Page 6 of Hollow Court

Thinner, at least, the angles of her cheekbones sharper. Otherwise, she stood tall and lithe and graceful as ever, her golden hair braided up flawlessly, not a single thread out of place on her ornately brocaded skirts. Her unnaturally perfect features were carved into flawless Socairan demureness as she took in her surroundings.

Her father made introductions for himself and his wife, his familiar crystal-blue eyes narrowing slightly as he greeted me. We had never met. In spite of my extended stay as a political prisoner last year, Galina’s parents hadn’t been at Castle Ram when I was there.

Still, he appeared to recognize me all the same.

Then it was Galina’s turn—or rather, Lord Alexei’s turn—to introduce them both.

Galina was only a few inches shorter than I was, but his massive form dwarfed hers, and that of most of the people in this room, muscles bulging from beneath his gray-and-white jacket.

“I am Lord Alexei, nephew to the duke of Clan Wolf, and this is my betrothed, Lady Galina of Clan Ram.” His grip on her arm was possessive and territorial as he introduced her to me like we had never met.

Whether he knew about my history with his betrothed and was being a passive-aggressive bastard, or he was just another controlling Socairan arsehat, I couldn’t tell.

If I hadn’t known before that Galina was none too thrilled with the prospect of seeing me, I would have figured it out by the way she pointedly avoided looking in my direction, greeting the other three first.

Finally, she turned her icy blue gaze on me.

Not a hint of emotion shone from their depths, and her bland expression didn’t falter.

“Lord Alexei,” I greeted after my cousins took their turn. “And Lady Galina. Lovely to see you again.”

I managed to deliver that line without a trace of sarcasm.

Alexei’s expression darkened before Galina reached up to rub her hand over his arm. She whispered something into his ear, and his shoulders relaxed slightly as he glanced down at her with greed in his light brown eyes.

It twisted something inside of me, something that I did my best to stamp out. A whisper of jealousy that hadn’t quite worked its way out of my system after all this time.

Even after she had made her feelings about me painfully clear.

“Laird Davin.” The slightly mocking emphasis on my title was so subtle, I might have missed it, had I not known her so well.

But I did.

At least, I thought I had.

Looking at her now, I could almost believe I had entirely fabricated the version of her with stars in her eyes and snow in her hair and a soft smile on her full lips. Then again, hadn’t that version of me been a lie as well?

That’s all we were to each other, in the end.

Perfect, tempting lies.

THREE

Galina

The crowded ballroomwas almost a relief after the suffocating greeting in the Great Hall.

At least here, I could escape Davin’s scrutinizing cobalt gaze, if not Alexei’s bruising grip. Fortunately, the latter seemed just as happy to avoid the Lochlannians, which was…unsurprising.

Prejudices between our people ran deep, and Clan Wolf, in particular, still held grudges from the decades-past war. The duke’s son had been killed in battle. His brother had died more recently, courtesy of Rowan’s soldiers, leaving my betrothed as the heir.

Davin’s presence certainly didn’t help matters where Alexei was concerned. He knew we had been acquainted in the past, but he hadn’t actually seen Davin until tonight. And while Alexei was certainly attractive enough, Davin’s face was very nearly perfect, from the sooty eyelashes that framed his painfully blue eyes to his well-defined jaw.

His obsidian hair was in a constant state of being just disheveled enough to hint at his favorite pastime, and he was muscular without being bulky. No, his looks had never been an issue.

It was his personality that was the problem.

At least my parents weren’t showing such obvious bias toward our neighbors to the east. They were engaged in what looked to be a fairly involved discussion with Queen Rowan.