Page 30 of The Forgotten Queen
“There must be something really fascinating down there.” It wasn’t Marx’s most charming line, but he wasn’t trying to win her over. Technically, he’d already won. The wedding was in less than a half-hour.
The woman whipped around, and instantly her dark eyes widened. “It’s you.” An element of surprise filled her voice, the same surprise that made his own heart skip a beat. “What are you doing here?”
Shewas Miss Hasler?
Marx was supposed to marryher?
His eyes glided across her face and down the length of her body. Two days ago at the beach, she’d been beautiful, albeit wet. But today, with a little help from everything the castle could offer, she looked absolutely stunning. Light makeup had been added to her eyes and lips, complementing her olive skin. Her hair was shiny and perfectly straight. The white silk dress she wore skimmed over her body in a way that seemed unfair to every other woman out there.
Her eyebrows lifted as if she was contemplating whether he was mute. Marx cleared his throat, trying to kick himself out of whatever weird gawking trance she’d put him in. “What am I doing here?” he said, repeating her question. “I live here.” Wasn’t it obvious? She’d been expecting the king, and now Marx was there.
“Oh.”
“What areyoudoing here?” he asked, even though the situation already made sense to him.
“I don’t really know what I’m doing here.” She lifted her shoulders. “I mean, I guess I’m here waiting for King Marx.”
He nodded, slowly walking toward her. Clearly, she hadn’t put together that he was the king. Maybe it was his dirty clothes that had thrown her off. “What business do you have with the king?” He should probably tell her who he was, but for some reason, he liked keeping this secret, even though it would only last for twenty-six more minutes.
“Right now, my only business with the king is to tell him what I think about his stupid aquarium.” Her eyes darted to the window.
“Right.” Marx placed his hands in his pockets, standing beside her in front of the window. “Are we back on the aquarium thing again?” It would be a long and painful marriage if this girl didn’t have something more to talk about besides fish and sea turtles.
“Yes, we are.” Her back straightened—good posture had never looked sogood.“This aquarium is completely unacceptable, and I plan on letting the king know how I feel about it as soon as I see him.”
He wasn’t about to tell her who he was now.
She turned to face him. “I’m supposed to be meeting the king here, but he hasn’t shown up.”
“Maybe he’s too scared to come because he knows you’re going to let him have it for his aquarium.”
She pursed her lips together, trying to hide her small smile. “No, I’m going to let him have it for not meeting me.”
“I’m sure he has a good reason,” Marx said, defending himself.
She smoothed her dress. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t need to meet him to know what kind of a man he is. I’ve already heard all about him.”
The air escaped Marx’s chest. He’d liked being the good guy with her. The guy that rescued animals and rendered thanks. The other night at the beach, she’d seen the real him, but now that would all be tainted.
“Well, it was good to see you again.” He turned to go. There was no reason to stay and convince Miss Hasler he wasn’t as bad as everyone else had made him seem.
“Where are you going?” she asked, taking a step after him.
“I have somewhere important I need to be.” He didn’t want to be late for his wedding.
“I suppose I’ll see you around, then.” She smiled. “I’m Sydria, by the way.”
Sydria Hasler, my soon-to-be wife. Yes, I got the memo.
“I didn’t catch your name.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t offer it.” Then he ducked out of the room before he had to actually tell her who he was.
Marx walked down the hall, disappointed by how things had ended with her. He couldn’t believe that the woman he’d seen on the rocks by the beach the other day was the same woman his father wanted him to marry. His father had said that he’d thank him someday for the arranged marriage. He must have been proud of the striking bride he’d bargained for on his son’s behalf—as if that was all Marx cared about. But there was more to it than that. Something about the girl and the situation didn’t add up. His father had alluded to the fact that his bride would put Cristole in a power position with the Council of Essentials, but Marx had a hard time believing that Sydria Hasler had anything to do with the Council of Essentials. Besides her beauty, she seemed so innocent and fragile—not someone his father would be excited about. He didn’t know what Meldrum McKane was up to, but he planned to get to the bottom of it.
10
Sydria
