Page 22 of Deadwood
“You may be excused so the men can talk,” he ordered.
Ah, so that’s why he’d pretended to care.
I assumed the queens would soon go to the tea room to have a drink, but I wouldn’t be invited.
I nodded, lowering my chin. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
I was about to turn to head for the doors when Bowen came up beside me and my father, his hands held casually behind his back. “A wonderful meal, King Tenere.”
My father’s jaw twitched as he pasted on a very clearly forced closed-lip smile. “Yes. Like I said, I owe it all to my chefs.”
Bowen looked down at me, and I quickly averted my eyes to the chair as if it was the most interesting piece of furniture in the room. “I wanted to personally congratulate Auria on her engagement. I haven’t had the chance yet.”
I couldn’t help that my focus spun back to him. He’d already congratulated me. Although not in the most pleasant way, he still had.
“Thank you,” I said quietly.
“She’s very happy with the arrangement,” my father added, as if Bowen would care if I truly was or not.
“Is she.” It came out more like a statement than a question as he studied my response. “You’ll miss your daughter, though, won’t you?” His attention turned back to my father. “When she’s off with him?”
My father’s teeth ground together, the action evident in the way his jaw flexed. “She will not be living with him.”
A crease formed between my brows as my eyes shot to my father.
How could I not live with myhusband? Though I’d been curious what my father’s plan was for that all along, I hadn’t had the chance to ask him. He likely wouldn’t have given me an answer, even if I had.
Bowen must have had the same thought. “Interesting marriage, then.”
My father was quite a few inches shorter than Bowen, yet he tried his best to look as built and lethal as him. “It is what she wanted,” my father defended, sounding too bold for his statement not being even slightly true.
I wasn’t sure how he could lie so easily about words I hadn’t spoken or arrangements I hadn’t agreed to right in front of me, as if his words simply spoke it into existence and I had no feelings of my own.
“And Auria,” Bowen started, his ice-filled eyes directed at me again, “how do you feel about this marriage?”
If my father wasn’t irate before, he sure was now.
I didn’t have a say in any of it, and Bowen was giving me the opportunity to speak up.
But I couldn’t. Not in front of my father.
I knew what would happen if I did.
I pasted on a small smile, my cheeks straining at the effort. “I’m excited for my trip.”
At least that much was true.
Bowen’s eyes never left mine, and I feared he could see it all written in my own.
“Well, I must excuse my daughter. She has a big day ahead of her tomorrow, prepping for the journey.”
Bowen’s brow cocked ever so slightly, like he was challenging me to go against my father blatantly telling me to leave.
“Yes, right. Thank you for being so kind,” I told Bowen. If he was disappointed in me obeying, he didn’t show it. “I must be heading to bed now. Enjoy your evening.”
Without looking at my father, I headed for the door, feeling the burn of Bowen’s eyes on my back as I exited the room.
There was something going on between the two of them that I didn’t want to be in the middle of. Bowen was baiting my father, and I didn’t like that he was bringing me into the mix. The last thing I needed right now was my father thinking I was encouraging Bowen’s behavior or was even on his side.
