Bastian tilted his chin, giving me a chastising look. “Be gentle with her.”
I reeled back. “Because of her tears? If she was brave enough to spy on me, she’d better be brave enough to face the consequences.” I’d never spoken most of the things I told Bastian aloud before. How much she’d heard would determine whether I let her live.
“I wasn’t spying!” Eleanor spat between sobs. “I n-need help. My father is going to force me to marry, and we need to escape before he does.” She turned her plaintive doe eyes to Bastian.
We.
Bastian rubbed a hand on her back, soothing her. “How do you know?”
Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Sometimes…I listen when I shouldn’t. They forget I’m there and never make sure I’ve properly left when they dismiss me.”
He wiped a tear from her flawless pink cheek. “Do you know who or when? Maybe it won’t be so bad.”
Her eyes got huge. “Not bad? Surely, you of all people understand why I can’t marry someone I don’t love!”
I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall, pinning Bastian with a look. “Surely, you wouldn’t subject her to the same horrors you’ve had to face, Prince.”
All his coddling tenderness vanished when he flashed me a glare filled with heat.
Deny it. Tell her how you really feel.
This was ridiculous. I didn’t get jealous. And that’s exactly what this noxious, brittle feeling was. I wanted to claw her fucking eyes from her face for looking up at him with that adoring, vulnerable gaze—for looking at him in a way I’dneverlook at him. I wanted to claw my own fucking eyes out for wondering if he liked being needed like that, if she made him feel like a big strong man who could protect her.
“I don’t know who, but they mean to do it soon. They won’t wait for a proper ceremony. They mean to whisk us to the chapel and see it done.”
“Why?” I asked in a tone devoid of any feeling.
“Whoever it is learned something he shouldn’t, and they want to secure his loyalty.”
Bastian and I exchanged a look. The secret his father was hiding?
“So you’re his pretty prize for keeping his mouth shut?” I mused. “Is it safe to assume you didn’t actually learn anything useful, like the secret itself?”
She buried her face in Bastian’s chest and started to sob again. I wandered back to the sleeping chamber, unwilling to bear witness to her useless outburst. Was it even real, or was she simply trying to manipulate Bastian into helping her?
If she married the man, we might be able to learn his secret, but from the protectiveness Bastian had exhibited, he’d never ask it of her.
To my annoyance, they followed, and Bastian led Eleanor to a chair by the fire.
“We can’t leave, Eleanor—not right now.” Bastian said gently. “There’s too much at stake.”
Her plump bottom lip actually fucking trembled.
He hastened to add, “But we’ll make sure they don’t force you into anything.”
“Willwe?” I said, letting the sarcasm drip from my words.
Bastian gave me a pleading look. “For the next few days, one of us will stay with you all the time.”
“And do what, precisely, if they do attempt it?” I asked incredulously.
He spread his hands with a grin. “You’re Sigrid fucking Thorvald. You’ll think of something.”
He meant it, and somehow that absolute confidence was a balm to the stinging burn of jealousy. I’d never felt much pity for people too helpless to help themselves, but she could hardly be blamed after being treated as incapable her whole life.
“If the little wench can eavesdrop on the king and break into my chambers undetected, she’s more resourceful than she wants to let on. Come on. There’s a chamber they said was for my ladies-in-waiting that I had no intention of using, but you can sleep there without compromising your virtue. We’ll see that they don’t drag you to the altar during the night.”
Eleanor’s eyes flared with some of the animosity I’d seen from her when she threatened me.
