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On this night, with only one full day left to get through before he married his queen and introduced his heir apparent to the kingdom as afait accompli, Paris Apollo thought it might be entertaining to look in on his cousin. To see how things were going in his ever-shrinking world.
And to gloat a little bit. Maybe more than a little bit. Paris Apollo could admit that.
Because he knew that there had already been rumors about Troy’s existence. Angelique Silvestri had talked to him about this quite seriously just the other day, as if she thought it was possible Paris Apollo wasn’t aware of the whispers.
After tonight, with Madelyn and her parents discussing Troy so openly, he was sure the whispers would become shouts.
Konos and his pet newspapers would make sure of it, Paris Apollo had no doubt.
He was pleased with that. He was pleased with all of it, in truth. Everything was going to plan.
But clearly he was too pleased, because it hadn’t occurred to him that someone might choose tonight to take advantage of his distraction.
He moved slower then, when what he wanted to do was run. The lanterns gleamed here, too, so he avoided the pools of light. And when he reached the end of the lane, he turned and walked toward the bluff. Hoping that whoever was following him would assume he’d rounded the corner and kept on toward the house on the bluff.
Instead, he used the shadows between the lanterns to secrete himself behind a tree, and waited.
It did not take long. The figure trailing him came around the corner in shadow, then stopped, looking this way and that before stepping into the light.
Paris Apollo felt everything in him freeze solid.
Because he was looking at Madelyn.
When that was impossible.
She hadn’t even bothered to change out of the gown she’d worn to the party tonight. Her hair was as he’d rendered it personally, after several hours of tearing each other apart. It hung down to her shoulders and looked as if there had been hands in it.
There had been. His, and they ached to get back to it.
All this while she stood there, fully exposed. Anyone who happened by could see her, the future Queen of Ilonia, wandering around in the dark for no good reason.
He made as if to go to her, then stopped before he could. Maybe he shouldn’t reveal himself. She clearly couldn’t see where he’d got to. She was scowling, her hands finding her hips the way they often did when she was out of patience. Then she turned in circles, completely heedless of the fact that she was standing beneath the lantern and therefore in full view of anyone who might care to glance out a window.
She was not exactly stealthy.
The fact that he should stay hidden and make sure she failed to locate him was clear to him.
But it was no match for the kick of temper inside that took him over.
He stepped out from behind the tree and let the light catch him, too.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he asked in a low voice that carried on the night breeze.
Madelyn had been facing the other way just then, and she whipped back around, though she didn’t look as startled as he would have liked.
As startled as she should have looked if she had a shred of sense.
“I think a better question is, what are you doing?” she shot right back at him. And then, apparently far more reckless than he’d ever given her credit for, she neither ran nor hid nor tried to dissemble. She simply lifted up her gown to keep it from dragging on the old road and marched straight for him.
Everything in him was that same riotous burn of temper, all of it focused on her. So intently that it made his blood seem to burn as it pounded through his veins. So deeply that he could feel the fire of it in his temples, his chest.
And his greedy sex.
Yet Madelyn continued to march toward him, uncaring or unaware, and stopped when she was a foolish handful of centimeters in front of him. If she was smart, she would have left a greater distance between them—for her own safety. He could feel that roaring beast within rouse itself, then focus in on her.
She was talking as if she had no idea of the danger she was in. “I saw you sneaking over the palace wall the first night I was here. Obviously, I assumed I was hallucinating. But no. You do this every night.Every night,without fail.”
“You shouldn’t be here, Madelyn.”
