Page 41 of King of Lies
“Promise me,” I whisper.
“Anything.”
“Promise me that if it all becomes too much, you’ll let me go home.”
“Hen—” he says, his body stiffening. Rhys wasn’t planning on my sneak attack.
“Promise.”
“I’ll no’ let you go.”
“You have to,” I say quickly. “If it becomes too much—”
“It won’t.”
“But if it does and I can’t take it—”
“It won’t,” he says. “I won’t let it.”
“I know that. But if it does, promise me that you’ll let me go.”
“It’s not going to happen.”
“I know, Rhys,” I say. “I know. But on the outside chance that it does, I need to know that I’ll be free to go home.”
“You are home, Hen.”
“I know, but if it becomes not my home. You have to see that tonight was not good until you made it good,” I tell him. “What if you can’t protect me?”
“I will.”
“But what if you can’t?” I ask. “I need you to promise me.”
“Aye,” he says. “Then I promise you. But it won’t come to that. I won’t let it.”
“Okay.”
“Do I need to show you again?” he asks, still connected to me from before.
“No,” I say, and he begins to gently slide in and out of my body. “Maybe …”
And then for the first time since Rhys made his own promise, he smiles.
Chapter 18
Official
“You’re going to be a lovely bride,” the hair stylist says as she wraps another lock of my hair around a roller after uncoiling it from the curling iron.
“Thank you,” I mumble.
“I mean look at all this hair,” she says. “It is positively gorgeous. What are you thinking for your wedding day? Classic updo?”
“I honestly have no idea,” I reply. “It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind.”
“That’s utterly romantic,” the clothing stylist says. She’s practically swooning as she pairs jewelry with outfits for the day. A palace aide with a clipboard is micromanaging us all within an inch of our lives and I’m starting to feel a bit panicked.
“It really is,” the palace aide says from her spot in the corner of the room, shocking us all. All three of us sit frozen with our jaws hanging open. “What? It is.”
