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“Ben!” Genie burst out. “How dare you invoke our family this way! There is no shame upon love in our household. Do you expect me to feel guilty about my parents?”
“That is another matter,” he said.
“Why?” Genie demanded. “Because my father doesn’t have fangs? He and my mother leave Tenebran morals outside their bedchamber door just the same.”
Ben’s cheeks flushed. “Don’t talk that way.”
“Don’t be so innocent, Ben. We all know what Flavian does when he visits the Temple of Hedon with the Brotherhood. Don’t tell me his girls haven’t tried to convince you to open your breeches, too.”
Ben’s blush traveled up his forehead. “Genie!”
“Oh, don’t worry, I know you would never dare loosen your laces. You’ve taken Flavian to task for it often enough. And yet you aren’t threatening to stop defending him.”
“That is another matter,” he said once more.
“Oh, of course,” Genie fumed. “Because Flavian is a man!”
“Because Cassia lied to me! You used me,” Ben accused. “You told me you wanted out of your betrothal to serve the goddess, when all along, you wanted to marry a Hesperine.”
“This confirms that I was right not to tell you the truth,” Cassia said. “I knew you would only respond with judgment.”
“I thought our shared past had created trust between us. I see now how wrong I was.”
“You could always trust me. But I could never trust you with what was dearest to me. Yes, I chose to stay in Orthros for Lio. Yes, I love him. And I will not be ashamed of it.”
“You were lying to us all this time.”
“You think risking my life to avert war was a lie? Lio and I both nearly died to ensure our love never hurt anyone. If you still begrudge us our happiness, after everything we have done, then I think your sense of honor is broken beyond repair.”
“You question my honor, after you let a Hesperine tarnish yours?”
Fury left Cassia cold from her head to her toes. She could try to tell him her bond with Lio was sacred in Hespera’s eyes and valid under Hesperine law. She could explain how kind his family was, how much Zoe needed her, how Orthros was a much more principled land than Tenebra ever was.
But she knew it would fall on deaf ears. She would not lay her treasures before Ben, only for him to crush them under his heel.
“I have nothing else to say to you,” Cassia told him.
His jaw set. “Genie, come with me.”
“No,” Genie said.
“Your own reputation is fragile enough. You cannot afford to associate with Cassia any longer.”
Genie’s arm tightened in Cassia’s. “I will remain here and fulfill my duties as one of Princess Solia’s ladies—and her sister’s friend.”
They turned their backs on Ben and left him standing there.
“Thank you,” Cassia said. Genie might be a clever, budding politician, but Cassia did not believe any of her impassioned outburst just now had been an act.
Genie blinked back tears. “I’m so disappointed in him.”
“So am I.”
When they returned to their seats, Solia said, “He just lost the title I was planning to give him once I’m queen.”
Lio brushed Cassia with his magic, and the fury inside her calmed. But she could feel his regret. “I am so sorry, my rose. I cost you a friend tonight.”
She shook her head. “He was not a true friend, as it turns out.”
