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“No!” Auberon snapped, louder than he’d intended. A few nobles turned to stare at them. “You want me to creep around in the shadows and stay out of your way? Fine.Youcreated this mess of the negotiations, and now you can solve it.”
He shoved the goblet into Drystan’s hand and stormed off, ignoring the objections of the courtiers as he pushed through the crowd. Drystan could deal with the court himself. Auberon’s only concern was the eudorite mines. He left the stifling heat of the banquet hall and stepped out onto the balcony, where he had stood with Treasurer Cathal that very first night in Innislee. The cool winter breeze whipped around him, slicing straight through his doublet. Thankfully, the cold had dissuaded any other courtiers from braving the chill. He was alone.
“You have forgotten your place,” Drystan said, his tone laced with a warning. Auberon turned to find him closing the doors to the hall, sealing them off from the rest of the court.
“Ihave forgotten my place? I have done nothing except what was asked of me this entire time. I nearlydieddoing my duty to the Empire!”
“Your duty was to find the eudorite mines, not to fall in love.”
The accusation struck him like a spear. A wave of rage flooded him, so thick and suffocating that it passed beyond fury into a strange, eerie calm. When he spoke, his voice came out icier than he’d ever heard it. “Do not speak to me of love, Drystan. All I have is the Empire. All I am, I owe to it. I will never forsake that.”
“So you say. Yet your eyes never leave Lady Riona. They betray you.”
Auberon did not blink. He did not breathe. He could not, for he was terrified that the slightest movement would reveal the depth of his feelings for Riona. The feelings that he had begged the Creator every night to strip from him.
He would not give in to the desire burning within him—the need to make every touch linger a heartbeat longer, to savor each laugh or smart-mouthed response, to marvel at the fact that of all the people in her uncle’s court, Riona had spent every night in the Royal Theater withhim.He loved the way she moved with a dancer’s grace as she practiced the swordplay drills he’d shown her. He loved that even though she’d had every reason to hate him, she had held his hand as he drowned in his own blood. He loved that she had spent the end of every night in the theater teaching him the song his mother had played for him as a child.
He loved her.
But if she married an Erdurian, it would be Drystan. He was under no illusions to the contrary. Drystan was his Crown Prince, his future Emperor. Everything that Auberon loved about Riona would make her an exceptional Empress, and she deserved nothing less than the throne.
Riona was a means to an end. His pawn. His puppet.
She could never be anything more.
Auberon started toward the doors, desperate to put thoughts of her out of his mind. “You’re wasting your time talking to me. Spend tonight swaying the council members to your side.”
Drystan set a hand on his shoulder, stilling him. “I know you’ll do whatever it takes to complete the task that Father gave you. I only hope you do not destroy yourself in the process. In one week’s time, Riona will be promised to another.”
Auberon set his jaw and nodded stiffly. “I know.”
Drystan released him, and he returned to the banquet hall just as a song ended. He immediately spotted Amaris and Prince Domhnall in the center of the nobles, their heads bent close together. At first, Auberon thought it nothing more than a romantic moment between the couple, but then he noticed the furrow between Amaris’s brows as she whispered in the prince’s ear, her fingers curled in the fabric of his doublet. They parted and bowed to the court, forced smiles on their faces. Their fingers laced together, they started through the crowd, pausing to speak with noblemen and women in their path.
Auberon stalked along the edge of the room as another song began. Once the court’s attention returned to the dancers, Prince Domhnall led Amaris through the nondescript door tucked into the side wall—the same place he had taken Riona during the first banquet. When Auberon reached it, he glanced back to make sure no one was watching and then slipped inside. He found himself in a long, narrow corridor, the gray stone walls streaked with soot from the torches. There were no doors, just an archway on the far wall. Auberon crept toward it on silent feet.
“—all sitting around, pretending everything is fine, while she’s out there somewhere,” Amaris whispered. “I don’t know if she’s safe. I don’t know if she’s hurt.”
Auberon stiffened. He shifted just enough to peer through the archway and saw Amaris and Domhnall sitting on a bench in the middle of the courtyard, clasping each other’s hands. Moonlight filtered through the opening in the center of the building’s roof.
“My father has sent men to find her and bring her home,” the Crown Prince said, his voice calm and soothing. “She’ll be fine.”
“How do you know that? She could be halfway across the Tranquil Sea by now. She could have crossed the border into Beltharos. Percival Comyn would give her refuge if she asked—I know he would. Gather some men and ride to Westwater. Riona will listen to you.”
“You said she sent you a note? What exactly did it say?”
“Just that she would return to the city as soon as possible. And she mentioned the conversation we had last night, before she left. That’s how I knew it came from her, even though the handwriting was unfamiliar.”
If Riona had left last night, that meant she’d been missing for almost a full day. Auberon’s chest tightened with fear. It was reassuring to know that she had left Innislee of her own volition, but he still worried about her safety. What had brought on her sudden departure? And who had written that note, if not Riona?
Prince Domhnall frowned. “What did you discuss?”
Amaris hesitated. “Her lover,” she finally admitted, and the prince’s mouth parted in surprise. “She’d been sneaking out to meet him every night for at least the last week. I fear they’ve run off together. Youhaveto go after her, Domhnall. Bring her home before she makes an even bigger mistake.”
A lover? Clever lie, aramati, Auberon thought, impressed despite his concern.Fears about an arranged marriage. A forbidden romance. It’s the stuff of storybooks. Of course Amaris would fall for it.
Domhnall’s expression softened. “If I could, my love, I would ride out this very second to track her down, but I cannot. My father will not allow me to ride off during some of the most important days of his reign. It would raise too many questions, and the suitors cannot learn that anything is amiss. Think of the things they will say about Riona’s virtue if they find out that she ran off with a stranger in the dead of night. We might lose any chance at a marriage alliance. If you want to protect her, you must act as if nothing is wrong. Have faith that my father’s men will find her.”
Amaris’s face crumpled. She buried it in Domhnall’s chest, her arms slipping around his waist. “I thought she was just sneaking out for the night,” she mumbled, her voice muffled. “I should have stopped her.”
