,” I said, ignoring his rude question—might as well give him a taste of his own medicine, he answered so few of mine. “I wasn’t told she should be present.”

“She should know without being told that her duty is to attend to you.” Beric shook his head, his attitude that of a father finding his freshly tidied child a muddy mess. “I will not allow you to marry Deus Rex looking like this.”

I felt the heat of annoyance glowing behind my ears. “Which of us is the knight, here?”

“Forgive me, my lady,” he said quickly, his voice tight. “But … why would you want to go out there looking like this?”

I felt my chest heat with anger. He spoke to me as if I had lost my mind, as if I didn’t understand decorum. I knew of knights being snobs—from firsthand experience, obviously, but also from the gossip concerning other knights. But never a squire. In fact, every squire I’d ever met knew they had no right to speak to their knight that way, nor would they ever dare. Besides, I knew how to don armor from years of helping Anise, even if I’d needed a little help for the embellishments. The arrangement didn’t look that bad.

“No one will even notice,” I said, “it’s all hidden beneath the cape.” I shifted slightly, hoping the mislaid armor between my shoulder blades would settle more comfortably. “Why do you care so much?”

“Why do you care so much about keeping your cousin at court?”

I couldn’t respond to that, and he didn’t interrupt my silence. Because we both knew Anise wasn’t a squire. That I was lying to protect an ungrateful, selfish woman who never ceased to do everything in her power to make me miserable.

Still, I couldn’t say it. So instead I scowled, moving to walk past him, but he stepped between me and the carriage.

“Your business is your business, my lady,” he said. “Unless it interferes with my business. And as far as the kingdom is concerned, I am the Royal Squire. They’ll drag my name through the mud if you go out there looking like a squirrel dressed you.”

“Yes, and your reputation means more than the bride being late to her own wedding, I’m sure,” I said sarcastically.

“Since you put it that way,” he said, almost coldly. “Yes.”

I glared up at him. “Let me pass.”

I didn’t so much as take a step, but I felt the firm pressure of his hand against the stomach of my bodice. I halted, my face growing hot. We were beside each other now, only facing opposite ways, as if flirting on the edge of engaging in a dance.

He was so strong, I couldn’t have pushed by him even if I wanted to—What are you thinking, Cali? Of course you want to. Why wouldn’t you want to?

“You forget yourself, my lord,” I said, glaring up at him. “It’s not the way of a gentleman to put his hand on a lady in such a fashion.”

He was unmoved by my accusation. “When have I claimed to be a gentleman?”

My ears burned. “Well, at least we agree on something.”

“Is she blackmailing you?”

“What? No,” I said, far too quickly. I bit my lip. I should have asked who. I should have been offended he would even ask. Anything to steer him from the scent. Like a fool, I had all but confirmed his thoughts.

He raised a brow. “So you squander a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for fun, then?”