Page 79 of A Fragile Enchantment

“Shut up,” he said roughly, emotion still thick in his voice. “I don’t want to talk about this right now. You have problems enough of your own, don’t you?”

“What problems could you be referring to?”

Kit let out a derisive sound. “This kingdom is on the brink of financial collapse, and you can’t stop it.”

Niamh didn’t need to see to know Jack was taking in the room. The papers and ledgers scattered across the floor, everything on his desk pried open and shaken loose.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” He sounded breathless, not with anger but with relief. “God. You do not know the weight I have had to carry since Father took ill. He spent money as though it were no object. All of his failed colonial projects, all of his bribes, all of hisvices. Avaland is a house of cards, Christopher. It is a beast with an endless appetite. Every time I patch one hole, another rift opens. I would not have summoned you back here if I had any other choice. I was trying to shield you from this as much as I could.”

“So this wedding…”

“Yes. It is another patch,” Jack said wearily. “I can invest Rosa’s dowry.”

Kit’s temper sparked again. “So how the hell did you convince King Felipe to agree to this engagement?”

“Because I promised him military support, the same as I promised Sofia’s father.”

“Military support you can’t give,” Kit said, disgusted.

“Correct. It is a gamble, one that will pay off enormously if Castilia does not embroil itself in some conflict before my investments bear fruit. I expect it to be five to ten years. After that, we will be free of this.”

“Five to tenyears?”

“Until then, we must maintain appearances. If Parliament wereto find out the true state of things, do you know how quickly I would be replaced as regent? I will sooner die than see four hundred years of our family’s legacy crumble. I will not disappoint him.”

“Why do you idolize him, even now? Why do you excuse the things he did to us? He wasn’t just an imperfect man. He was a monster.” From her vantage point, she could see a sliver of Kit crossing the room. “Don’t believe for a second I didn’t know what he did to you, no matter how much you tried to hide it. And now he’s left you with a corpse to drag behind you, and somehow convinced you that you needed to shoulder the burden of it alone. Look where it’s gotten you.”

Jack said nothing.

“I’m not your pawn anymore,” Kit spat. “You’ve wanted me to do my duty. I’m doing it—and I will do yours as well if you’re not equal to it.”

Jack let out a startled, vicious laugh. “Be careful what you’re implying, Christopher. I just might begin to take you seriously. Enlighten me, then. Do you think it would make everything better if I agreed to pay the Machlish reparations we cannot afford? If I abdicated out of some misguided sense of honor? Can you even fathom the bloodshed that would ensue with that vacuum of power? Which foreign rivals will take advantage of the tumult? How quickly Castilia will retaliate? We are in too deep to turn back now.”

“If you are so determined to fix Father’s mistakes,” Kit said lowly, “then meet with Carlile. You can still dosomethingto make things right with Machland.”

“My hands are tied. I am the shield between ruin and our subjects. They may not like it, but I am all they have.”

“Get over yourself. What must it be like, to know what everyone needs better than they do? Your martyrdom has made you a shortsighted, egotistical fool.”

“Enough. No matter how righteously you argue, whether youlike it or not, you cannot escape from the fact that you are of royal blood. You have obligations. Do not think I do not know what you have been up to. I wish I could believe that Lovelace published nothing more than a scandalous falsehood, but I know you well enough by now. You will not have your judgment clouded by a lowborn—”

Niamh winced, bracing for the impact of his insult.

“Don’t you dare. Don’t say another word about her.”

“You are marrying Infanta Rosa.” Jack’s tone darkened. “You do not have a choice.”

“I refuse.”

“I am the prince regent,” he thundered. The window splintered with a high, ringing sound. Glass shards and vines poured into the room. They skittered at Niamh’s feet, reflecting the cold moonlight. “Hate me if you must, but youwillobey me.”

“Look at the ledgers, Jack. You’re the prince of nothing.”

“Get out,” Jack said, with deadly quiet. “I am tired of this insolence.”

“That’s it?” Contempt dripped from every word. “Who’s the one who cuts and runs now?”

“Get.Out.”