Page 98 of Carry Your Debt

An ice pick lobotomy for this headache.

For a Horseman not to answer my riddle with another fucking riddle.

“Looking to join your friend, Zoe?” I ask pointedly, glancing at the shower and channeling all of the cool disdain I’ve borne over the years as Sebastian’s ward. “Because I’m happy to make that happen for you.”

Sloane’s answering look is just as icy.

“No? Just hoping to darken my doorstep one last time before Papa Smiley ships you off, then?” I prompt, hoping she’ll get to the fucking point soon so I can get these clothes off my clammy skin.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she snaps.

Ouch. Sore spot.

“Oh? He’s decided to let you finish school after all? Thought for sure the moment the roster went out he’d have his baby girl dressed in bridal white faster than you can saythe Green Knight.”

Something flickers behind her eyes.Fear, maybe.Guilt?

“Sloane Reilly really does have a nice ring to it, don’t you think?” I ask her sweetly.

But then the hint of trepidation is gone and she’s lifting her chin.

“He tried,” she shoots with an acidic smirk.

“And I suppose you said—no thanks, Daddy, I’ll pass—and he agreed, just like that?”

No way her father rolled over on this. The Reilly brothers already looked like the Irish mobsters who got the cream.

“I havesome fuckingstandards. I’m not going to just settle for a Family who can’t even secure a dead man’s estate, let alone a Crown.”

My eyebrows flick up at her outburst. Her composure’s all over the place.

Her pretty cheeks do have the decency to pink up. “Besides, I’m alreadyspoken for,” she states through gritted teeth.

The way she says that has my blood running cold.

“Spoken for how?”

But suddenly she can’t hold my gaze, and my eyes instantly narrow. So much for thatimperatrixspine I was just giving her so much credit for.

“Spoken for…how?” I repeat.

“I’m pregnant,” she mutters, still not looking me in the eye.

Jesus, I think my eyelids might have slipped over the back of my eyes. I was expecting clandestine engagements with Northern barons or plans to join the Maenads and swear off marriage completely.

I guess that explains the drawn features and high mood.

Hormones.

“Right, because what Sovereign wants somebody else’s bastard as his firstborn son?” I drawl, the shock of her confession still prickling my veins.

Her eyes finally flick back to mine then and they’re full of venom.

Ah, there it is.There’s that spine.

“Nota bastard—his father promised we’d be married before the birth,” she snarls. But then again, her gaze slides off mine, and suddenly, I need answers more than I need to blink.

To breathe.

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