Page 28 of Queen of Ashes and Scars
I check the stoop, but Beaumont isn’t sulking outside, and I usher Arielle away from the door and deeper into the kitchen. “Are you alone? You could be in danger.” I peek at the empty street, suddenly feeling like my hometown is not so safe.
“I don’t think anyone expects me to walk about the village in broad daylight.”
“You shouldn’t have come alone.”
She removes her sunglasses and sets them on the table. “I’m not alone. I’m with you.”
Mum’s gaze bounces between us, and her eyes widen slightly, the flush of her cheeks deepening. “I’ll leave you two to talk. I started working again, and I need to open the shop, unless… I can call Franscesca and tell her you’re home.”
“No need. I need to sleep. I live at night, now,” I say.
“Of course.” She grabs her shawl on the rack and slips her feet inside her sandals but pauses abruptly in the doorway. “Can I keep you for dinner, Leo?”
I sneak a glance over to Arielle. “I’m not sure—”
“Dinner. Absolutely. He’ll be here.”
“Thank you.” She curtsies a few more times. “I’ll see you soon, Leo.”
My eyes narrow, and I clench my fists without really meaning to, a tinge of betrayal heating my chest. “You followed me.”
She nods slowly, her eyes never leaving mine. “I had to discuss something with you.”
“Couldn’t it wait?”
“No.”
The verve in her voice will not be denied, and I sit beside her at the kitchen table, our chairs facing one another.
Her blue eyes pulse with something foreign. Not doubt, exactly, nor shame, nor regret, but something equally dark and impossible to nail down. A flash of no return. “Leo, I’m getting married tonight.”
Chapter14
Set It Free
ARIELLE
The words sink in, disbelief written in the bend of Leo’s brows and the quizzical expression on his face. I skim his knuckles and watch his reaction, almost expecting him to flinch at the light touch, but he doesn’t, giving me the courage to squeeze his hand.
“I want to be Queen, Leo. I want to change things for the better, and for that, I need to marry Sebastian Chastain.”
“We just got you out of a wedding,” he grumbles unhappily, scratching the back of his skull like the math doesn’t quite add up.
I need to be more transparent, more open. “I want this. I’m doing it on my terms, forme. I want to uproot the very foundations of my court, but that can’t be done in a day, and trying to do it alone is wishful thinking. I should be able to reign in my own right. I should be able to convince the government without schemes, but I will be Queen of nothing if I’m not realistic. Sebastian Chastain and I…have history. His family is most influential, and I need him by my side to claim my throne withouttoomuch violence.”
Leo frowns at that last part, anger simmering at the surface of his words. “If you’ve already decided, why are you here?”
Here goes. If you love something, set it free…
“This whole experience has taught me something important. A monarch can’t strong arm people into being loyal to them, and though I want you at my side for what’s to come, I need you to have a choice. Some traditions will take decades to wind down, but I’m determined to be the one to put them to rest.” I meet his gaze head-on. “Starting with you.”
He opens his mouth to speak, but I beat him to the punch. I have to get it off my chest now, or I’ll change my mind and cling to him until the end of time.
“I stole you away from your family, from the people who loved you. I never saw it as an issue because tradition taught me that it was the right way to live. That it was normal. They told me you were all volunteers, but you weren’t. Not really. How many others ended up in your position? You’re a slave, Leo, and I won’t let you wither away in a life you never wanted.”
“What are you saying?” he chokes, his face whiter than it was the night I almost drained him dry.
My voice cracks, my resolve fizzling out. “I’m saying you’re no longer forced to serve me. I’m offering you freedom. No strings attached. You can have your life back or stay by my side… you can even go with Keenan…but that decision is yours and yours alone.”
