Page 118 of The Prince's Mage

“Marcella, you know—” Konstantin started, but Marcella didn’t let him get far.

“I don’t care what Hypatia said,” she snapped. “I needed to see my husband and you were all talk.”

It was nice to see her obstinance directed at someone else for once.

Konstantin, however, did not seem to be as fond of her attitude. “He’s not your husband. He’s the Inimicus who abducted you in the place of Hypatia and took advantage of you. But that’s not the argument I’m here to have. Hypatia wants to see you. The raven returned half an hour ago. She will only be more difficult to manage if she starts to get suspicious of why you can’t be found. I suspect she will also let you plead your case now as to why you think this man is your husband and not your abductor.”

Gavril sighed and gently nudged Marcella. He whispered, “Go. I do not want her to hurt you for my sake. I would rather you avoid her altogether, but I suspect that would only make it worse.”

Marcella huffed but then she leaned forward and gave him one last, lingering kiss before reluctantly untangling herself from him and rising to her feet. She was halfway toward Konstantin when she turned on her heel and said, “Oh, I suppose we have to restrain him again so no one knows I was here.”

Konstantin waved her off. “I’ll handle it, go ahead. You don’t want to keep Hypatia waiting longer than necessary.”

Gavril opened his mouth to protest—he especially didn’t want Marcella to be left alone with Hypatia without someone there to force Hypatia to restrain herself—but Marcella was gone and Konstantin was approaching.

So instead, he said, “Just hurry and catch up to her before she reaches Hypatia.”

Konstantin came to a stop, hovering above Gavril. “I think not. I’m afraid I wanted to speak to you myself, and Hypatia being distracted with Marcella is perfect timing.”

Gavril started to push himself to his feet—he might not have access to his vitae, but he could still throw a right hook—but Konstantin just raised one hand and started a rune.

Gavril reluctantly lowered himself back to the ground, glaring up at him. “She should not be left alone with Hypatia.”

“But she should be left alone with you? So you can roll about in the hay with her?” Konstantin kept his half-formed rune in the air.

“Nothinguntoward has happened. It is no crime for my wife to kiss me. It was all completely innocent, as everything has been between us.” Gavril didn’t relent in his glare at the clan mage.

Konstantin raised an eyebrow. “That’s not what your soldier said before he died.”

Gavril should have killed Hirtus instead of leaving him behind after saving Marcella from Hirtus’ trap. He almost had, but hearing Marcella say his name for the first time had pulled him out of that haze so he hadn’t finished it.

“Did that soldier tell you why he was left behind in enemy territory without his voice?”

“His story was you silenced him for questioning your inappropriate behavior with Marcella and then when he let her escape from you, you beat him and left him behind,” Konstantin said, crossing his arms. “So you can see your soldier described to us a very different kind of man than the one you would have us believe you are.”

Oh, of course Hirtus would spin things like that. If he wasn’t already dead, Gavril would thrash him a second time.

“I silenced him because of his inappropriate comments about Marcella and his gossip and lies about me and Marcella, insinuating things that were by no means true. The reason he was beaten within an inch of his life when you got a hold of him was because he didn’t let her escape. He let her run into a trap he’d set for her. I shudder to think of everything he had planned, and it was a miracle I got there when I did before she was seriously harmed. His trap interfered with my attempt to let her go, and his vile talk and his attack on her meant I would not have him amongst my soldiers and warn the other soldiers not to even think of behaving similarly to him.”

That was the truth.

Konstantin laughed and reached into his pocket. “You expect me to believe that? How naïve do you think I am? That you were actually the one trying to let her go when after this you branded her with your name so she could never escape you?”

If they called the marriage band and vows a brand one more time…

Gavril took a deep breath. Peace. That was the real fight.

It would be easier if Konstantin wasn’t saying things that haunted Gavril’s nightmares. Like by speaking them, he was just confirming Gavril’s worst thoughts were true.

“Marcella ran into other soldiers after I tried letting her go, and that’s when I saw her cast two runes at the same time and that is where I made the choice to keep her so that I might be able to save thousands, and I was going to keep her safe as well while I did so.”

Konstantin said, “So you maintain every word your soldier said was a lie?”

“I maintain he twisted everything he saw or said to fit his purposes because he could not comprehend the concept of respect and treating people with dignity.”

The Montis leader pulled out the set of lily pins and clasps and held them up. “Then care to explain why you had these on you? You could only have taken these from Marcella. Did you not try to cover it up by forcing her to participate in the mockery your people make of marriage, binding yourselves to each other with vitae instead of in Asentai’s eyes?”

Ah.

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