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I glanced over my shoulder to meet her glazed blue eyes. My stomach clenched at the sight, and suddenly, my appetite was gone. I set down my teacup and rose.
Despite its futility, I tried to engage her in conversation as I followed her across the room. “What is your name?”
The girl paused, blinking. “Excuse me? Is there something else you desire?”
“Your name.”
She stared at me emptily. “I am your humble maid. What else can I do for you?”
“But what are you called?”
She blinked again. “Servant.” She turned away toward the washroom.
A bang on the door to my quarters interrupted us, and I jumped. The two maids didn’t seem fazed. One waited at the entrance to the washroom while the other strode toward the door and opened it. Before she could speak, Garrick shoved past her, forcing his way in.
“Starlight,” he breathed, his chest heaving as if he’d run the whole way here. His gold eyes were full of pain, his face haunted in a way that stole my own breath.
“Garrick?” I crossed the floor to him, terrified the siblings had wreaked some new havoc.
“Leave us,” he growled to the two women, sending them scurrying without protest from my room. They only knew how to obey.
There was a wolfish way about Garrick as he stalked closer, shaking his head. “I need to see.” His voice trembled.
“Garrick...”
“Did Aspen tend to you?”
“I’m fine,” I said, but Garrick grasped my shoulders, ducking his head to peer into my eyes fervently.
“Let me see, Starlight,” he pled.
“They’ll smell you on my skin,” I insisted faintly, glancing at where his hands grasped my shoulders still, his thumb brushing against my collarbone.
He shook his head. “You’ll bathe and change. And I will too, before the feast. They’ll never know.” He cupped my face with a scarred hand, and I couldn’t help myself from leaning into his touch. My heart quivered. Before I could wonder if maybe this was the tender touch of someone who cared for me as more than a friend, more than his sovereign, Garrick spoke again. “Please.”
Biting my lip, I turned around, letting him use shaking hands to unbutton my tunic far enough for him to see the bandage Aspen had used to cover my wound. Garrick sucked in a sharp breath as he cautiously peeled it back. He cursed.
“Idid this to you.”
I turned, clasping one hand to the front of my tunic to hold it up. When I met Garrick’s expression, the raw devastation in it cut me to the core.
He dropped to his knees, tears shimmering in his eyes. “Forgive me.” He shook his head again, as if he could wish away the marks marring my skin. He wrapped his arms about my waist and pulled me to him, burying his head against my stomach as he wept.
“There’s nothing to forgive. You didn’t do this,” I said firmly. I gathered my courage and ran my fingers through the white-blond locks of his hair. They were silky to the touch, and the act felt so intimate I couldn’t stop the blood from rushing to my cheeks. “Prestondid it.” I injected venom into my words. “As surely as if he’d lifted the blade himself. But like a coward, he forced you to do it. It’s not your fault. It’shiscrime.Hismark. Andhewill pay.”
Garrick drew back enough to look up into my face. “He’s already forced us both to pay the price,” he said. “Every time I see you, I’ll know I failed you. You, my rightful queen. The starlight to my darkness.”
“Never,” I bit out, slowly kneeling until we were face-to-face. “When you look at me, I will wear this mark as a badge of honor. A sign of what we’ve both survived and will overcome. I promise you, Garrick.”
My words calmed him at last. He blinked, nodding as he searched my face, as if he could read my every thought and plan. Lifting a hand, he swept it through my hair, each brush achingly tender. “Aspen spoke to you?”
“Yes.”
A slow smile spread across his face, the first sign of hope I’d seen in him in far too long. “She’ll help us. We’ll make them both pay.”
He leaned forward until our foreheads touched, until we breathed the same air. My chest tightened at his proximity, at my sudden desire to confess to him how deep my feelings truly went. But he called me his queen. Did he only see in me what all his people saw—a savior? Or did he care about more than what I could be—did he care forwhoI was? Even if we defeated Preston and Nerissa, freeing him from their control, would he ever want me the way I wanted him?
Before either of us could speak another word, a soft knock echoed on my door. We jolted apart, terror coursing through my being. What if Preston or Nerissa found us out before we’d had a chance to hide the fact that we’d touched? What new horrors would they force us to inflict on one another?
