Page 91 of A Crown of Lies

Ewan shook his head and spat, backing up. “I can see now I was mistaken. Sorry to have disturbed you, Your Majesty.” He started walking away.

The king called after him, but Ewan didn’t stop or come back.

He sighed and lingered by the door, looking up at the moon. Lashing out had been a mistake. He shouldn’t have done that. What the hell was wrong with him? It was just hearing someone so readily insult two people he cared about without so much as hesitating… How could Ewan even think that about Ieduin? About Rixxis? Abouthim?

Whatever damage had been done, they’d been friends too long to let this come between them forever. He’d give Ewan the night to sleep it off and then make amends in the morning.

Rixxis stirred as Rowan slid back into bed. She stretched and looked over at him. “Is everything okay? I thought I heard shouting.”

He folded his hands over his chest and stared up at the dark ceiling. “Ewan and I had a…disagreement.”

“You want to talk about it?”

He shook his head. “Don’t trouble yourself over it.”

She sat up with a frown, the bed creaking. “Rowan, you promised I’d be your equal. That means no more secrets for either of us.”

He opened his eyes and looked up at her, silhouetted by the dim light of stars coming through the window. “All right then,” he said, sitting up with her. “He doesn’t approve.”

“Of what?”

“Of this.” Rowan gave a vague gesture to the bed. “Of us. He thinks I’m being foolish and selfish, and he’s not entirely wrong. The crazy thing is, I don’t care. I know I could leverage a marriage to secure a stronger match. I could sell myself for an army to crush Trinta, or to buy strength, power, riches beyond what this deal with your father will bring in. Nine hells, Rixxis, with a word to the right person in Trinta, I could’ve had Haarima-jaan herself.”

She was silent for a moment. “Why didn’t you?”

“Because I saw him dance,” he said nodding to Ieduin. “Because I saw you smile, heard you laugh. And I saw you both fight so fearlessly, so selflessly. It was like feeling the sun for the first time after a long winter. Something in me that had long ago iced over melted. Ifeltsomething. You have no idea how dark my days were until I saw you. Both of you. For so long, all I had was my grief. You gave me back the sun. How can that be wrong?”

“Rowan…”

He shook his head, swallowing the sudden tightness in his throat. “I know that’s a lot. I know this is complicated, and it’s new, and I don’t want to scare you…”

Fingers curled around his rumpled collar and pulled him forward to meet her lips. He blinked in surprise. Of all the things… He hadn’t expected her to kiss him. At least one good thing came of Ewan’s interruption. Though the kiss was brief, it was everything he hoped it would be and more.

When they parted, she held onto him. “I once crushed a man’s skull with my bare hands,” she said. “If you want to scare me, you’re going to have to do better than that.”

He sprouted a wry grin. “I can always get the flogger back out.”

Her laugh was such a rare and beautiful sound, he’d have sold every precious thing he owned to hear it, especially in that room. It bounced off the walls, loud and full and proud before he leaned in to kiss her again, this time with more heat. He kept expecting her to pull away, or stop him, or object somehow. She’d always been so guarded. But after the night before, after showing her everything that he was, maybe she was right. It would take more than that to scare her away.

He reached up to run his fingers through her hair, pulling her closer.

Ieduin suddenly groaned and rolled over, pulling a pillow over his head. “If you two are going to fuck, go do it somewhere else so I can go back to sleep.” He yelped when Rowan gave his exposed ass a swat.

“That’s enough out of you.”

Ieduin turned his head and rubbed the sting. “Not like I’m asking for much here. Just four hours a night and a little warning so I don’t get in the way.”

Rixxis was blushing so hard, her face was practically glowing in the dark. “It was just a kiss.”

“He’s male. There’s no such thing as just a kiss.” This time, before Rowan could swat him, Ieduin yanked the blankets up over his head and squirmed away.

“Ieduin does have a point,” Rowan said with a sigh. “About sleep anyway. There’s a lot to do tomorrow since we’ll be marching the day after. Better get it while you can.” He leaned over Ieduin to plant another kiss on Rixxis’s cheek. “And I owe you a proper proposal first.”

She laughed again when he tickled her arm and shoved him. “Stop. I thought we weresleeping.”

They settled back into bed, Ieduin adjusting between them so that both Rowan and Rixxis had an arm over him.

Ewan was wrong about both of them. With a little more time, he’d see. Everyone would see. Though their arrangement was unconventional, it could work. There was absolutely no reason it couldn’t if all three of them were happy.

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