Page 23 of Tarnished Crown
The longer he spoke, however, the more suspicious he became. Tendrils of fear rose up inside of me, and not for the first time, I wondered why the hell I hadn’t just stayed in my rooms.
As soon as the opportunity arose, I ran to the balcony and practically leapt onto the roof in an effort to get away from him. Only seconds after I got my bearings, the sound of a door opening had me pausing.
A few voices muttered low, placating words until the duke was finally calmer, then the door was opening and closing once again.
“Good morning, my dear.” He greeted someone with a kindly tone, as if he hadn’t said any of the vile things from a few moments ago.
I wondered if this was how it always was at Bear. I hadn’t heard a single whisper of the mad duke, only ones of his cruelty and strength. Did he still control the territory? Did the soldiers march on his whims?
Or was it his son keeping the cruel reputation of Bear alive?
CHAPTER19
Ihadn’t been able to make myself go back to Aleksander’s rooms the next morning. Or the one after that.
Our last encounter had been enough to make me want to bolt the door to the balcony all together. But staying in my rooms left me entirely too much time to be alone with my thoughts, something I worked hard to avoid most of the time.
Especially since Mac died. My mind had a tendency to travel in a loop back to the day we got the news, like if I thought about it hard enough, I could change what happened.
I’m going to check on the village this morning.He had announced it as he was leaving breakfast, pausing only long enough to plant a kiss on my sister’s lips that made my father clear his throat and one of the twins pretend to gag.
Then he had never come home.
What if we had found a reason for him to stay? That was probably selfish, though, knowing that he had saved several lives in the house fire that took his.
This line of thought inevitably led me to my sister. Would Avani hate me when she found out I was still alive? Hate me for making her grieve twice for such a stupid, inconsequential reason?
Hate me for leaving her to deal with that grief on her own while I traipsed around the kingdom with Davin, even before we wound up here?
I blew out a sigh. I couldn’t stay in this room alone any longer, and I wouldn’t go back to Aleksander. Instead, I went to open my door, finding Yuriy on the other side.
“Did you need something, Highness?” His lightly accented voice was polite, but distant.
I pondered his question, not actually having thought that far ahead.
“Yes,” I said with more confidence than I felt. “Do you have a deck of cards?”
“I could send for one,” he said uncertainly.
“Perfect. I need...someone to play a game ofwarwith me.”
His eyes widened. “I’m supposed to be standing guard...”
“And what better way to keep an eye on me than if I’m in the same hallway?” When he looked close to caving, I pressed. “Who knows what kind of trouble I might get into if I’m left to my own devices in that room for too long.”
He sighed. “I suppose one game wouldn’t hurt.”
I beamed at him. He sent for cards and, as I had hoped, was loosening up by the end of the first game. We played a few more, and he was actually chuckling by the time an irritable throat-clearing interrupted us.
I froze, telling myself my heart couldn’t be hammering in my chest, because I was definitely not afraid of Evander. Even if he had just caught me breaking his rather forceful edict to stay in my rooms. An edict that I had disobeyed in more ways than this one...
“Van.” Yuriy hurriedly got to his feet. “Erm. Lord Evander, I mean. We were just--”
“Playing a game instead of guarding the princess?” he supplied in a deceptively calm tone.
“I’m hardly going to abscond in the middle of a game ofwar.” I infused my voice with nonchalance.
“I wouldn’t put it past you,” he challenged.