Page 30 of Façade

“Shortly after you left for Estoria…Princess Evelyn came.”

His eyebrows rose. “The real one?”

I shook my head. “No, the decoy, only…I didn’t know she was a decoy. How was I to know?” Despair wrenched my words.

Father was silent a long moment, a silence that seemed to escalate the tension shrouding us to penetrate my despair. “Why did the decoy come? Has something happened?” Wariness filled every word.

I couldn’t answer. I could only groan.

“Ryland?” Urgency caused Father’s voice to escalate, and I finally summoned enough bravery to steal a glimpse of his expression. His face had gone pale, as if he already realized what I’d done.

“I…wanted to please you, to do the duty expected of me, so when she offered to marry now, I—“

Father’s sharp intake of breath stole the remainder of my confession. For a long moment he couldn’t speak. I couldn’t bear to look at him, so I kept my gaze steadily on the floor, staring so hard the flagstones blurred together.

“You…married…the decoy.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “I did.”

More silence, this one worse than the last. Father wasn’t the type to yell, but in this moment I would have preferred a tirade of emotion rather than this unbearable silence, for without Father’s anger there was nothing to distract me from the barrage of words I flung at myself, each attack sharp against the despair encasing me.

But he didn’t yell, he didn’t even speak…yet even in the spaces stretching between us I sensed the gravity of what I’d done. After the unbearable silence stretched beyond what I felt capable of enduring, Father stood with a weary sigh and returned to his seat. Still unable to look up, I followed the movements with my ears.

Once he’d settled he finally spoke. “So you have married the decoy.” His tone was emotionless, business-like.

Unable to make the confession again in words, I could only nod. Another uncomfortable silence followed.

“And…have you done what it takes to risk her being with child?”

Heat enfolded my cheeks. “No! She couldn’t…I mean, we haven’t…” The remainder of my strangled words clogged my dry throat and I couldn’t finish. How humiliating to be forced to make such a confession in addition to everything else. I wasn’t sure whether I was more embarrassed by the fact I hadn’t been with my wife and had to openly admit it to my father that I’d failed in that particular duty, or relieved that at least my mistake hadn’t extendedthatfar.

“That is good. It’ll make things much easier.”

My gaze shot up to finally meet his. I’d expected to find fury twisting his expression—despite it being an emotion he rarely displayed, this situation seemed grave enough to warrant the exception. But though he looked undeniably disappointed and rather tired, his tense posture had relaxed and the thin set of his mouth had softened ever so slightly. By the determination settling across his firm expression, he seemed finally ready to take the unideal situation in hand.

“How can anything about this be easy?” I asked.

“A marriage isn’t fully recognized as valid until it’s been consummated, and the fact that it hasn’t been leaves us the possibility that it can be annulled.”

“Annulled?”

At his nod, a myriad of emotions assaulted me at once—a mixture of utter relief and a sudden fierce resistance I never expected to feel.

We couldn’tannulour marriage, not when things had finally begun to improve and a tentative friendship was forming. Yet this strange reluctance was short-lived, replaced by utter relief that Evelyn and I could finally stop the game of tension and awkwardness we’d been navigating since coming together and finally end our exhausting charade.

I raised my penitent gaze. “I shouldn’t have made such an important decision without first consulting you.”

Father leaned back in his seat, more relaxed now that a potential solution had been discovered. “It’s unlike you to make such a hasty decision. What did she say to convince you?”

The memory of that day returned…along with her words that I now realized had been nothing more than a carefully laid trap. The emotions I’d experienced then were just as strong now—the despair at the thought of losing the chance to marry into such magical power, the need to prove myself, and my fierce desire for the chance to seize the seemingly only solution for the curse afflicting my kingdom.

“She told me her parents had cancelled our arrangement to instead pursue one with Thorndale. The thought of that kingdom with such power…so I acted rashly, seizing the offer she presented before we lost the opportunity to obtain the magic we’ve spent years hoping to acquire.”

He frowned. “That was very clever of the decoy; I can see why you were misled. I wonder if the king and queen suspect our true motives concerning their daughter’s magic and sent the decoy to take you out of the equation.”

Guilt at being gullible enough to fall for such a trick warred with my reluctant admission that Evelyn’s plot had been well thought out…unfortunately for us.

“Can the marriage truly be annulled?”

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