Page 6 of Between Two Kings

Then he turned on his heel and left.

The journey back up to ground level was silent. It wasn’t until they were once more in the foyer and Lord Chamberlain had bowed away that Leo finally turned to face her.

“Tem,” he said quietly.

She paused, her hand already on the front door. Was he going to address the way they’d touched earlier—the electricity that had passed between them? Or was it entirely one-sided?

Before she could spiral, Leo continued: “I wish for us to have dinners.”

Tem blinked. “Dinners…plural?”

“Yes,” Leo said, a shadow of a smile twitching his lips. “Dinners, plural.”

“What sort of dinners?”

“Every Sunday night, you and Caspen will come to the castle and dine with me and Evelyn.”

A chill ran down Tem’s spine at the sound of her name. It was the first time she’d heard him say it. She wondered once again whether Evelyn was here, just upstairs, perhaps in Leo’s bedroom. Her presence permeated the walls.

“But…why?”

Leo rolled his shoulders as if they pained him. “Because we need an avenue in which to discuss how our two kingdoms can coexist. I thought dinner might be pleasant.”

Tem was still having trouble grasping the concept. Her and Caspen? Here? It was absurd. Dinner with Leo and Evelyn would be anything but pleasant. She couldn’t imagine a worse way to spend a Sunday evening.

“Leo—” she began.

“We have to work together, Tem. Otherwise this will all fall apart.”

She sighed. She knew he was right. They were attempting to break a centuries-old pattern of strife between their kingdoms. It was necessary work. But the thought of sitting so closely with him and Evelyn was abhorrent. She didn’t want to see them together, didn’t want to observe how Leo looked at her the way he used to look at Tem. That was a special kind of torture—one that not even Tem deserved. When she didn’t answer, Leo leaned in.

“There will be excellent food,” he said quietly. “And ample dessert.”

The smallest of smiles broke her face. The memory of feeding him the chocolate soufflé in front of his father sprang immediately to mind. “In that case, we’ll be there.”

Pure joy flitted across his face, so quickly Tem almost missed it. A moment later, it disappeared, smoothed over by a careful mask of indifference.

Leo nodded. “Very well,” he said. “I shall send a carriage.”

Tem nodded too. It was all she could do.

There was a silence as they looked at each other, and Tem remembered all the conversations they’d had in this very foyer. The one after their first date: “I’m not going to kiss you. Instead I’m going to picture everything I want to do to you without that dress on. And I’m going to pretend that someday you’ll let me do it.”

The one where she’d asked for his trust before taking him down to the dungeon:

“You can’t tell him I’m showing you this.”

“I will not tell him. You have my word.”

Tem would take either of those conversations over the one they were having now. She no longer wanted to be in this castle—it hurt her to stand here among all the gold. But there was one more thing she needed to ask him.

She held out the hand with her wedding ring. “Do you want this back?”

Leo’s eyes flicked to her fingers—to the slim silver band that had belonged to his mother. Tem expected him to answer immediately, but he didn’t. Instead, he stared at her raised hand, his jaw tight, his own hands behind his back. Then, he said simply, “No.”

Then he turned and left her.

Tem stood in shock as Leo ascended the steps to where she knew his bedroom was. Was Evelyn waiting for him? She wanted to vomit at the thought. How different this interaction had been from her previous nights at the castle, during the competition to see who would be his bride. Back then, Leo had constantly pursued her, his sole goal to marry her. Now that marriage was annulled.