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“And what do you have to say?” I ask absentmindedly, still trying to ignore him.
“That she’s winning.”
My tongue rolls over my upper teeth, and I throw the scroll on the table so that I can lean back in my seat and stare at him.
“Is she now?” I question, crossing my arms over my chest. “And how have you come to such a conclusion?”
He mimics my form and crosses his own arms.
“Because you didn’t sleep in your bed last night. Don’t try to deny it either. A few soldiers saw you leaving her tent in the early hours of the morning before we broke camp to head home.”
I keep my expression even keel, refusing to confirm his accusation.
When he sees he’s not going to get anything from me, Brick shakes his head before running his fingers frustratedly over his hair.
“You know what soldiers do when they’re not off to war and fighting? They gossip like old fucking maids. If you wanted to keep your indiscretions a secret, then you’re shit out of luck. Word is out now. All of the men are too elated that their king is going to bed his way to the throne to keep their mouths shut. I give it a week before all of Aikyam knows. Two at best.”
Good.
Let it spread that I claimed what others could only dream of.
The flash of Teo’s disgruntled face instantly lifts my spirits.
“The problem being?” I interject with a cocky grin.
Brick’s hazel eyes widen at my response.
“If you weren’t my king and best friend, I’d have half a mind to punch your face in. Maybe it would knock some sense into you,” he grumbles. “The problem being that it will not only be your enemies that get wind of such news. Your allies will too.”
“Atlas,” I mutter under my breath.
“Finally, a shred of sense has made its way through that thick head of yours!” he scolds. “Yes… Atlas. How do you think he will take such news? That you’ve bedded the very woman we agreed to join forces and ruin?”
“He’ll take it as our men did. He’ll think it’s a strategy.”
“A strategy?!” He chokes in outrage. “Do you think Atlas is so credulous? He knows you, Levi!” Brick shouts in indignation, pointing an accusing finger my way. “Like I know you. You would never result to such underhanded manipulation. Honor prevents you. If you laid with her, it was because you wanted to. Atlas will know it. And so do I.”
My back molars grind together as my general stares me dead in the eye.
“This is not how the game should be played. You’re falling into her trap, just like she calculated you would.”
“I don’t fall for traps, I make them!” I shout, springing to my feet and slamming my closed fist on my desk so hard that its legs shake.
“Not when it comes to her, you don’t,” he replies, defiance clear in his tone.
Brick has never once spoken to me like this.
Not as my general.
Not even as my friend.
“It seems we will not reach a consensus tonight and I’m too tired to argue with you,” I state, needing him out of my sight before I end up punching him again.
Only this time, I wouldn’t call for his precious Inessa to tend to him.
He’d have to do it all by his goddamn self.
“And will you be sleeping in your bed or hers?” he provokes, gaining an evil glare from me. “Yeah. That’s what I thought. Careful, my king. Your fight is for her crown. Not her heart.”
