Page 67 of Fragile Oath

“Would it matter if I did?” I countered.

He didn’t respond, only clutched the icy banister tighter. Suddenly, it was hard to breathe in a way that had nothing to do with the blustery winter air.

“I can leave as soon as this ridiculous farce of a trial is up,” I offered as soon as I could force words out past the lump in my throat. “But don’t throw your life away for the sake of a handful of weeks.”

Davin blew out a breath. “Like you almost threw yours away for the sake of your secrets and your pride?”

Anger flared up within me, and I latched on to the reprieve. “If you think I had an ounce of pride left after a week with Alexei, you can think again.”

He visibly winced, and I shut down, realizing that was a road I had no desire to travel. A long silence fell, punctuated only by the occasional gust of wind.

“I didn’t think,” he finally said in apology. “I don’t know what to think about anything anymore. I would ask you what happened, but you’d say it was nothing. I would ask you how you were doing, but you’d tell me you were fine. I’d ask why you’re really doing this, and you’d give me some half-arsed reasoning that only scratched the surface of the truth.”

He sighed, more tired than I had ever heard him.

“Stars, Galina, you can’t even bring yourself to tell me what kind of soup you hate.” He pushed back from the railing, putting his hands in his pocket. “But if you’re willing to do this, then I’m hardly in a position to argue with you. I suppose if we got through the last three weeks, the next three will be nothing.”

It didn’t escape my notice that he included the festival in that timeframe, and the night he asked me to marry him. I supposed that was fair, even if it killed something inside me to admit it.

“Right,” I whispered.

With one final nod, he turned to go, but he stopped just before he reached the winding staircase that led to his rooms. “Thank you, for doing this for me.”

I stood up straighter, remembering Jocelyn’s bolstering from earlier. “Thank you for coming after me.”

It was gratitude long past due, but he nodded his acceptance all the same. Then he continued down the stairs, leaving me alone on the rooftop with all the words I couldn’t bring myself to say.

ChapterThirty

DAVIN

Though it wasdark outside and felt impossibly late, I still had dinner to look forward to. With my newly fake fiancée and her bastard of an uncle, who would no doubt be even more pleasant than usual now that Galina and I were so happily engaged.

I would have given anything for my best friend and a village tavern right now, a perfect evening away from politics and murder charges and almost-fiancées.

No matter. Dinner with Mikhail was almost the same.

“You can’t honestly be upset with her for doing the same thing that you did,” Gallagher chimed in, helpfully assisting in my unpacking of all the things Galina said while we had a pre-dinner whiskey in my room.

A muscle worked in my jaw. “Yes, well…no one asked you.”

Truthfully, I hadn’t finished parsing through how I felt about any of it. I couldn’t very well be upset with her for not discussing it with me when I had intentionally avoided her the night before she was questioned. And she was right, it was the only real option.

Gallagher raised his eyebrows in an especially irritating,that’s what I thoughtway, and I glared at him.

Whether either of them was right or not, it didn’t make me look forward to the prospect of spending the next three weeks watching her pretend to want to spend the rest of our lives together. I couldn’t be sure if any of it was real, if she was going to want to stay when it was over.

If I even wanted her to.

“Are you going to give her the ring back, then?” Gwyn asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

She had been quieter since learning what Galina had done today, not nearly as vitriolic in her commentary.

My gaze drifted toward the desk in the corner of my room — specifically to the drawer where the ring was safely tucked away and had been since the day I found it with her letter.

“I’ll make sure she has a ring,” I said. “But she’s already told the lairds that one was lost.”

Gal looked at me like he knew exactly how flimsy that excuse was but didn’t push.

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