Rían still hadn’t taken his now-glowing eyes off Ruairi.
The pooka had gone unnaturally still.
“Ruairi and I are only friends,” I explained, not that it was any of her business. “He’s been helping me with my magic.”
Leesha shook her head, swaying a bit as the baby’s eyes drifted closed and his curly head fell to her breast. “I see the way that man looks at you. There is something more there. I have a sixth sense about these things.”
I peered up at Ruairi, finding his lips pressed flat and bearded jaw flexed. He was my friend and occasional guard, nothing more. Not that he wasn’t attractive. He was, in a rugged, masculine way, but I preferred my men more murderous prince than charming pooka. Although life would’ve been far easier if I didn’t.
Leesha’s smile widened to a grin. Why couldn’t she have been haggard and old instead of slender and smiley and perfect and pleasant? “The two of you should join us for lunch.”
Why did she have to be so bloody nice? No wonder Rían had fallen in love with her.
I had to constantly remind myself that none of this was Leesha’s fault. She hadn’t asked to have her heart ripped out or to be held captive by the Queen for centuries or to be brought back. In another life, perhaps the two of us could’ve been friends.
But in this life, I hated her.
And the last thing I wanted was to join them for lunch. “Ruairi and I were about to go into the garden.” When I took Ruairi’s hand again, Rían’s eyes filled with black. The air began to vibrate, but instead of letting me go, Ruairi squeezed tighter. Knowing he was there for me despite the threat to his person made this situation a little bit easier to survive.
Leesha waved as if what I wanted was of no consequence, oblivious to the murderous glare in Rían’s black eyes. “Nonsense. I insist you join us. Tadhg and Keelynn will be there as well. Eava has everything all set up in the dining room. It would be terrible to waste all that effort.”
For Eava and Keelynn, I’d go. I peered up at Ruairi, half hoping he’d protest. “Is that all right?”
He shrugged. “I’ll do whatever ye decide.”
Leesha looked pleased as punch.
Rían, however, did not.
And part of me, the dark, wretched part, was glad. Let him be jealous of Ruairi. Let him see what it felt like to have me walking around with another man. Let him be miserable and hateful toward someone who didn’t deserve any of it.
Leesha swept out of the room, gliding down the hallway and past the tapestries as if the castle belonged to her. When she curtsied at the Queen’s tapestry, I bit back a snide remark. Did she not realize what the Queen had done to her own son? To Leesha herself? Why hadn’t Rían at least told her that part? Wasn’t she curious as to why there was a scar across her heart? Or had Rían made up some excuse that didn’t involve his mother?
In the dining hall, the table had been set as if this were some sort of celebration instead of a regular old lunch. An emerald-green runner stretched the length of the table. Candles flickered from golden candelabras. Golden plates that reminded me of the first night Rían and I were together sat at each place setting.
I glanced up to find Rían watching me through wide black eyes.
Eava waited inside the door, snatching Brogan the moment Leesha crossed the threshold, cooing and bouncing the chubby little boy with a smile brightening her lined face. She caught me looking, and her eyes warmed with sympathy before she brought the baby away.
Keelynn and Tadhg were already seated at the heads of the table, as far from each other as they could get, neither of them speaking. Rían stopped next to me. His eyes had returned to their beautiful shade of blue. “Rose…”
He couldn’t even say my name.
“Rían, come on.” Leesha linked her arm through his and tugged him to the other side of the table. He followed without a word of protest, pulling out her chair for her as if she were incapable of doing it for herself.
Ruairi glanced between me and the chair, but before he could do something equally as infuriating and feed Leesha’s narrative, I dragged out my own chair and plopped straight down.
Leesha kept the conversation flowing like a good little hostess while I shoveled bites of venison into my mouth. Tadhg looked as if he was asleep with his eyes open, and Keelynn wouldn’t stop staring at me, her expression laced with concern.
Rían barely touched his plate, while Ruairi ate every bite of his green salad.
I’d been to some terrible dinner parties, but this one took the cake.
Leesha whispered something in Rían’s ear that left his cheeks flushed. She traced the line of his jaw with her fingertip, her gaze so adoring, the food I’d eatenturned to ash in my gut.
I watched in horror as she eased forward and pressed her lips to his.
And while Rían didn’t kiss her back, he didn’t stop her either.