Karina halted her assault on the potato and stared at the steaming vegetable. “I wish I had someone like that.”
“You have the Countess, don’t you? Rumors are that you two are very close.” A lie. I hadn’t heard anything about her relationship with the old king’s mistress. Which, now that I thought about it, seemed strange.
Karina rolled her eyes. Most unprincess-ly.
“She’s followed you all the way to Ora Et despite the royal decree she stay in Port Black.” I tried to sound comforting. Like I was offering her precious, happy news.
The color drained from Karina’s face. “N-no. She stayed. She did! My uncle brought me here and returned straight away. Neither of them are here.”
“I didn’t say they were here.” Although, now I wondered if Duke Milo had been inside the house alongside his sister. It wasn’t the man she was speaking with—that man sounded too young. There had never been restrictions to prevent the duke from visiting the capital, but I couldn’t remember him ever coming to court. “I only saw your mother at the market.”
Karina set down the fork and tucked her shaking hands under the table. “It must’ve been someone who looked like her.”
“She was making a show of herself, Lady Karina. The prince saw her as well.”
Her chin quivered for a moment. “I’m doing everything right.” She sucked in a breath. “I’m trying to do everything right. Has Duchess Fransabelle complained? Which of her lessons am I not doing well enough in?” she asked earnestly. “Or was it the prince? Or the king? I know I was late to dinner, but I was nervous and… I’ll try harder, I swear. And I’ll stop sneaking out too.”
I forced myself not to look as surprised as I felt. This was not the reaction I expected. The look on her face was one I knew well. I’d seen it on her maid’s face on the way here and from nearly everyone who crossed my path. Gripping tight to the knowledge I’d gained outside the Countess’ window, I beat back the need to protect her.
“I’m not sure what your behavior has to do with your mother breaking a royal edict.”
“She said if she received a negative report, or if there was any sign the prince wouldn’t marry me, that she would drag me home herself.” She closed her eyes for a moment before staring at her plate. “I don’t want to go back with her.”
My lips twitched into a sneer. “No one this close to the crown would want to leave.”
“It isn’t the crown.” She slammed her mouth shut and took a deep, shaky breath. “I forget myself, Lord Tufaro. Forgive me. I wasn’t aware the countess was in Ora Et nor do I know why she would come.”
I raised a brow. “Unless she came to bring you home.”
“Unless that,” she whispered.
I wanted to comfort her with the knowledge the wedding was still very much moving forward, but her reaction left me unable to. As much as I hated the idea, I wanted her scared. It would keep her on her toes—keep her safe. Besides, this could be a chance to get her to take me into her confidence. I believed she didn’t know about her mother’s arrival, but it didn’t change the fact that Countess Odelia wasn’t her mother at all.
“Where would home be, exactly?” I asked.
“Port Black, of course.”
“But not the family estate.”
Her eyes snapped to mine. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, where did you come from?” I leaned forward until my chest hit the back of the chair, hands gripping the wood tightly. “Because you aren’t the daughter of King Jonty and Countess Odelia.”
“What are you talking about?” she said, tripping over the words, pupils blown wide. Her breathing quickened as she gripped the arms of her chair.
I smirked. “The countess found you. She trained you. And now she expects to be welcomed back at court.”
Not a single drop of color remained in her face. “How…”
“Always assume I know everything.” Even though I’m rarely privy to a lot of things. “So, tell me. Who are you and where do you come from?”
Karina simply stared at me with wide eyes.
“I’ll find out what your name is, even if you don’t tell me. The only difference is whether I alert the wrong person while asking around.”
“Please.” It was the barest of whispers.
“Please what?” I snarled. “Let the countess slip a stranger into the prince’s marital bed? Do the Asters know about you or has she lied to them too?”
She lunged forward, slapping her palms over my mouth. My hands went instinctively out to stop her, but only ended up gripping her hips. We stared at each other, neither of us moving. Even now, her touch sent blood racing straight to my cock. The light blue material of her dress was so thin I could feel her heat. My thumbs slid in a circular motion over her lower abdomen before I could stop myself. I looked up at her, waiting to see what she would do next.
“Don’t talk about… them. The countess might be using me to get back into court but the rebels have nothing to do with it. If anyone hears you say that—”
I moved my hands from her hips to her wrists and pried her hands away so I could speak. “What if someone does hear me? Are you afraid they’ll learn the truth? That the rebels forced you to marry the prince so you could destroy the royal family from the inside.”
“What? No,” she hissed. “You don’t understand.”
“You better make me understand. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to tell the prince.” And, damn me—I didn’t want to tell Bastian. What I wanted was for her to have a flawless excuse. Any excuse, really. A reason to keep her secret so she would be safe. And a magical solution to make this whole situation disappear.
Karina slumped, falling to the carpet in a heap, and I released her hands. The light from the fireplace danced over her hair as she bowed her head. “What you said is true,” she admitted in a hoarse whisper. “I’m not Lady Karina. My mother isn’t Countess Odelia and my father isn’t King Jonty. Their real daughter caught a fever and died when she was three. No one in Port Black knew about it—we all thought she was kept inside because she was sickly, or ugly, or because the countess was so hateful. The servants weren’t allowed out of the residence to spread rumors of the child’s death so no one knew any better.”
