Page 18 of Married By Scandal

While he’s right about the rumors—humans on the isle do age slower, and those in close romantic relationships with the fae tend to age as slowly as their fae partners—I can’t help feeling like he’s trying to distract me. Even more telling is the way he appears to meet my gaze…only to shift his eyes slightly to the left, as if he’s truly looking at something over my shoulder.

I’m about to turn around and see if there’s some secret entrance to an underground vapor house that has him so transfixed, but he leans in close and whispers, “Keep your eyes forward.”

“What are you—” Movement from up ahead has me swallowing my words. A figure emerges from the far end of the street and begins walking toward us. There’s something sinister in the shadowed figure’s slow, loping gait. Despite Albert’s previous warning, I crane my neck to look behind us. There I spot two more silhouettes crowding in at the opposite end of the sidewalk. In a whisper, I hiss, “Albert!”

“I know,” he mutters, then comes to a stumbling stop at the mouth of an alleyway. He raises his voice so it carries to our mysterious strangers. “Look, my dear! An alley. How quaint! Let’s cut through.”

As soon as we turn down the dark pathway, flanked by waste bins and the backsides of empty shops, Albert lowers his arm. My grip loosens from around his elbow, and he takes my hand instead. We jog down a ways but don’t make it far before the slap of multiple footsteps approach the alley behind us. My heart slams against my ribs. “What’s going on?”

Albert ignores my question and whirls me to face him. Before I realize what’s happening, he closes in until my back comes against the wall of the nearest building. He stops before me, caging me in place with one hand propped beside my head, the other by my waist, still grasping the head of his cane.

I freeze as he leans closer, certain he’s about to kiss me. Surely he can see this is hardly the time for a kiss. We’re in danger, aren’t we? The thought sends a strange thrill to my stomach, one I haven’t felt since I embarked upon a mission of revenge against my first love. Back then, I delighted in danger. Relished every opportunity that could pit me against my enemy.

But…but that’s not me anymore. And Albert should know better than to try to kiss me at all. Has he listened to nothing I’ve said? And yet, as I watch his mouth draw closer, I find myself unable to move.Unwillingto move. Instead, my eyes latch onto his mouth, taking in the sensuous curve of his bottom lip.

I plant both palms against his chest, unsure if I’m about to shove him away or pull him closer, but his lips don’t come to mine. Instead, they draw next to my face. His breath stirs my hair. “As soon as I distract them, run.”

The thrill in my belly goes still as good sense prevails over my moment of mind-boggling weakness. “What?”

He doesn’t get the chance to explain. In the next moment, three male figures close in behind him and attack.

9

It’s too dark to see our assailants clearly, but it’s obvious they mean us harm. Or Albert, at least. I stifle a shout as one of the men pulls the prince away from me and drives a fist into his abdomen. I flinch, expecting to see Albert heave forward, but it’s his attacker who goes stumbling back. I note the way the man rubs his knuckles and how Albert has thrust out his cane.

The other two men close in. Albert grips his cane in two hands, one on the curved head, the other around the middle. Then, with a twist, a pointed blade emerges from the end.

Albert whirls toward one of the men and snaps his cane against the side of his face. As he falters, Albert turns to the other assailant and swings his weapon, slashing the bladed end through the man’s throat. A spray of blood arcs into the air, splattering against one of the walls.

The first attacker rejoins the fray. Albert meets both men with a series of strikes, slashes, and punches, too fast for me to keep track of. All I can do is watch, my mouth agape, at the unexpected spectacle. The prince sends one man into a wall, where he’s rendered unconscious as his head meets brick. The final assailant manages to grapple with Albert and bring him to the ground, but the prince rolls on top of him. In the next moment, he half rises and slams his cane blade into the other man’s eye.

Albert remains in place, chest heaving, gaze locked on the man beneath him. My blood rushes through my ears, mingling with the frantic beat of my heart. It’s so loud, I almost don’t hear Albert when he speaks.

“You were supposed to run.”

I don’t know what to say to that. I’m too transfixed by the blood seeping across the stone floor of the alley beneath the man with the blade in his eye. My gut churns, half with disgust over what I’m seeing, half with shame that I didn’t act.

I could have acted. I could have burned these men to a crisp. But…would that have been the right response? Who are they? What was their quarrel with Albert?

Shame takes over, making my shoulders hunch forward. Why would I even consider whether I should have joined the fight? I’m not a violent, vengeance-obsessed girl anymore. Besides, haven’t I spilled enough blood in my past as it is?

“Why didn’t you run?” Albert’s tone is worn, edged with irritation. He rises to his feet and extracts the tip of his weapon from the man’s eye. Like he did before, he twists the head of the cane. This time, the blade disappears. His eyes meet mine, and his expression softens. “I didn’t want you to see this.”

I take a steadying breath and force my tremulous words past my lips. “I’ve seen worse.” What I don’t add is that I’ve done worse.

He frowns. “You have, haven’t you?” Then, with a shake of his head, he returns his attention to the unmoving bodies and releases a long sigh. “We should go before anyone finds us. I’m pretty sure I killed them.”

The way he says it so casually rouses me from my stupor. “You’re pretty sure? The fact that you opened a man’s throat and drove your hidden blade into another’s skull didn’t clue you in first?” I glance at the man slumped against the wall. Only now do I see the dark stain behind him where his head collided with brick.

“I thought they were fae,” Albert says, stepping over one of the corpses to reach me. His tone is calm, calculated. Nothing like the slurring drunk he pretended to be before the attack. “I used excessive force. I would have held back if I knew they were human.”

My mouth falls open, but I can’t utter a word before he takes my elbow and tugs me away.

“We should indeed hurry, Miss Fairfield. I think we’d both like to avoid the papers for this little mishap.”

I let him pull me a few steps forward before I wrench my arm from his grip. “What do you mean, you would have held back if you knew they were human? You used excessive force because you thought they’d be fae? What the bloody oak and ivy is that supposed to mean?”

“I expected our attackers to be fae because it makes sense that your kind would seek to assassinate a Brettonish prince.”

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