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Al did not laugh, though a strange bubble of it rose inside her chest. “I suppose it’s handy then that there’s nothing to destroy.”
“You sound like him,” Diamandis muttered disgustedly.
“We are quite alike, my beloved and I.”Belovedlanded a bit clunkily, but Al did not look at Diamandis when she said it. She pretended to be so engaged in her eating she couldn’t possibly look up.
“I will destroy you both.”
Al sighed heavily and leaned her chin on her hand before studying the man who was king of this pretty little island. There was no doubt in her mind he didn’t deserve the power, the position. “Do you men ever get tired of wanting to destroy things?”
Diamandis pushed back from the table, tossing his napkin down on his plate. “I have work to do. To find the truth. Feel free to pass that along to Lysias.”
“Oh, I don’t need to. I think you must underestimate him. Do you really believe he’d bring me here without having thought of everything?” She looked up at the King, wholly unbothered by his bluster.
Because underneath, she saw something that reminded her of fear. Not of Lysias or his revenge, she didn’t think. But fear that it could be true. That she might actually be Princess Zandra.
Which meant they’d never found a body, if he could worry abouttruths.
He leaned in close, all thunderstorms and rage. “Tell me one thing,” he demanded, eyes blazing. Eyes like her own. “One thing only Zandra Agonas would know.”
If he was questioning her, it meant he thought it was possible she was Zandra. She didn’t let her triumph at that show, because his face was too close. She couldfeelthe hot anger radiating off him. And she had the strangest impulse to reach out and...poke him right in the middle of his Adam’s apple.
She didn’t even stop herself. She just did it.Poke.
He stumbled back, his hand flying to his throat. She frowned a little, because while it had no doubt felt uncomfortable, she’d hardlypunchedhim there. It shouldn’t have hurtthatmuch.
But he’d paled, his hand on his throat like she’d stabbed him clean through. “That proves nothing,” he said raggedly, stepping away from her as if she were suddenly venomous.
Which was an odd thing to say since she didn’t know what poking him was meant to prove. She’d only done it out of impulse, out of frustration. Perhaps he just wasn’t used to people not being afraid of him. He seemed the kind of king who dealt in fear.
Then he strode out of the dining room, and since Alexandra had nothing else to do, she gorged herself on breakfast.
Lysias returned to the palace in a good mood. Though he’d known the guards had followed him, he’d also lost them here and there to do what needed to be done before allowing them to catch up to him once more.
They would report to Diamandis that they had lost him for pieces of time, and Diamandis would, of course, find this suspicious, but even if he found out what Lysias was doing, he wouldn’t be able to stop it.
It was a decade in the making. At first, Lysias had bribed people because he’d been new to money and power. But as the decade had gone on, as he’d grown in that money and power, he’d begun to understand people better. Kalyva better. And the way Diamandis ruled more clearly.
So over the years, he’d learned to prey on people’s sense of injustices done against them. Though Diamandis treated most of his staff well, according to what Lysias heard, the man was hard on people who disagreed with him or who failed.
So, Lysias had begun to target those men. Sway them to his side. And let the spiderwebs of discontent spread out until the perfect moment.
That was the beauty of public opinion. Because everything was set up perfectly. When Diamandis presided over the council meeting next week, there would be a vote of no confidence. It paid to know the laws of Kalyva, and that while the monarchy ruled exclusively, the council had the right to run checks and balances.
One of the rarely used balances was a vote of no confidence against the king, and if popular vote of the council resulted in no confidence, it could choose a new king. Lysias had considered himself for the position but wasn’t sure he wanted to deal in the politics of it all.
Then there was Al, but she would need to make herself scarce in case the truth every came out.
So, some stranger would take over Kalyva, and for Diamandis, that would be failure enough.
Lysias smiled. Much could still go wrong, but he simply wouldn’t allow it. He was too close and had come too far.
So he strode through the palace, knowing he was being watched but was thrilled with the successes he’d made today. He also told himself over and over again as the anticipation rose within him that this feeling was all about the future success of his plan.
Not returning to his Alexandra.
He opened the door to the main room and ignored the jolt of worry and frustration that twined within him when she clearly wasn’t there. He moved through the bedroom, the dressing rooms, then back out to the bedroom with increasing frustration.
When he finally caught a glimpse of her, it was through the large-windowed door that led out to a little balcony. She stood out on it, leaned over the rail, her hair blowing gently in the slight breeze. She wore pants today, but the material looked like silk and billowed in the breeze like her hair.
