Page 6 of Deadwood
His eyes darted down to my parted lips, then back up to my eyes, pinning me with twin sapphires. “A princess who steals. Would you look at that?” He hummed. “Not very well-behaved, are you?”
I hesitated, and I fucking hated that I did, because hesitation showed weakness, and I wasnotweak. He sounded exactly like my fucking father, and I wouldn’t let yet another man make me feel this way. Turning on my heel, I strode for the doors, trying my best not to show that he had riled me.
“Enjoy your engagement party,” the man called after me, causing my blood to boil. He shouldn’t have this godsdamned effect on me, getting under my skin so easily. I was falling into whatever trap he had laid by letting him frustrate me further, just like he presumably wanted.
I hesitated with the door cracked, my hand gripped on the brass handle. “You, too,” I replied with the sweetest tone I could muster, and with a glance back, I caught his lips pursing together, giving the slightest indication that he, indeed, would not be enjoying it.
Maybe parties weren’t his thing either.
I left the man standing there, heading back inside to the last place I wanted to be tonight.
CHAPTER 3
The musty air in the room instantly sucked the cold from my skin, causing my palms to clam up. After a poor attempt to wipe them on my dress, I spotted Taylin searching the room, presumably trying to find me.
Shoving through the crowd of warm bodies and drunken dancing, I reached her, wrapping a hand around her wrist. Pulling her over to the wall, right below a massive painting of the hills that housed our barren mines, I dropped her arm.
“Did you know?” Taylin asked immediately.
I shook my head, giving myself a moment to catch my breath. “I had no idea. I don’t even know who Lander is.” Which only infuriated me more. My father used me like a pawn in his game of chess, and I had no choice but to play along.
“He’s not here,” Taylin said, confusion and frustration on my behalf marring her face. “I searched the entire crowd trying to find you after your father’s speech, and not once did I see him.”
“I know. His father admitted he wasn’t here.” I turned my attention to the crowd. Women’s dresses swayed and men laughed as everyone but me was clearly enjoying their evening.
Well, maybe me and the man outside.
There was only one reason someone would step out of a party.
I subtly shook my head, clearing my thoughts of the man. He wasn’t important right now. Turning back to Taylin, I asked, “You know what he looks like?” I knew his last name, but I’d never met a Lander. I would’ve remembered if I was introduced to my future husband. He should’ve at least made a lasting impression. Well, I hoped.
“I know you’re kind of a homebody, Auria, but no one would miss him. He’s handsome. Blond hair, a dashing smile, beautifully tan skin, bright hazel eyes. He’s been waltzing about Silicate for a few days now. That is, when he’s not holed up in one of the gambling dens.”
I tried not to roll my eyes at her explanation of him. I didn’t want to hear about how beautiful he might look. Charming or not, it wouldn’t lighten my reality.
My father rarely let me outside to see Taylin, and he sure as hell didn’t let me go frolic around in the city, meeting boys of all ages and sizes, and that was for one reason. I was needed here. He always told me it was for my own safety. That if I was let out and didn’t know how to handle myself, I could get hurt.
But I’d found that pain wasn’t just a possibility from outside of these walls.
It came from inside, too.
“I don’t care about his looks.” Not that I should give a damn about that anyway. Regardless of if he was some egg of a man, it wouldn’t have stopped my father from setting me up with him for his own political gain.
He told me long ago to give up hopes of ever finding love. His words: it’s impossible to find it true anymore—might as well not waste my time and dream of it to begin with. Which was why I guessed he’d moved on so quickly after my mother’s death. She died when I was just barely four years old, so I only had small memories of her, but even with that, she never truly seemed happy. Anytime I tried to ask about her in the years since, I was shut down by my father, so I eventually stopped bothering. All I knew of her death was that she was extremely ill before she passed.
I was never told the reason in the end.
“I suppose it makes sense he’s not here. People say he’s more of a gambler than a respectable prince,” Taylin added.
“A gambler?” Why in the hell would my father set me up with a gambler?
Taylin nodded. “He’s probably off blowing coin or magic, letting loose since he’s away from home. A lot of people in Silicate get lost in stuff like that. Can be quite dangerous, I’ve heard.”
Amosite was the richest kingdom in all of Serpentine, despite the mines having been shut down long ago. My magic was the reason we stayed afloat. The entire kingdom counted on me, which was why I couldn’t wrap my head around him marrying me off to another kingdom. Marrying wasn’t some kind of small agreement that didn’t change lives. My father would never risk losing me, so why?
“What a coward,” I sneered under my breath.
“Took the words right from my mouth,” Taylin agreed. “I wonder if he knows?”
