Everyone except my brother’s personal guard, Broderick.
The poor man was misery incarnate where he stood, steely gaze fixed on Alrec as he danced with any and every maiden he could find. As the future king, it was customary to entertain the females of the kingdom with a dance, but he’d neglected his fiancée ever since she’d arrived with her vacuous lady-in-waiting in tow.
I had no fondness for women like Lowri—the ones more interested in wealth and stature than morals or character.Then again, considering who her mistress was, such an attitude should’ve come as no surprise.
When Lord Kerrington saw the purple-haired fae, he dropped his glass of champagne on an empty table and snapped her up for a dance. I couldn’t stand the spoiled bastard. If it were up to me, he’d be stripped of his title and sent to the army’s front lines without a weapon. I’d pay good money to see how his silver tongue fared in war.
The three of them forgot themselves far too often. Forgot that my father was king and could punish them for speaking to me as disrespectfully as they did. But they were untouchable because of their connection to my brother. The future king of Vellana.
What must it be like, to wake up and have nothing better to do than lounge all day in beautiful gowns, feast on cakes, and attend parties? To want nothing more for yourself? If only I could be content doing the same. Instead, I kept myself busy making plans for how to escape and serve my country from afar.
“You really should smile more,” my father, King Bedwyr, muttered from his throne. It could’ve been a trick of the candlelight, but his golden hair and beard seemed threaded with more white than the day before, and the wrinkles across his brow appeared more pronounced.“Ladies love a man who smiles.” His own lips lifted into a dazzling smile that had won him the hearts of not one but four wives.The first had passed away in childbirth, the second in a tragic carriage accident. The third, Alrec’s mother, fell victim to a terrible disease. And the last, my own mother, had succumbed to wasting sickness only a day before Lady Roisin’s mother had arrived to heal her.
I shifted on my small wooden throne—if one could call it that. It was little more than a fancy dining chair. “I smile.”
“No, you scowl.”
I did that as well, but only because I didn’t have it in me to play false. I smiled when I was happy.Which wasn’t often since enemy ships had been spotted off the southern coast, near Southbay. The lords there grew restless, begging for reinforcements in case the continental king decided to attack. Because of my brother, we’d spent the better part of today locked in the council chambers discussing how many of our men to send.Alrec thought of war as moving pawns in a game of chess. But our soldiers weren’t pawns. They were men with lives and families and people who loved them.Every time he brought up war, I’d attempted to bring the conversation back to maintaining peace.
“See. You’re doing it right now.” My father gestured to my face with a bejeweled hand. “You really should be more like your brother.”
Alrec was the last person on this island I wanted to emulate. Still, I forced a smile for my father’s benefit as I searched the dance floor for the kingdom’s heir.
Alrec had finally claimed his bride-to-be. The way he held her left my chest aching. Every night, I swore I wouldn’t let seeing the two of them together get to me. I would encase my heart in steel where no one could touch it. But even steel melts when it finds enough heat.
And Roisin made me burn.
Roisin’s mother watched from beside one of the leaded windows, her eternally youthful face content. The handful of times we’d spoken, Lady Seren had been kind.The exact opposite of her daughter.
My father waved for one of the footmen to refill his gold goblet with faerie wine. From the glassy-eyed look he offered, it was clear he’d already consumed far too much. Still, it wasn’t my place to admonish the king.
“Go, dance and have fun,” he commanded. The rings on his fingers glinted when he gestured toward the dance floor. “Your responsibilities will still be there tomorrow.”
I shoved to my feet and started for one of the servants carrying trays of bubbling champagne, planning to have a drink and wander amongst the tittering courtiers for a bit before slipping away to my chambers. It wasn’t as if anyone would notice my absence.
The servant stopped when he saw me approach, a single glass remaining on his tray. I reached for it, but a slender hand grabbed the flute before I could.A hand belonging to the one woman I’d been hoping to avoid.
Roisin’s eyes widened at first, then her surprise was quickly hidden beneath a sneer. “Well, if it isn’t the Prince of Darkness.” The pink stain on her lips left a mark on the glass’s delicate edge when she took a sip. The frothy blue dress she wore reminded me of a wispy cloud.
Her beauty stole my breath every single time. It wasn’t just her silvery hair that set her apart from other women I’d met. A faint glow of magic emanated from her warm, tanned skin. The light of life twinkled in her quicksilver eyes. “Always a pleasure seeing you, Lady Roisin.”
“Feigning niceties now, are we?” she returned.
“Probably for the best considering the size of our audience.” I tucked my hands into my pockets to hide their trembling. Each time we met was like tearing open an old scar. The wound used to have time to heal between visits, but now that she lived here, the pain in my chest had become a constant reminder that I hadn’t been enough for her.
I should’ve been used to it by now. But coming second best in everything else was nothing compared to being passed up by this woman, watching her slip her hand into Alrec’s, claiming him as her future husband.
He’s the heir.
You couldn’t possibly think I would choose you over him.
“I’d rather converse with a smelly fish monger,” she muttered under her breath.
“And I’d rather converse with a rotting corpse.”
The flute of golden liquid shook in her clenched fist. “I know exactly what you’re doing, but you will not win.”
What in heaven’s name was she talking about?