Page 32 of Queen of War and Ruin

“You spent your nights in the Golden Rose brothel,” Anura snaps back. “And I was with Lilias for the entire unity tour. You two never shared a bed.”

I open my mouth to say she wasn’t there for the whole tour, at least not that last morning in Detec, and then I think better of it.

“So fucking what?” I sneer. “Why does the great prince of Marion give two shits about my marriage?”

“Because that means a marital alliance with Ethiria is still possible,” the prince says.

My whole body goes cold.

“If Lilias is interested—” he begins.

“You soft, spoiled son of a bitch,” I growl, cutting him off.

The scowling guard who brought me here drops his hand to the short sword on his belt. I ignore the idiot.

“Did you talk to Lilias about this?” I ask.

The prince shakes his head. He and his wife exchange another glance before he turns back to me.

“We thought we’d start with you,” he admits. “We didn’t think you’d be so—invested.”

“You can suck the sweat off a dead dog’s balls,” I reply.

His eyes widen. Good. I hope he’s offended. I hope that’s the nastiest thing anyone’s ever said to this royal piece of shit.

I bring the bottle to my lips, finish it, and then glare at him as the room sways around me.

“Did it even occur to you,” I say, “just once in your pampered fucking life that your sister is a godsdamned human being? That she can make her own decisions? Or that maybe, just maybe, she’d like a say in her own fucking life?”

The prince blinks.

“You did it, you asshole,” I growl, pointing the empty bottle at Anura. “You got to make your own choices. And did you stop to think about how Lilias is going to feel if you tell her you’re going to sell her off like a piece of fucking meat in the marketplace?”

I take a step closer to the prince, then scowl at the guard standing in the doorway with his sword halfway out of its sheath.

“You waste of bone and blood,” I tell the prince. “You’re too good to marry a godsdamned princess yourself, huh? No, you’ll just package your sister up instead, and to the nine hells with whatever it is she wants to do with her own life!”

I’m shouting. I shut my damn mouth and realize I’m shaking. The room swims around me.

“Shit,” the prince mutters.

“You are in love with her,” Anura says.

I flinch like I’ve been hit. The floor tilts alarmingly under me.

“Fuck you!” I snap. “Fuck you both!”

I throw the empty wine bottle at the wall. Disappointingly, it just hits the wall with a dull thud and then rolls to a stop against the closest bedroll.

I storm out of the room before that damn woman can say anything else. I run past the little balcony, past the room where I once told my wife we could annul the bonds between us, and down the stairs. They pitch and tilt beneath me like I’m on a ship in rough seas.

I’m a problem here. I’m a problem for what’s left of the Kingdom of Marion, and I’m one hell of a problem for Lilias. They’d be better off without me.

She would be better off without me.

I run my sleeve across my face and stagger out into the darkness.

Chapter 18