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Derek stumbled a bit, skirting a log. He grimaced and looked at me again.
“You’re going to turn me over to the Justice Division after this?” he said.
“I’m sure that’s what my dad will think is the best decision. Don’t try to tell me you don’t deserve it.”
“I wasn’t thinking of that. I was thinking maybe you’re not thinking that decision through all the way.”
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “I understand their investigations are quite thorough.”
Philomena wove through the trees to join us. “What in heaven’s name is he going on about now?”
“I don’t know,” I said to her in my head. If there was something Derek wanted to say about my consorts or anything else he’d learned in the last hour, my magic meant he couldn’t hint at that even to me. But he also couldn’t say anything to the Assembly. Unless…
A chill tickled over me. “When the Assembly investigates him, they’ll probably check for magic on him. They’ll find my spell. Take it off him, and then he’ll be able to tell them about the actual consorts I’ve taken.” The unsparked consorts at least a few of their number were prepared to kill me and those consorts over.
Derek would go down, but so would I. Did he suspect that—that my life might be on the line? Or was he only thinking the public shame might be enough leverage?
Either way, if Dad found out about the conspiracy to enslave my magic, there was no way he’d let Derek go unpunished. No escaping the Assembly’s involvement. Maybe if I’d had time to convince him of the need for secrecy… but I already knew I was going to need to ease him into the idea of my consorts. Damn.
“I see your point,” I said to Derek carefully. “Maybe we should approach the situation from a different angle, then.” I motioned for him to stop and looked him dead in the eyes. “I’m not marrying you. I’d rather take a newt as a husband at this point.”
“Wonderful,” Derek said. “The feeling is mutual.”
My hackles rose, but I held my temper. “We could skip your illegal doings. Just tell my father you’ve been sleeping around behind my back. That you’ve got no interest in marrying me. That’ll be enough for him to accept you leaving. And then you can just get the hell away from here. Agreed?”
A flicker of relief passed through his expression. Whatever he knew about my situation, he hadn’t liked his at all. “That sounds reasonable,” he said.
“Then I’ll need to add to the oath you took,” I said, and summoned more of my magic. “You will not speak of the contract you made with my stepmother, or any of the plans that surrounded it, or hint at them, to anyone. Youwillinform my father of your infidelity and the contempt you have for me. Accept.”
“I accept,” he replied, the magic twining with his words more easily this time when he wasn’t resisting it.
“All right. Come on.”
Philomena picked her way through the brush beside me, holding up her skirts. “So what happens after that?”
I exhaled. “I guess I come clean with Dad and hope he comes around sooner rather than later.”
* * *
I let Derek do most of the talking. By the time he’d finished spilling his story—the part about Polly and his disinterest in becoming my husband, anyway—Dad’s shoulders had gone completely rigid where he was standing by his desk. His jaw worked.
“You pledge yourself to my daughter, come into my home, and that’s how you behave?” he said in a low, dangerous voice I’d never heard him use before.
“I would have kept my promise,” Derek put in. “I still meant to marry her.”
Dad looked at me. I swiped at my eyes as if fighting tears. I had started to feel truly choked up during the talk, both thinking about how long Derek had duped me and how much I wished I hadn’t needed to go through this at all. If I just could have had my guys, the ones I adored who adored me, from the beginning… But I couldn’t have them openly even now, unless Dad knew some loophole.
“I can’t marry someone who thinks that little of me,” I said in a shaky voice.
Dad’s tone softened. “Of course not. Rose. We’ll get this all sorted out. Can you give me a few minutes? I think I should speak to yourformerfiancé alone.” His gaze sharpened again as he turned back to Derek.
My pulse hiccupped, but Derek couldn’t tell Dad anything he hadn’t already. My magic had seen to that. I nodded. “I’ll be in my room.”
“That’s it,” Phil murmured excitedly as I walked across the hall. “You’re free of that ruffian.”
“But not really free.” I sank onto the edge of my bed, curling my fingers into the soft duvet. Remembering the other night here with Kyler.
