Page 70 of Onyx Cage: Volume II
She had sent him home before she ever even saw me. There had been condescension in her features when she told me she had already made her decision, like it should have been obvious.
For the reasons she had just listed? Or for the same reason I would have staked my clan on keeping her out of Korhonan’s hands?And his bed.
My heart beat furiously in my chest, like it was still half convinced that she would take the words back in the next breath. Instead, she doubled down.
“So,” she went on, “I accept Lord Evander’s proposal, assuming he is still amenable to that.”
A weight lifted from my chest. Whatever else we were or would be to each other, she wasn’t marrying Korhonan—or anyone else. She would belong to me now under the laws of both her kingdom and mine.
And though her words were outwardly formal, there was a taunt as well. Another challenge I couldn’t help but rise to.
These games were easy. I could play them in my sleep, as long as I knew she was still mine.
Amenable is not the word I would use, Lemmikki.
A smirk tugged at my features, fighting past the questions still racing through my mind.
“If you’re willing to make sacrifices for the sake of your people, then I could hardly refuse to do the same,” I told her in a casual tone, though my pulse still raced just a little too quickly.
“Have you decided whether you will return to Lochlann, then?” Laird MacBay asked her.
She raised her eyebrows at me, daring me to answer. Something in the expression made me wonder if she had ever really planned to stay here, but if she expected me to beg her to return to danger, she could think again. Especially after her very vocal feelings on my protection the night before.
I returned her expression with a challenge of my own.
If she wanted to live in Socair, she could damned well admit that in front of her council.
She clenched her jaw, giving me a false saccharine smile. “As much as I would love to make that decision, I’m afraid I couldn’t possibly know my own mind well enough to know what to do.Thank the stars I have a big, strong, Socairan man in the room to tell me what’s best, though. Lord Evander?”
Oliver barely suppressed a laugh, while the king sighed quietly. I refrained from pointing out that she was here, alive and well, because of the decisions she resented so much.
“Ordinarily, I would be happy to oblige your...needs.” I let that dangle in the air, taking more than a little pleasure at the flush that rose in her cheeks. “But I couldn’t possibly think of making this decision for you, even if I did know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was making the right one.”
Her eyes glinted, the blush in her cheeks deepening as she sucked in a breath to respond.
Queen Charlotte’s voice rang out first, though, sounding more like an exasperated parent than a queen.
“It doesn’t have to be decided today,” she placated. “Let’s just get through announcing it at the festival tomorrow first.”
Oliver cleared his throat. “You will need to put on a convincing show for the people, though. They are most certainly going to balk at this arrangement, and we need their support for this alliance.”
“That won’t be a problem,” I assured him, my eyes never leaving Rowan’s. “We’re both good at pretending.”
Wasn’t that what she had told me at the cabin? It hadn’t felt true then, and I wasn’t sure it did now, either.
“Are we?” she fired back, just as I had then.
Was she wondering the same thing I had been?
Are we pretending? Are we good at it?
If we were putting on a pretense, I wasn’t sure I knew what the truth was. Maybe she didn’t either. Maybe that had always been our problem.
CHAPTER THIRTY
As soon as the word “wedding” left the queen’s lips, the lairds cleared out of the room. Avani as well, though she squeezed her sister’s arm on the way out.
Guilt crept across Rowan’s features, and several concerned sets of eyes followed Avani out the door.