I folded my arms and glared down at her. “And?”
“And.” She let out a shaking breath. “And, four years ago, the countess bought me from my parents to pretend. My brother was born weak and we couldn’t afford all the medical care he needed. I know what you’re thinking, but they’re good people. My mother and father thought my brother would get his treatments and I would become a lady. Everyone benefits, right?”
“And yet, here you are. Served up to the crown by the Red Asters.”
She looked up at me then, eyes glistening with fear and defeat. “The rebels didn’t plan any of this. Countess Odelia is only using me to return to court.”
“Is that what she told you?” I asked. There was no way she believed that. So much effort must’ve gone into teaching Karina how to be a lady—even one that still lacked so many skills. She nodded. “And you believed her?”
“What other reason could there be?” she whispered.
I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a harsh sigh. “You’re a bigger fool than I thought.”
She laughed then, a broken, crumbling sound. “Yes. I’m thoughtless and uncultured and not fit to be a princess. But I never wanted to be one, never wanted any of this. I was seventeen when the countess took me home with her. I had a life. Friends, goals, and a future of my own choosing.”
An irrational spike of jealousy ran through me. “A lover?”
“He was a friend, but things between us were changing. I don’t think it was love but…” Karina turned her head away, toward the window. “It doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”
My next breath was a little lighter, though I had no right to feel that way. “I’m sorry you missed out on that life.” A quiet life. A safe life.
She scowle
d. “Are you?”
I crouched down so I could meet her gaze. She kept her eyes lowered so I reached out and tilted her chin up until she was looking at me. “Yes. I am.”
“What will they do to me now?” Her voice quivered.
“Who?”
“Prince Bastian. King Edric. Lying to them is treason.” Tears slipped from each eye, racing down her reddened cheeks. “Will they torture me before they kill me?”
I snatched my hand back as if her words burned. Lying was treason. Being as paranoid as the king was, he would most definitely order her questioned before having her publicly hanged. He would do the same to me if he discovered my deceit—only instead of a simple hanging, my stomach would be cut open first so my intestines could spill out as I hung from the noose. A shiver ran up my spine.
“Say nothing. Do nothing,” I told her in a low voice.
She blinked in surprise. “You’re not going to tell the prince?”
“I don’t know yet.” I winced. Enough things were kept hidden from Bastian—what was another one? But it also meant everything. Somehow, having her killed for lies similar to my own felt like the worse sin. Karina—no. She wasn’t Lady Karina. She was someone else entirely. “What’s your real name?” I asked before I could stop myself.
Her lips parted on an inhale as she studied my face through glassy eyes. Finally, she said, “Anais.”
Anais. My pulse thudded with the forbidden knowledge. I wanted to speak it, to give it life, but saying it even once seemed like a bad omen. This was a secret—our secret—like the kiss in the garden.
“This conversation never happened.” I stood and crossed the room to scoop up the box of chocolates. “Stand up. Fix yourself.”
If I left her with wrinkled skirts and a tear-stained face, her ladies would know something happened. They would undoubtedly descend upon her the moment I left too. Demanding to know why I’d visited, though it wasn’t their place to ask.
Karina climbed back onto unsteady feet and shook out her skirts. “What do I tell them?” she asked, apparently realizing she still looked a bit ruffled.
“Tell them to remember their place and not to question you.” I walked toward her and held out the box. “Bastian was the reason I went to the market today. He bought you these.”
Karina scowled at the blue box and took it gingerly from me. “Thank you.”
Before I could stop myself, my hands cupped her face, wiping away the tears. “Please,” I said in a raw voice. “Please don’t be lying about this.”
“About what?” Her breath was warm on my hands.
“Who you are. What you’re doing here.” My fingers dug in slightly where they rested at the nape of her neck. “Any of it.”
“I’m not—”
“Because I can’t protect you if you are,” I said, cutting off her denial. “I shouldn’t protect you now. I should leave here and tell the prince, but you make me lose common sense. Every time I come to you furious, I leave feeling something else entirely. Something that isn’t guilt or hatred, even though I should hate you for lying to Bastian.” Just like I had lied. He deserved someone who wouldn’t do the same.
She stepped closer to me. “So why are you protecting me then?”
“Because I don’t want them to hurt you.” I tilted her head up more and lowered mine so there was only an inch between us. “Because every time I see you, I want to kiss you again.”
“Why don’t you?” she asked—dared—and her lids lowered in anticipation.
Fuck. I wanted to. I wanted to do more than kiss her. But I shouldn’t. Instead, I took one hand from her face and pried a corner of the box open, pulling out a single piece of chocolate. I brought it to her mouth and rested it on her lips until she opened for me. Her breath shook as it skated over my fingers. Pushing the treat into her mouth, I dragged my thumb across the inside of her lower lip and a small groan came from my chest.
