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His expression gentles, if only a little, and his words come out softer. “At this point, we don’t have a choice. We have to go through with this.”
Our eyes lock, and my breath hitches. I can’t seem to look away. The power of his eyes pulls me in and makes me imagine things between us that don’t exist. Like that in another life, we were really mates, and we stood on the same side instead of opposite ones.
But there’s no other life, only this one.
I force air into my lungs when I look away. “It’s ‘we’ now?Wedon’t have a choice? What’s changed?”
Is he trying to paint us as a team now? You become teammates with a shared goal. We entered into a deal that was mutually beneficial, but he screwed it up… for me, not for him. They’re all the same, these fae, only concerned with themselves and never worried about how their actions affect the humans that clean after them. And we humans are always at the bottom, scraping our way through life.
“It was alwayswe,” he says.
I snort. “You don’t have to fuck four men.”
He flinches. “But I am connected to them now. Forever.”
“Because of the spell you screwed up!”He can’t really be serious acting like he’s an innocent party in this whole thing, can he?
He just stares, like he wants to say something, but he’s not. I wait. Feeling the damn irresistible pull of his gaze, hoping he finally learns to use his big boy words. But he remains silent.
Fine then.“Either way, no. I won’t go through with this. I refuse. You need to figure out a way to get me out of this.”
He leans in closer to me, so close that I could reach up and touch him, if I wanted to, “If the court thinks a human tricked them, I’ll be fine, but you’ll pay with your life. You keep saying what you don’t want; isthatwhat you do want? Do you want the fae court to believe you tricked them?”
Shit. He’s right, of course dying’s not what I want, not at all. I just thought there was another way.
“Is there no way to undo this?” And I hate the pleading note in my voice.
He flinches like I’ve struck him again. “No.”
I feel tears sting my eyes. The realization that if he can’t get me out of this,wecan’t get out of this comes to me. I can’t just flee either and leave my father and grandmother behind. I can’t just accept a life as a whore, because no one would allow it from their queen. I can’t do anything except marry the four men.
Marry them and lie. All the time. I won’t even be able to play the part of Prince Sulien’s wife and then hide in my room, reading, and enjoying a life of leisure. There won’t be spare time, or off time. I’ll be a wife to four men. I’ll have to be their wife in public and in private. I’ll have to pretend I feel whatever the hell mates are supposed to feel.
There will be no escape. And if ever the princes find their true mates, my life will be on the line.
“This is all your fault,” I tell him, sounding angry but fighting tears. “You’re trying to be the king, but you can’t even protect me from this. You won’t even try. You’re just a boy, playing in his dad’s palace, acting like you’re in charge.”
The slightest tick in his eye lets me know I finally hit a chord.
“Why did you even choose me? You ruined my life once already when we were children. You haven’t done enough to me?” Wow, I didn’t even know where that came from, but I meant it.
And he looks pissed.
“You have to know I didn’t want this to happen!” he thunders, fury etched in his brows. “I had a plan. The perfect plan and now it’s fucked!”
I almost step away from him, shocked by his unexpected fury, but I force myself not to move. If I show myself to be a coward now, I’ll always be a coward.
He rubs his hands across his beautiful face, his jaw clenched. His gaze sweeps to me with a look of pure agony, then away. And it’s strange. I can almost feel how tense every muscle in his body is, can almost hear his heart racing, and for some reason, that makes me feel a little better. Like, maybe, this situation is actually bothering him too.
He takes a few steps toward me, reaches out, then drops his hand.
I stare, not sure what to do.
“We’re stuck with each other. Accept that.” And now he sounds calmer, quieter, and resigned.
My head swims. There’s no way out of this, according to him. I’m stuck with four princes as my husbands. My only other choice is to reveal my deception and lose my head to the fae.
But, no, things can’t be that hopeless.
