Glaring at the document in my hand, Itryto focus on its contents –contents thatoutlineVyla’ssurrender andwillsee peace brought to our northernborder for the first time in centuries.And yet,despite having fought for this forover a decade,all Icandamn well seeisthe way Ariennaroseout of theemeraldpool.The droplets sliding down her skin.Theparting of her lips.Thelust clear in her eyes –which are the same pink, perhaps, as other parts of her…
The pen snapsin my hand.
Cursing, I lower it to the desk.
I refuse to meet Jace’s knowing eyes.
“Did you know,” he says cheerfully, “that it’s browniecustom to kiss at weddings?”
My gazefliesto his.Scowling at his disrespectful grin, Ireply,“There won’t be any kissing.”
“I don’t know...She’s pretty hot, and Nicholas seem–”
He dodgesthe first half of the pen Ithrowat him.The second one too.The bastardhasthe reflexes of a snake.
Placing both pieces back down on the desk –a move I’veabsolutely no idea how he managesgiven I watched them both fly past him– he grins.“If Nicholas is going to be your stand-in, he’llhave tokiss her.A brownie marriage is not recognised otherwise.”
“Bullshit.”
“Maybe.But are you willing to take the chance?I saw the way you looked at her.”He pauses.
My sixth sensedoesn’tlike the glint in his eyes.
“You remember those stories we got told as kids?”he asks with a cock of his head.“Little kids, I mean – before we went to war.”
Idon’tanswer, knowing itwillbe pointless.
“Specifically the one about lifemates?”
“She’s not my lifemate.”
“Are you sure?”
“The likelihood –”
“Is miniscule, I know.”He waves a hand.“But even when you were engaged to Evangeline –”
Before the thing with Aurelia, he means.Not after.She’s hated me ever since.
“– you never looked at her like that.”
“We were a political match.”
“You were more than that, and you know it.You might not have loved her more than you do me –”
My eyes thin into slits.
His grin widens.“– but youloved her.And yet, you still never once got jealous over her.”
“Evangeline scared all the men away for me,” I say dryly.
He laughs.“You know, I once saw her crush a man’s head with her thighs?”
Given she’s a witch, she has the magical power to do so.Given she’s a psycho, she’d do it while laughing.
The tightness in my chest eases a bit as I think about the time we fought on the frontlines together.She was one of the very few I trusted at my back.“Remember – fuck, what was that guy’s name?”I lean back in my chair.“The noble she kept gluing to the tree with his pants down?”
“The one whose balls she kept growing,you mean?”
