Page 83 of The Crown of a Fallen Queen
“What about him?” I shoot back.
Percy shakes his head like I’m being a difficult child, and he doesn’t know what to do with me anymore. It soothes my nerves that he was able to talk to Seth so quickly, but my fiancé not being in mortal danger doesn’t change the fact that the quickestway through his cousin’s citadel is probably to buy Alaric off with a one-night-stand.
I used to be above such machinations. As an idealistic kid, I never used my magic or my body or a combination of the two to win favor or get myself out of a bind. I was always being pursued by the wrong men, and so I vowed that I’d never marry for duty, never lay with someone I didn’t choose. Then, I lost everything and got banished, without money or magic, to a different world at a time where women had very little rights.
I’m not that kid anymore, but my stomach is iffy about the mere idea of seducing Alaric Rayne.
I’ve been with plenty of dangerous men.
In fact, I usually prefer them as far as flings go. Even Seth fits that description, his bad boy persona probably to blame for all my indiscretions. There’s no real love between us, and our engagement is only for show.
Sleeping with Alaric in exchange for our freedom might be the easiest play.
So why do I feel so queasy? Why is my heart beating so furiously?
“What’s the story between Alaric and Seth? Did he tell you?” I murmur, the sickness in my belly taking on a life of its own.
“Unfortunately, I had to leave before he could say more.”
I bite my bottom lip and check myself in the hand mirror, adjusting a few loose braids.
“Will you promise not to do anything rash? There’ll be time to seduce the warden tomorrow—once we’ve exhausted our options,” Percy negotiates.
“I’ve never known you to be so judgmental about whom I fuck.”
“It depends. Are you only considering it because you want to punish Seth?” His mouth curls down, and I know he’sdisappointed in my answer. “If you sleep with Alaric tonight, you’ll only hurt yourself.”
“I’m a big girl.”
“Are you still lying to yourself about how you feel about him?”
My mouth opens in outrage. “Percival Arthur Batten!”
The nosy, overbearing meddler… Ever since Seth saved me from that end-all blade, and again on the cliffs, it’s been one allusion after another, but this takes the cake.
“I’m off. Be good,” he says in a pointed manner, warning me off myself.
He slips through the glass and flies off into the stormy night, leaving behind a knot in my stomach the size of a moon.
Misplaced loyalty grates on my nerves, as though some part of me actually bought into the whole engagement lie. It’s preposterous, because I never had any real intent to marry Seth.
Right?
I might have briefly imagined what it would be like, but I’d already decided it wouldn’t happen back in Inverness. Maybe the quickest way to burn through this tangle of impetuous feelings, would be to fuck Alaric’s brains out tonight.
And I’ve got half a mind to do it just to shut Percy up.
Chapter 25
A Simple Favor
DEVI
The citadel’s dining hall is a cathedral of shadows.
Vaulted arches stretch toward a high, concrete ceiling. Chandeliers dangle from heavy metal chains, the flames cradled inside geodesic crystal cages. Long windows line the far wall, showing off dark skies slashed by lightning.
A long obsidian table dominates the center of the room, veins of lyranthium zigzagging across its surface. Two lines of high-backed chairs dressed in gray velvet flank both sides. The table could host thirty, yet only two places are set, while the rest of the enormous table remains empty and silent. Alaric stares at me with one hand tucked beneath his chin from his lonely seat at the end.
