Page 66 of The War and Deceit Series omnibus

Well, she’s welcome to him, I want nothing to do with the royals.Glancing at the man attached to my arm, I change my mind.Other than Jacob.

“Starting tomorrow, we will begin the quest to find his queen. All noble ladies will be screened, and those deemed suitable will go through to the next round.” Nervous excitement fills the room as the ladies start animatedly chatting amongst themselves, but the king isn’t finished. “Not attending your screening is signing your death warrant, so don’t disappoint me.” The king stares directly at us as he speaks, and I know this is aimed at me. My stomach drops and I feel like I’m going to vomit.

“Can we leave now? Please?” I request quietly, but that doesn’t hide the catch in my voice. Jacob looks at me with concern as he tightens his hold on my arm and leads me from the room. People are watching us, I can feel their stares, trying to work out if I’minvolvedwith the prince, or if he’s just assisting me, but I can’t deal with them right now.

So, with what feels like the whole hall observing us, I walk into the corridor with the son of my enemy.

As soon as we leave the hall and enter the corridor, there’s a noticeable difference in the temperature, and I sigh gratefully at the coolness in the air. This part of the castle has windows, unlike some of the hallways in the older part of the castle. Now that we’re out of sight, we allow our steps to slow, which I’m grateful for. I’m still getting used to walking in shoes, and even though Jayne found me some flat ones that matched my dress, they still rub.

“I’m sorry.”

The words take me by surprise, and I frown as I turn to look at the prince. I almost don’t recognise him. Something has changed, and while I don’t blame him, I mourn the innocent happiness that he had. His life as the youngest of three royal sons shielded him from a lot of the harder parts of existence.

“What do you have to be sorry for?” I ask softly, but he answers me with another question, his eyes hardening.

“Were you there yesterday? I went looking for you, but I couldn’t find you,” he queries, and I bite down on my lip before I can stop myself. Hopefully, he takes that as a sign that I’mnervous after yesterday rather than the fact that I don’t know how to answer him. Iwasthere yesterday, but he wouldn’t, and he obviouslydidn’trecognise me without my blonde hair. Seeing my indecision, he pulls me over to an alcove and raises a hand to my face, tracing a finger over my abused lip that I’m still biting. “I was worried that…”

“I was there, but I got away pretty quickly,” I reply, feeling awful about lying to him, but I can’t tell him the truth about me, especially not now.

“So, you saw what happened then.” It’s not a question. I simply nod, reaching out and taking his hand, squeezing it gently. His gaze locks on our intertwined fingers, something about them making him pause before he rubs his thumb over my fingers.

“I’m sorry about your mother,” I murmur, and I mean it, but his reaction isn’t what I would have expected.

His head jerks up, scanning the corridor around us to see if we’ve been followed, but we are alone. When he looks back at me, his expression is furious, and I automatically flinch away from him. Faces like that always meant bad news as a slave, and the action was ingrained within me. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem to notice.

“You need to be careful. That could be taken as treason!” he practically shouts, and I take a step back, releasing his hand as my back presses against the stone of the arched alcove. He doesn’t seem to notice or care that he’s scaring me. The anger that dwells in me flares at the threat, running through my veins and hardening my thoughts as a tingling sensation starts to build up along my skin, growing with each second.

What are you doing? This is Jacob! He’s not a threat!I tell myself, taking a couple of deep breaths, trying to push that anger down.

“If you say that to anyone else, you will be executed!” He laughs, but there’s no humour in it. Taking a step back from me, he turns away, running his hands through his hair. I use the opportunity to move away from the wall and out into the corridor, putting a little more space between us. “That’s the worst thing about this,” he continues, seemingly oblivious to the fact that people are starting to leave the great hall, their curious gazes running over us, their footsteps slowing so they can try and hear our conversation.

“I can’t even mourn my mother, because she was ‘tainted by evil.’ I’m supposed to be glad that she was executed before she infected anyone else.Glad.” Although his voice is quiet, he’s getting louder the angrier he gets. If his father hears him… I don’t even want to contemplate what could happen. If the king can kill his wife without any thought, I wouldn’t put it past him to try and hurt his son.

“Jacob,” I call to get his attention, his wild, grief-stricken eyes finally meeting mine. I immediately feel awful about thinking badly of him.

This is Jacob, he wouldn’t hurt me. Would he?I push my doubt away and close the distance between us, holding out my hand to him.

“Let’s go somewhere quieter.”

He stares at my hand for a moment before following it up to my face, looking at me like I’m offering him a lifeline. Taking my hand, he gives me a small, gentle smile that breaks my heart, like I’m the only person to offer him any sort of comfort.

“I know a place,” he says, linking my arm with his as he starts to lead me down the corridors.

It’s much busier now, with people milling about after the meal, and groups of nobles huddling together and discussing everything that happened in the hall. I can’t believe some of the things I hear as we walk past them. It’s like they’ve completelyforgotten what happened yesterday, or that they’ve all been blindly brainwashed. Am I the only person to see yesterday for what it was? A slaughter? I don’t believe that the queen was ‘tainted,’ and the feeling in my gut is telling me I’m right. I’ve seen the looks the king used to give her when he thought no one was looking, and it was no secret that the queen had still mourned her lost love.

A memory flashes up in my mind of the time I walked into the courtyard and saw her discussing something with Tor. I hadn’t heard much of what they were discussing, but guards were about to enter the courtyard, and I had thisfeelingthat they needed to be warned. As soon as I raised the alarm, the queen had quickly disappeared. I still don’t know what had been going on there, and I doubt I ever will, not now that Tor and his people had left.

I wonder if I’ll ever see him again,I muse as we walk in silence. I suppose I shouldn’t be thinking of one man while I’m with another, but I have a different, more platonic feeling around Jacob, unlike the desperate pull I feel towards Grayson, Vaeril, and Tor. He’s handsome and kind, not to mention a prince.Most women would be delighted to have the attention of a prince,I think, glancing across at the man in question.Does that mean I don’t want his attention? No, it’s not that. I like spending time with him, I think we could be close, but not in the way he hopes. Besides, I suppose I’m not ‘most’ women.I’m jumping way ahead of myself. I don’t know what Jacob or any of the others think of me. I know Grayson cares for me, but I’m still not sure in what capacity. There is an undeniable draw towards him, and I have a connection with Vaeril and Tor too, but I’m not sure why. Shaking my head at the direction my thoughts are going, I try to focus on the here and now and making it through another day alive.

I realise where we’re going as we enter one of the smaller corridors that would lead us away from the crowds, and sure enough, we walk out into the Queen’s Courtyard—the last place I saw her alive. Jacob is silent as we walk around the square. We can’t go far, it’s boxed in with castle walls on two sides and an archway entrance on each end leading back into the castle, but it’s a quiet, outside space. He leads me over to one of the benches that are placed around each fountain, and we take a seat.

Leaning my head back, I look at the sky, the clouds floating past. The sounds of the gentle fountains are soothing, and if I close my eyes, I can almost pretend that I’m somewhere else,someoneelse.

“I want to kill him.”

I whip my head to the side to look at Jacob, my eyes wide at his statement. Glancing around, I pray that no one overhears. Thankfully, the courtyard is empty, but there are listening ears everywhere. I turn my attention back to the prince, but he’s staring up at the sky.

“Jacob, you can’t say things like that,” I warn a hushed voice, placing a hand on his arm. He never said who it was that he wants to kill, but I know who he’s talking about—the king. “Didn’t you just tell me that talk like that would be considered treason?” Voice low, I know I need to get through to him. “You could be killed if anyone hears you, just like your mother.”

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