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“And yet you keep us here,” Lysias replied, trying to find his lazy veneer. Trying to remember what was important. His plans. Falsifying the DNA results.
Are you sure you need to?
“I will prove to my people, and all their whispers, that you are the scheming traitor, just as your parents were. And you will face the wrath not just of me but all of Kalyva.”
“Such a shame I am a grown man these days, not so easily conquered instead of an orphaned boy—due to you, I might add. I will not be so easy to sweep aside this time.”
“I did not...” But whatever Diamandis had meant to deny, he stopped himself as a young woman appeared at the open office doors. She held a clipboard and curtsied prettily to the king. “Your Majesty, Mr. Kronos is here.”
Diamandis nodded at her, then turned his attention to Lysias. “You will not win.” He pointed at the door: a clear sign he would not leave until Lysias left first.
Lysias considered a standoff. Simply waiting for Diamandis to bodily remove him, but they’d already tempted their tempers and nearly come to blows.
Only Alexandra’s clear lack of interest in their fighting seemed to cure them of their bloodlust.
She really was a wonder. And if he was honest with himself, he did not want to have to go back to their quarters and face her.
Her questions. Her memories. The feelings that lurked in her eyes.
But he would not be a coward. So he bowed at the king with a sardonic lift of his brow, flashed the assistant a charming smile, then walked back to his and Alexandra’s quarters.
He found her standing on the balcony, much as she had been last night. His body hardened at the thought, the desire as intense as it had been, but there was something else. A vulnerability from being in Zandra’s room, from the things Alexandra seemed to know...
He would find a way to keep his hands off her. He would keep his physical distance. He could not risk a repeat performance. He had always prized his control, but nothing had ever tested it as Alexandra did.
So he would simply not let himself be tested.
She turned as if she sensed him.
They studied each other across the way for quite some time. Eventually, she came back inside, but she still stood by the balcony door. “Does the doctor work for you?” she asked.
“No, but he was willing to help set the wheels of justice in motion.”
Her curiosity morphed into a frown. “What does that mean?”
“People are tired of Diamandis’s iron reign. The king has made many errors in seeking to make up for his parents’. He is too hard, too controlling. The people do not love him. He has lost the trust of many.”
Her brow furrowed. “You’re not planning...”
He might have been offended at what she insinuated, but bloody coupshadcrossed his mind. If he hadn’t known so many vulnerable innocent bystanders in the coup he’d survived, he might have used it.
But he only wished to harm Diamandis. Not innocents. “I am not a murderer, Alexandra,” he chastised. “Not like Diamandis. I will not have him executed. I will simply have him lose his throne and give Kalyva to the people. His place as king is all that matters to him. Living without it will harm him more than ending his pitiful life.”
She began to cross to him, but he could not allow her to get close. It was too much to risk. “I have much to do,” he said abruptly. “I will sneak away from the palace to do it. I may not be back until morning this time.”
She stared at him for a long moment, almost as if she understood exactly what he was doing. “All right.”
“We will attend the ball Friday night, and then Saturday will be the council meeting. Diamandis will be deemed unfit. You will be gone by evening, with your earnings.”
“And what will happen to Kalyva?”
Lysias shrugged. “Whatever the people wish.”
She showed no response. Just kept looking up at him so that he had to look away or remember shadows. The questions.
“I could go with you tonight,” she offered. Not timidly. Not as if she were afraid he would say no. In the same way she’d always spoken to him. Because there was no timidness in his Al.
“Unnecessary,” he said, likely too harshly for the situation.
