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It was the trick of the light—ithadto be.
Because she appeared hungry.Starving.Her gaze was ravenous and seeking, raking over my features in search of… What, exactly? Did she long for the anxious, gangly twelve-year-old that had let her kiss each freckle on her face in the dappled glory of the Agnivale sun? For the quivering teen that had once planted a misguided kiss on her full lips behind the billowing curtains of this very ballroom? For the confused Alpha that had once imagined an intimate life with her best friend?
Zoei would never find the wayward girl buried inside me, no matter how hard she tried. I’d long ago incinerated those girlish desires. They were foolish wishes to harbor because first and foremost, my entire existence belonged to my people, and they did not deserve a scandal.
They expected to see me wed at the end of the year to a smart, beautiful, and honorable omega with a heart of gold. Cryssa would be my mate, and that was how my story would end.
There was no room in my life for complications like Zoei Highblade. The sole purpose of this visit was to extend an olive branch to save a fractured friendship and brittle alliance. Nothing more.
There could never be anything more between us, no matter how much my Alpha howled for the embrace of the familiar.
Zoei lifted a hand from my waist, raising it in the air for a snap that echoed above the music. The crowd jolted to life, turning away from us to find partners of their own. In an instant, the weight of the stares dissipated, lightening my shoulders.
“Your intended is still watching us,” Zoei commented, her gaze falling just beyond my shoulder. “She looks worried.”
“I have no doubt she believes you’ll singe the skin off my bones.”
Zoei was silent for a moment as she studied Cryssa.
“She’s very pretty.” The words seemed almost reluctant from Zoei’s lips. “Pleasingly curved with a sharp kind of intelligence in her eyes.”
“She is very intelligent, yes,” I conceded, ignoring her deliberately provocative description of Cryssa’s physical appearance. “Her work in inter-state relations is remarkable.”
“I hear the wedding date has been set.” The statement held an inflection of a question.
“It has, yes. My mother has extended an invitation to your people through your council.”
Zoei’s brows puckered, raising an unvoiced question in the air between us.
“You don’t seem happy,” she stated.
“You don’t have the capacity to determine my happiness, Zoei,” I countered.Not anymore.“I am perfectly content.”
“Delusion becomes you.”
Her words set my teeth on edge.
“I believe this dance is over, Your Majesty.” The ice in my tone was unmistakable. “If you’ll unhand me.”
My warning went unheeded. If anything, she pulled me closer, her grip tightening on my waist.
“Touched a nerve, did I?”
“Quite the opposite. I tire of this dance,” I said formally, glancing away from the censure in her gaze.
“You’ve never been a good liar,” she whispered, her breath warm against my cheek. “I can see through you like a piece of worn parchment paper.”
“Zoei.” Her name was a bitter warning. “Stop this.”
“You’re in my court now, Olympia. I can say whatever I wish.” The gleam in her eyes was the devil itself. “I candowhatever I wish.”
“What do you hope to gain by taunting me?” I demanded, hearing my breathless question as though someone else had voiced it.
“Nothing,” she shrugged with the grace of a scheming cat. “Nothing at all.”
The devil was a practiced liar.
Her palms tightened around my waist again, and my whispered protest was severed by the brush of her thumbs. They moved upward, seeking…
