Page 160 of A War of Crowns

“Deign?” Tiberius couldn’t help but echo as his steps scraped to a pause again. “Deign?”

Whipping about, he glared Lord Bennett down and pointed out to him, “The only reason your father has sent you out here to try to lure me to Coreto in the first place is because he needs me.”

That certainly lured a sour pucker to Bennett’s lips.

But Tiberius was all too happy to reiterate the point when he all but shouted into the unfortunately cold air, “Heneedsme.”

He couldn’t help but laugh when the Duke of Coreto’s spare looked away, suddenly unable to meet his gaze. “Nothing to say, Bennett?” he taunted. “Because I’m right! And there we have it. The great Duke of Coreto himself is crawling to a Beaumont for a favor.”

Tiberius indulged in another bitter little laugh. “What is it then, hmm? What does your father need from me? A loan? Speak up, Bennett! I don’t have all day. Is he off shopping for mercenaries? Or a new wardrobe, perhaps?”

Again, Tiberius crinkled his nose and gave Lord Bennett a swift once-over. “Because black isnota universally flattering color, as you all seem to believe, I am afraid to say—”

“Ships,” Lord Bennett bit out. Sliding a reluctant look back his way, he finished, “My father needs your ships.”

“My ships?” Tiberius repeated. All the bitter amusement drained from him, like water pouring from a toppled cup. Wetting his lips, he glanced away. “Your father wants…myships?”

The absurdity of it all was almost too much to bear.

“Well, the Beaumont Trading Company isnotfor sale,” Tiberius declared as his gaze cut back toward Bennett at last. “My ships, indeed.Myships? Please, Bennett. Your father couldn’taffordmy ships, even if they werefor sale.”

Lord Bennett spanned the distance between them in the matter of a few brisk steps so he might hiss to Tiberius, “My father doesn’t wish to buy your ships, you idiot. He wishes to conscript them.”

And there it was.Treason.

Tiberius expelled a humorless breath of his own and met Lord Bennett’s gaze. “Then your father is a fool. Surely, he must realize I will always choose Her Majesty over him.”

Bennett’s lips twisted into a frown. “Yes, and how much longer will she be choosing you over the Crow, do you think?”

Tiberius jerked away and continued on through the forest.

He didn’t have to stand there and listen to such drivel.

But Bennett pursued him that time, taunting all the while, “How much longer do you think you’ll even have a place at court once he is king? Do you truly think he won’t have the man rumored to have been bedding his wife all these years executed?”

Tiberius shot a venomous look at Bennett over his shoulder and snarled, “If this is your attempt to win me over to your father’s side, then he should have sent a toad, because the toad would have been more charismatic.”

“It’s true, then,” Bennett abruptly laughed, drawing Tiberius to a halt yet again.

Those words most certainly weren’t a suitable reply to the insult he had just leveled at his dour peer.

“What’s true?” Tiberius demanded.

“You love her, don’t you? Truly?” Again, Lord Bennett laughed. That time, he even swiped a finger against the corner of his eye.

Tiberius’s already failing mood darkened further at the sight.

“Father and I always did wonder, you know. He was certain it was all just a ruse, but you…” Bennett shook his head one last time and leveled a pitying look Tiberius’s way. “By the Lady, Crestley. Howsad. Tell me something: do you pay the women at the brothel to let you call them Seraphina when you visit? Is that something one must pay extra for? Or is that sort of thing simply included in their usual rates? I wouldn’t know, since I—”

Whatever the Duke of Coreto’s second-born was about to say would forever be a mystery to Tiberius, given that he simply walked over and punched the words right out of the other man’s mouth.

“Be silent!” Tiberius shouted down to Lord Bennett where the weak coward had crumpled at his feet from the sheer force of the blow.

Tiberius drank in a deep breath. He let the cool air sear his lungs. And then he pasted a smile onto his lips. “Do give my best to your father for me, won’t you, dear Bennett? Assuming the queen’s guards don’t have you both seized the moment I finish telling Her Majesty all about your treasonous little plans, of course—”

“I have a sister,” Lord Bennett suddenly mumbled up at him around now wounded lips, cutting Tiberius off mid-sentence with that seemingly nonsensical utterance.

Blinking rapidly, Tiberius stared at the other man for a small eternity before he asked, “What? What did you say?”

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