Page 74 of Enchanted Kingdom
Keir’s lips twitched as he took a drink of my champagne.
“Rude.”
He stepped in closer to me.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “Go away and flirt with the others already.”
He sighed. “But I missed you yesterday. And I don’t like knowing something is bothering you. We will talk about it later, okay?”
I shrugged. “Okay. Now can I have my drink back?”
He wrinkled his nose. “Afraid not.”
I could see his shoulders bounce with laughter as he walked away.
Molly found me after Keir left and I was so grateful for her that I reached out and hugged her immediately.
“You okay?” she asked. “Don’t get me wrong though, I love a good hug.”
I tried my best not to cry. “I’m—” I didn’t feel like lying to her face. “Just thankful for you being a good friend.”
Molly patted my back. “Don’t worry, Jorah. I’m sure Prince Keiran isn’t sending you home anytime soon.”
From over Molly’s shoulder, Prince Krewan strode into the room, looking as handsome as ever.
Was he really capable of duping his brother like this? Perhaps that was the problem, there were two different branches of the tree of evil. One was the intelligent and sly type of evil while the other was simply predictable cruelty.
I was beginning to see that intelligent, well-dressed evil was far scarier than basic evil. At least evil like the king was diluted in a sense. But a beautiful and well-educated evil? Well, that might be the worst of all. It was untainted, feral even.
Prince Krewan. Was I the only one in the room to see him for what he truly was?
* * *
The entire mealI looked at my food or Renna or Gwen. I didn’t dare look toward the table with the king and princes.
The good news was the dessert was chocolate cheesecake. Except I found I couldn’t taste it much. It must have been the shock of the last twenty-four hours or something. I mentally made a note to ask Keir for a piece sometime, some day when I wasn’t drowning in overwhelming fear.
Gwen and I were chatting at the back of the room after the meal, waiting to be dismissed, when none other than the king himself headed our way.
“May I have a word, Jorah from Nerede?”
It wasn’t like I could’ve said no or I sure as hell would have.
I bowed while biting down on my cheek so that I wouldn’t do something reckless in having to bow to this prick. “Of course, Your Grace.”
The king walked with me a few steps away from Gwen. He kept his back to the room while I had full view of it. And though I never moved my eyes from the king’s, I could already tell two princely heads were snapped in our direction. I was a little surprised the king wasn’t the one watching the room, just to see what Keir would do.
He reached out and patted my arm. “You have done well lately. I just wanted to applaud you for your efforts.”
My mouth was trying its best to find the floor. “Oh.”
He gave me a smile. Or as much of one as his face was capable of. “You look beautiful tonight. Good night.”
I bowed again, thankful for his quick exodus. “Good night, Your Grace.”
And then he was gone.
My eyes went blurry. Really? I watched Prince Krewan murder someone yesterday and today I had to deal with the king?
