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Convincing him would have to wait.“I can’t stay all night, but the card games in the dungeon sounded like I have a few hours.How long have you been under guard?”
“Since Mykata brought me to the room.I tried to reason with her, to get her to stand against her sister.”
“Blood ties are hard to fight.”
“But you’re their crown princess.”
“I’m a stranger to this land other than stories and now a sudden return.Mykata has known Artanya all her life.She believed the woman had almost died saving their baby sister.”
“I mentioned how Artanya’s scars seemed like claw marks, the size a goblin child might make.”
She’d wondered the same, but then she’d been a kid with those claws.He hadn’t been.“How did you come up with that?”
“The two little girls.Or maybe little goblins?Not sure which is the politically correct description in your realm, but the two kids at the feast tonight.Their claws looked about the right size to make those scars.What if the little sister, Phaedra, went through the goblin glass?”
“She could’ve followed me through.Or they have royal blood.She could’ve traveled herself.”Except she couldn’t figure out one huge hole in her theory.“But why would Phaedra attack her older sister?Why cause those scars?”
“We’ve seen her slaughter human men and now the king.Maybe she was always violent.Even as a kid.”
“Or Phaedra could’ve been defending herself.Why would Artanya deny her sister being back unless she’s hiding something?Except who could attack their baby sister?”The thought sickened her.
“Artanya apparently.Can she declare herself queen?”
“Yes.The realm would follow a silver-blood if they have no other choice.”
“What is the deal with golden-born and silver-bloods?”he asked.“Opposing bloodlines?An illegitimate royal offspring?”
“Being golden-born is a recessive trait.Like blue eyes or red hair.Most royals are a mix of both.Only gold has ruled the kingdom.”
“Which is why people assume you’re here to claim the throne as the last living golden-born.The wicked crown.The one they think you’re trying to recreate?I don’t get why the king sent the amethysts to our realm.To destroy humans instead?That’s not the answer.”
Her mouth went sour.“We can’t undo our pasts.”
“You talking about goblin history as a whole?Or my past?”
“Can’t it be both?What you did seems kind of minor compared to what this realm’s royals have done.”She couldn’t stand the flicker of doubt in his gaze.“You should trust my judgment.After all, I’m a princess.”
He hooked one side of his mouth upward, a lazy and slow smile that shouldn’t have been so sexy.“You sure you’re unbiased?”
Not at all.“Pretty sure.”
“I’m not a safe bet.”
“I dragged you to a goblin court where a killer’s on the loose who wants you dead, and the pretender in a crown has accused me of murdering the king and tossed me in the dungeon.”
“You picked me for your prince consort, which is kind of cool.”
“I wouldn’t want anyone else.”She kept her voice teasing and light, hoping he wouldn’t hear the serious truth of the words.
His smile faded.“I’ve told you what I’ve done.”
“I’ve shown you my goblin side.If you’re looking for a battle of who’s the bigger monster, I win.”
His whiskey-colored gaze hardened, more brute than bedroom eyes for once.Not that it changed the effect he had on her, the want that rushed through her.His lips—the ones he’d kissed her with in an addictive mixture of soft and strong—he flattened those full lips into a hard, almost cruel line.“You’re no monster.”
“Neither are you.”
“I’m not the consort you need.”
