Page 87 of A Queen and HER Bad Boy
“How long will you hold that against me?” he asked softly.
“It’s not your fault,” she whispered. “I know that, but I can’t put you in that kind of danger.”
He let out a scoff. “I’m not some mindless beast that destroys everything he touches!” She’d gotten to him. His gaze moved to where her father talked with a diplomat. “Is this why he keeps Gena so close? He wants to use her against me too?”
Her head bowed. “Yes… and I don’t trust what he’ll do to her if we turn against him. My father—my father killed yours, Achilles.”
He blinked. Twice. She had to give him credit—he was like granite cliffs weathering the crashing waves as they tried totear apart his world. She suspected her face was the one giving them away, and she fought for control. “He said that?” he finally asked.
“He sent assassins, said your father deserved it after… everything.” She took a deep breath. She might as well say all of this. “He blames your father for all the deaths, his family’s, our people’s, my mother’s.” She watched for his reaction closely, seeing the pain slice through his eyes. The last thing she’d wanted was to shatter his faith in his father. In all his years living under her father’s roof, he’d clung to the hope that he was some kind of hero.
“If he was behind your mother’s death…” the anger in his voice felt like it was burning her—he was scalding himself with it and it hurt her to watch. “O Skia told me…” his voice was pained as he worked through the information. “He’d said that my father betrayed everyone… why send orders to kill O Skia before he could say more? What do theynotwant me to know?” He was still fighting this. Frustration, disbelief, and pain flickered through his gaze. “Your life is still in danger,” he said.
From him.She didn’t want to say it, but something in his expression told her that the thought crossed his mind, and he shook his head at her. “This is only a distraction to stop us from breaking free. Everyone knows this shadow government has me under their thumb if they can control you.”
“You won’t have to worry about that anymore…” She’d sever the ties between them, make the break clean and final with no possibility of return. If anything, his eyes grew more wary at her reassurance, more desperate. He spun her as the waltz swelled around them, his body moving with hers like they were always meant to be together.
“We don’t have to drag this out any longer,” she said. “We can stop pretending and just go our separate ways. It’s safer that way.”
“Are you giving up on us?” his voice turned sharp. “That’s not you. You’re a fighter. I won’t throw us away… even if it kills me.”
That’s what she was afraid of. “No! You stupid, stubborn… Captain Cod!”
Too late, she saw the dark, self-deprecating smile curve his lips. “That’s exactly what I am,” he said softly.
Of course, he’d agree with her! This was getting out of hand. Her gaze traveled across the ballroom where she spied a cruelly handsome face. The Earl was a devil, and he’d devour her soul slowly. There would be no gentleness from him, no tenderness like she’d found with Achilles. Could she really stomach that?
The music began to fade, the final notes of the waltz dying away as she turned to find Achilles watching her with an intensity that made her breath catch. The Earl would never look at her like—like what? Love? Was this truly love?
Her throat tightened as confusion crashed over her. She’d been so sure that Achilles felt nothing beyond duty for her, but new doubt crept in, which made everything infinitely worse. He was so unpredictable when his heart was involved. What made her think that she could ever control a man like him?
“Let me fix this,” he whispered. “Just give me tonight.”
“Tonight?” She hardly knew what he wanted her to agree to, but in response to his steady, unwavering gaze, she nodded. “I think…” Her father was going to lose it if he ever found out about this, “I think, yes, Achilles, I’ll give you one night.”
Relief flooded his features. He squeezed her hand. As the final chord of their song echoed through the ballroom, she tore her eyes away, scarcely believing that he’d talked her into… what? What could he possibly do? Charge into the underworld like Orpheus seeking his lost love? She broke from him then. Her skirts sliding across the polished marble as she approached the platform where her father waited with the ancient crown ofTirreoy, its weight of centuries pressing down on her before it even touched her head.
Why had she given Achilles tonight of all nights! When she’d be crowned queen and everything was slated to be perfect. She didn’t know what her father was capable of anymore—but he could very well murder them all for this!
A hand touched her arm. Subtle, possessive, experienced in not drawing attention. “My dear Princess,” the familiar, malicious voice poured over her in a sugary soup. “You look absolutely radiant tonight. Though perhaps a bit… melancholy?” Every nerve in her body recoiled. Swinging on her heel, she found herself face to face with the monster from her nightmares. He’d picked the wrong fight at the wrong time. The Earl’s handsome features were marred by an expression of bored cruelty. “Allow me to cheer you up.”
She straightened, steel replacing the fear in her spine. Achilles wasn’t the only one who could be brave, and the anger over her father’s poor treatment these past few days only fueled her. “I’m sorry, my lord, but I don’t recall asking for your help!”
His chiseled jaw lifted. “So proud, so untouchable… but will you remain so after tonight’s revelations? Your father seemed so eager for my assistance to destroy the enemies of our people…”
Had they been discussing Achilles? They wouldn’t hurt him, would they? With difficulty, she tried to keep the alarm from her face. “I’m not sure I follow your meaning?”
“Do you not? There has been talk that the Myrdons have mobilized on the Island of Aeaea. A certain political prisoner is being held there… someone your father is quite content to let rot in obscurity.”
Her blood turned to ice. “Aggie Mnon.” So that is where they’d hidden the psychopath.
The Earl neither confirmed nor denied her guess. “I told him that I would help him organize military operations in that area,put the rebels in their place, so that we don’t have another incident—I’m sure you would agree. Your brush with your cousin wasn’t pleasant, so I’ve heard.”
So, he wanted war, just like he’d hinted at the last time he’d cornered her in the library. The man was dying to stain his hands in the blood of innocent people to drill on that island. “Your father, of course, wants to show his gratitude for my cooperation,” he said. “We’ve been discussing arrangements that concernyou.”
She stiffened, her skin crawling at what sort of plans her father had made behind her back.
“I am quite pleased with our negotiations,” The Earl said.
