Page 97 of The King's Queen

Breathe. Inhale. Exhale.You knew the truth would come out eventually.Yes, this outcome is not ideal, but it won’t break you. He is upset, he is allowed to be.

I square my shoulders and bite my lip. Despite my best attempts to soothe my fears, I already can feel it. Something between us has shifted, cracked. Nothing will be the same after tonight.

I inhale sharply. “Rowan?”

Chapter39

Rowan

Crown Princess Verosa Elyce of Krycolis. How had I not seen it before? It had been staring me in my face all along. The arranged marriages aligned, the way she was able to have access to the guards’ stations any time they changed. The way she flinched when someone called her princess.

The biggest hint? Irene. Her mother’s name was Irene, and she had told me as such. She had failed to mention she was the late Queen Irene. It is why her mother had the power to tear down all the tapestries without repercussion and why no one could protect Verosa from her mother. Anyone who tried wound up dead.

All this time I’ve been fighting alongside, training, bantering, and falling in love with my sister.Half-sister, but still a blood relative.

Air. I need air.

Whirling on my heel, I weave through the halls until I find the balcony Vera was supposed to escape from an hour ago. An escape window we missed because I was too busy kissing her in an abandoned hallway.

Disgust crawls up my throat in the form of bile, and I dry heave over the railing. My muscles tense and constrict as my mind reels. I loved her. Gods, I’d fallen for the one person I cannot love.

I clench the lip of the balcony railing with white knuckles. This is why I never should have gotten involved. I should have cleaned up that job in Belam quicker, or better yet, never traversed the borders of that god-forsaken city. I should’ve stuck to my rules. Never stop. Never slow. Never care.

I breathe deeply. I have to leave now. Verosa can escape on her own if she still wishes to, though I doubt she will, given her new title as future empress. I begin to hoist myself over the railing when a soft voice calls out, halting me where I stand.

“Rowan?”

Shit.

I spin on my heel to find the source of my turmoil. The reason my heart used to beat and now refuses to without splintering further. The one I love and hate the most for this war within me.

Verosa frowns, her eyes pricked with tears. I can see the smudges of makeup beneath her eyes from where she has rubbed them raw. Despite what she may think, I hold no anger towards her for keeping her identity from me; after all, I did the same. No, the only one I harbor loathing for is myself.

“I can explain.” She begins stepping forward. I step back.

Her face falters, and I pinch my eyes closed in disgust. I can’t bear to look at her any longer. The rapid echo of my beating heart, those soft lips I kissed, what I’d dared to dream on my own. Sister. She is my sister by blood, and I loved her in ways you don’t love your family. The very thought causes my grip to tighten on the lip of the balcony, bile threatening to rise and burn my throat.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you or lie to you. I was trying to protect you.” She swallows, her guilty tears flowing freely down her face now. “If my father somehow caught us and learned you were helping me escape, it would be treason. Keeping you in the dark was the only way I could save you.”

I run my hand over my face. This is spiraling out of control too quickly. I’ve got to get out of here before my last tether of control snaps.

“I need to leave,” I tell her honestly. “You can leave now too, thanks to that stunt, but you aren’t coming with me. You can’t come with me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She takes a step forward, her hand reaching for mine. I jump backwards until I am standing on the ledge. Hurt flickers across her expression.

“I came here for one thing, Verosa, not this,” I groan, rubbing my hand over my face. “I came here to kill our father.”

Her eyes widen. “Our?”

My own emerald gaze narrows and locks onto hers. She looks so small, so fragile from this height. Anything I thought I knew about her shatters before my eyes. For a moment, I debate throwing myself from this balcony. How sick and twisted those false gods are to pluck at my fate like this. How dare they blacken my soul.

“My mother was Ophelus’ lover. I am his son, which makes you-“

“Don’t finish that sentence.” Silver lines her eyes and mars the delicate handiwork of Aiko. “This is insane. Rowan, you are ill, you need to come down from there so we can get you help.”

She doesn’t lunge for me this time, knowing already that I am quicker. Instead, she falls to her knees, begging. The sight makes my stomach churn. She should be on her knees for no man, no gods. What’s worse? The longer I look at her, the more I want to believe her words, but I know the truth.

My fists shake at my side. I’ve loved Verosa fiercer than I have anyone in my life. At first, I didn’t dare to let myself think past tomorrow, let alone dream of any pleasant future. I knew I would work until I died, and I would die young. I wouldn’t die until my mother was safe, but after that, what was there worth being careful for?

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