I dipped my hand back into the box for a second piece. This time I put it into my own mouth. The semi-bitter flavor of dark chocolate exploded on my tongue and, with a single bite, sweet raspberry cream mixed with it, flooding my senses with rich ecstasy. My eyes caught on the tip of her tongue as it darted from between her lips, licking away any trace of chocolate. I forced myself to swallow.
“Now I know exactly what you would taste like if I did,” I said in a husky voice.
Her breath hitched. My cock swelled.
Go. I urged myself. I’d already been alone with her for too long and the lady’s maid was likely waiting in the hallway where I left her.
“I have to go,” I told her and stepped back. A flush colored my face as she clutched the chocolate box with both hands. I turned my head toward the door before the sight of her, breathless and clearly wanting, made me change my mind about staying. “Remember. Say and do nothing.”
“I won’t,” she promised.
Then I left. Fled the room faster than I’d entered it.
Chapter Fourteen
Whenever Bastian’s stress threatened to overwhelm him, he would eat himself sick on meringues. It was his comfort food, he claimed, but I wasn’t sure how comforting it was when his stomach turned on him. Four empty platters were now stacked on his small dining table while he laid in the middle of the floor. His crown sat on his bedside table where the servants had placed it, and he wore nothing but a loose pair of sleeping pants.
“I don’t feel well,” he groaned for a third time.
“Shocking,” I mumbled.
“Why didn’t you stop me from eating all of them?”
I snorted from my seat. “I told you that you’d regret it.” Just like I regretted nearly kissing Karina—no, Anais—earlier. It had been a lie when I said I knew what she tasted like after eating a chocolate. She would taste better than that.
There had to be something wrong with me. She was a liar and an Aster pawn. But so was I. The only difference was that she didn’t seem to know it while I was fully aware. Maybe that was why I felt a connection to her, though. Our pasts were different but, right now, we were both walking the same fine line. And I… I wanted her. Her beautiful smile, her laugh, the way she made my chest lighter. For the first time in my life, I wanted something specific. Not some vague sense of a life outside of protecting someone else. I wanted her. But I would have to settle for keeping her safe. Which meant not telling Bastian the truth even though it hurt like hell, and I definitely couldn’t tell Faramond.
“You could simply not tell your father,” I said. The meringue eating all started when I informed Bastian that the countess had been in Ora Et for at least a week, undetected. “There’s no reason you and I should know she’s here.”
“You’re not wrong.”
I leaned my head back to stare at the tiled ceiling. “But you’ll tell him anyway.”
“Don’t say it like that,” he said on a moan.
“Like what?”
“Like I tell him everything.” He scowled. “If something happens that will affect the country, I don’t see how I can keep it to myself.”
I nodded. What else could I do? Bastian and I were the closest of friends, but the king was the king. Even if Bastian would rule the country one day, he didn’t rule it yet.
“Tomorrow though,” he rolled onto his stomach and pushed onto his feet. “I’m going to bed now. You should too.”
I should. But I had business left to take care of first. “Night.”
✽✽✽
The Governors’ building was easier to sneak into than I originally thought. After keeping to the shadows and cutting through the garden, I slipped in the open servants’ door, leaving the chilled air behind. I wore a gray robe over my uniform to masquerade as a manservant. No one noticed as I stepped past the entrance to the kitchens and crept through the passages meant for the workers to use, unseen by the residents.
Governor Pevran lived on the lowest level overlooking the front of the building which meant I didn’t have to navigate any stairs. It took practi
cally no time to slip through her door and find a place to hide. Her wardrobe was long, tall, and deep and contained multiple plain robes. There were other clothes too, though. Heavy wool dresses, perfect for winter, two cloaks, and lighter clothes for summer months. There was even a pair of loose men’s slacks hanging beside the long sleeping gowns. I made sure to hide at the opposite end from those as she would likely change when she returned from her nightly trip to the bath house in about—
The bedroom door opened. My timing was apparently off.
“No tea tonight,” Governor Pevran said. A maid mumbled something in return. “No, no. Go on. I’m rather tired.”
The door shut with a soft thud and my heart thumped. There was no going back now—it had to be done. She had to die. And I had to kill her. Still, my palms sweated when I pulled the dagger from my belt.
When the wardrobe opened, the governor reached inside and removed a lightweight violet dress. “If I’m to haunt this place, I will do it in style.”
My blood ran cold at her words. Did she know? No one had seen me… Had they?
“Wherever you’re hiding,” she continued as clothing rustled, “you must be wondering how I know. I arranged the rug so the corner would flip up if the door was opened in my absence.”
My chest tightened. Would she call the guards next? Had she already?
“I’ve been expecting you.” The other wardrobe door swung open, exposing my hiding place. “Come now, assassin. Don’t play me a fool at the end.”
Fuck.
I was caught, but she still didn’t know who I was. There had to be a way out of this without exposing my identity.
Robes were pushed aside with a scrape of clothes hangers against a metal bar. Suddenly I was face-to-face with Pevran. Her hair was still wet, the violet dress hanging neatly over her frame. Fine wrinkles fanned out from the corners of her eyes. Her sharp inhale echoed.
“This is unexpected,” she said softly, her gaze catching on the knife in my hand. “How long have you been working for the Asters?”
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