Page 135 of Onyx Cage: Volume II
“Tenuous?” she asked, reminding me that she had no idea what had transpired since I left. Especially since I doubtedTaras had been forthcoming with her, given his general taciturn nature.
“Arès and Ivan Lusikka from Bison didn’t sign.” The other seven clan signatures were by no means insignificant, but two parties standing on neutrality would help.
I could assume Arès was more opposed than neutral, but he was smarter than to acknowledge that openly, and we hadn’t gotten the opportunity to speak away from prying ears. Between my father’s demands and the wedding itself, there had been time for little else.
“What does that mean for us?” Her brow furrowed in concern, and I finally forced myself to set her down so we could have this conversation, because holding her was not conducive to anything remotely productive—other than the obvious, which we’d already determined we didn’t currently have enough time for.
“It means that there’s a chance this won’t stand,” I explained. “A chance I plan on actively pursuing, but since my fatherdidsign, we have to make some pretense of...obeisance.”
Rowan nodded, lips twisting in distaste. “So, bowing and Your Majesty-ing?”
My sentiments mirrored hers exactly. “Unfortunately.”
“Well, it’s a good thing we’re both so good at pretending.” She smirked.
As much as I appreciated her attempt at levity, she was in no way good at pretending to possess even the barest semblance of demureness.
“Indeed.” Doubt filled my tone, so I moved on. “Speaking of which, it’s important that my father not understand that there is...actual affection between us.”
The word felt both too flowery and too simple to explain my relationship with Rowan, but she seemed to understand, without offense, nonetheless.
She raised her eyebrows. “Why?”
I heard the echo of my father’s voice as he described in vivid detail all the ways he wanted to destroy her family, the ends he thought I was working toward as well. I should have expected her to question this, but explaining the finer points of how I manipulated my father would have taken more time than we had, not to mention that it was a grim undertaking for our first conversation in months.
Ultimately, I decided on a simpler truth to give her. “It’s best if he believes he has control of a situation.”
Of course, his wasn’t the only opinion we had to concern ourselves with.
“For that matter, the dukes tend to pounce on any perceived weakness as well,” I told her. “Things will be easier if they believe this is nothing more than a political alliance.”
She let out a breath, leaning her head back against the wall. “Ah, yes, the dukes. Well, we’re in this together now, so I suppose I should do my part. Shall I assume it would be prudent for me to dance with all of them, as I did at the Summit?”
An unwanted image of her clinging to Korhonan at the ball in Lochlann came to my mind, and I scowled. “You don’t have to dance withallof them.”
She tilted her head before huffing out a short laugh. “Jealousy, Evander? On our wedding day?”
“You know I don’t like other people to touch what’s mine.”Especially not when those people try to claim my lemmikki for themselves.
“I’m sure there are points to be made.” She shook her head like I was being shortsighted, which was comical, all things considered.
“You’ve made a hell of a point already,” I couldn’t help but remind her, my gaze sweeping purposefully over her gown.
She shrugged. “They were calling me the Lochlannian whore, regardless. Now that they know how little I care, maybe they’ll find something more interesting to talk about.”
The rage that had moved up to live closer to the surface of my soul than usual lately flared in full force. Perhaps I wouldn’t mind adding to the bloodshed of the past few weeks, after all.
“Rest assured, Lemmikki, they weren’t saying it where I could hear it,” I bit out.
She ran her hands up and down my arms. “The dances…”
“Yes,” I relented with a sigh. “It would beprudentto dance with the dukes, but this won’t be like the Summit. If a single one of them puts their hands where you don’t want them, it will be completely within my rights to end them. A right I will take full advantage of, with pleasure.”
Her eyes flashed with vengeance. “Well then, we can hope Mikhail struggles to control himself.”
In spite of everything, a grin tugged at my lips. Life hadn’t been precisely boring without her, but it had certainly been darker.
“One can dream.”