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He enjoyed using the name my brother had chosen for me when he’d cursed me and sent me away, never to return again. Pilgrim. Wanderer. Exile. I had lived with the name Romero for so long that it no longer bothered me, but when Sinsorias said it aloud, it cut like a knife slipping quietly into my palm while peeling an apple. To his comment, I merely smiled and growled low in my throat. Let him think me fully a beast, and report this back to my brother.
The other set of double doors clicked open. In walked Everence, a coy smile on her face, followed by Talia.
My chair screeched as I stood. My eyes lingered on the pale-yellow dress hugging Talia’s frame. It highlighted her dark skin and provided a sunlit backdrop for her dark tresses, which flowed nearly to her waist and were adorned with small glowing stones and a white lily over one ear. It was the same dress she’d worn in my nightmare.
“Stars,” I hissed.
By the time I’d recovered, I was aware of Sinsorias’s cold stare. Hardening my expression, I pinned my eyes on the far wall, but I sensed Talia watching me carefully as she took the seat to my right. As I sat once again, I caught Everence’s gaze and flashed a nasty frown. Traitor. She smiled politely in return.
“You remember my cousin, Everence Bristleberry?”
Sinsorias half-stood and nodded, his thighs knocking into the table as he did so. “Sinsorias Vere, honorable representative of the Court of the Sun Sovereign, my lady. It is a pleasure to see you again, as always.”
I took a sip of wine to cover an amused chuckle. To her credit, Everence merely lifted her chin at the mention of my brother’s official title.
Sinsorias stiffened slightly at her snub, but he didn’t call out her manners as barbaric. Instead, he turned his attention to my wife.
“So you are Lady Romero? Doña Romero, as it were.”
She cut hard eyes toward me. “Yes.”
My blood ran hot. My hurtful words had worked. Sitting up straighter in my chair, I watched her intently.
“This man discovered me in a vulnerable situation. He promised me things. I took his offer. And here we are, two strangers in the same house.”
To avoid Everence’s pointed gaze, I leaned back and took a sip of wine.
“He barely even looks at me,” she continued, stabbing me with shame. “I have no idea why he brought me here, not the faintest inkling.” Resentment dripped from her words like hot candle wax.
Sinsorias studied Talia, missing the way my jaw worked as I tried to remain unaffected by her words. I needed her to hate me, and I hated that I needed it.
“I can tell you why he brought you here,” cooed the courtling.
My fist landed heavy on the table, rattling every spoon and shaking every goblet. “You will do no such thing. Your role here is only to observe. No meddling.”
The man’s lips curled into a sneer, but he inclined his head in acquiescence. “Very well, I shall enjoy observing you two on our journey to the Sun Palace.”
I turned my face away slowly, unable to fully mask my anger. He was a snake, a viper I hadn’t seen until I’d already stepped on him. I’d walked right into his trap, and I knew what he would say before he opened his slick little mouth.
“We will leave after next week’s race, not before,” I grumbled through clenched teeth.
Talia’s face snapped toward me, her brows pinched in a mix of delight and confusion.
The man’s brows lifted, but he nodded. “As it were. I shall be most pleased to see you two spend the next week at each other’s side.”
I pushed back from the table; the meal hadn’t even been brought out yet. “You will not stay an entire week, and you are not at liberty to demand anything from me.”
His eyes slid dangerously to Talia. “You do realize I am under strict orders from your sovereign to remove her at my discretion.”
My breaths came faster, and I gripped the edge of the table to keep from slapping the man across the face. Any offense too grave, any misstep too egregious, and he would snatch Talia away, all the power of the Sun Sovereign behind him. There was no telling what temporary magic my brother had granted him to oversee this task.
The table splintered between my hands. Talia yelped, and Everence caught her shoulders to keep her from toppling from her chair.
“You will not harm my wife.”
Sinsorias tilted his head and cocked a brow. “I see.”
I glanced first at Everence, whose stare was as stunned as Talia’s, though perhaps edged with a knowing disapproval. She was well acquainted with my temper. Talia first stared at the flayed table, then her gaze slowly traveled up my arms to my face. I cared not about Sinsorias or his prying eyes. I cared not for his meddlesome tricks and borrowed power. In that moment, I cared only that my wife looked at me with unfiltered awe. In her eyes I saw, entwined together like a greedy vine choking out a beautiful tree, the thing I simultaneously wanted most in the world and yet could never allow. For the briefest moment, I drank in her admiration like sweet wine, poison though it was.
