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“I don’t love him, Father. You know this. I love Larylis.”
“We’re not talking about love. We’re talking about politics. About your own safety.”
Her stomach churned. It was time to play the card she’d been keeping close to her heart. One she knew would damn her soul as soon as she uttered it aloud. Folding her hands at her waist, she met her father’s eyes with contrived calm. “I will marry Larylis, Father, for it is the only reasonable course of action now that I’m with child.Hischild.”
Silence echoed in the wake of her words, the tension so thick she thought it might smother her. Then a sound cut through. The only sound that could shatter her composure, her resolve, and her heart all at once.
Larylis’ voice trembled from behind her. “What did you say?”
Slowly, she turned to face him. He stood in the doorway, his expression brimming with a flurry of feeling. Confusion. Anger. Guilt. Hurt.
His emerald gaze turned to steel, hardening on one final emotion.
Betrayal.
5
Teryn didn’t know what to feel. His first reaction upon hearing Mareleau agree not to marry him had been relief. It hadn’t been the biggest surprise, considering her previous attempts to court other suitors. But when she’d spoken of her love for Larylis, he’d been…shocked. Ashamed. Embarrassed.
He realized now that she hadn’t spurned their engagement all this time because his kingdom was poor, nor because of his father’s scandal. She’d done it because she was in love with someone else, and Teryn had stood directly between them. For the first time, he saw himself the way she must have seen him all along. An unwelcome interloper.
Did his brother see him the same way? The thought made his chest feel tight.
“You aren’t serious, Mareleau.” Queen Helena’s voice teetered between disbelief and hysteria. Teryn hadn’t noticed her enter behind his brother, but now she swiftly closed the study doors, eyes darting quickly around the room as if to assess who’d heard Mareleau’s scathing admission.
“She isn’t.” Verdian’s voice was almost a growl. His face was so flushed it was almost purple. “This is just another one of her games. Another childish attempt to flee an engagement.”
“I think we’ve heard enough,” Bethaeny said, taking Teryn’s arm to pull him away. His feet were rooted to the spot.
“It’s not a game,” Mareleau said. Her words were for her father, but her eyes remained pinned on Larylis. She’d gone pale since his arrival, and her composure seemed shaken. “I’m pregnant with Larylis’ child. It’s a truth we no longer have to hide.”
“No.” Larylis’ voice broke on the word. “We never…” He turned toward Teryn. “We didn’t…”
Teryn studied him, searching for layers of truth behind his pleading eyes, between the words he wouldn’t say.
Larylis had once admitted to having kissed Mareleau, but according to him, it hadn’t meant anything. The disdain Larylis had demonstrated for the princess over the last three years had only served as evidence to support the claim.
But Teryn could still recall the pained look on Larylis’ face during the poetry competition. During every conversation where Mareleau had come up. It was the same expression Larylis wore now.
The look of a man whose love was equal only to his agony. Both of which he tried to hide.
How had Teryn not recognized this before?
Was it because he’d never been in love?
If so…why did he recognize it now?
His mind went to Cora, but he couldn’t think of her without recalling how he’d failed her. Betrayed her. He’d chosen duty over friendship. Lies over truth. He’d tried to fix his mistake but only when it was too late.
He would never be too late again.
Not for anyone.
Larylis took a deep breath and gathered his composure. “It isn’t what you think, Teryn. I promise you, we never—”
“You don’t get to speak, bastard,” Verdian roared.
Mareleau rounded on her father. “Don’t you dare talk to him like that!”
