Page 42 of A Touch of Royalty
“Cas,” there was a sound, one that she’d only heard a few times, but was unmistakable once you actually heard it. She’d heard the palace gossips, knew who Ruby was to Cas and now they were kissing in the back end of the gardens.
And it shouldn’t hurt like it did. A horrible pain down the center of her chest that felt like it was going to crush her into the dirt.
“Brutus, let’s go,” she whispered to the puppy, but he’d heard Cas and before she could get a better hold on him, he’d slipped her grasp and had dashed off around the corner.
Emryn followed, trying to get him back before-
But she didn’t succeed, and stumbled to a stop right in the eyeline of Cas and Ruby. Who smirked at her with a horrible, cruel light in her eyes.
“I-” Emryn turned. “Forgive the intrusion.” She started back the way she’d come. His Highness had Brutus and if she didn’t walk away, she was going to break down like a fool at the way Ruby was draped over Cas.
She heard him, calling for her, but she just picked up her skirts and fled. The pain rushing through her chest like a wave.
She made it back to her rooms, closing and locking the doors. She just needed a little bit to catch her breath. Emryn knew what would happen next, and she needed to be armored against it before it came.
As soon as the illness was gone, she was going to remove the tie and let him go back to his life.
She didn’t know where she would go, or what she would do, but it was better than this.
He’s said- but that didn’t matter either.
Emryn went to over to the bed. The one where he’d held her at night and slid down to sit on the floor next to it. Trying to think her way through what she had to do.
She’d said she would remain apart, would allow him to live just as he always had, and maybe it was time to revert back to that. Maybe she should just remain here, in her room, unless she was needed somewhere.
Blinking the tears back and down, Emryn stood up, walking to the table and settling back in front of the proposal for the city water. She could do this at the very least.
At least this way she could serve the city.
Even if she was alone.
28
DANCE
Cas looked from Ruby, to Brutus, to the rapidly fleeing form of his wife and tried as hard as he could to not slap the sneering triumph off Ruby’s face.
Instead of doing what he wanted and slapping her, Cas turned and fled after the fading form of Emryn. He saw Ruby reach for him, but just dodged the reach and kept going. He would figure out what to do about her later.
First, he had to talk to Emryn. He’d seen the desolation in her eyes and it had punched him in the chest as soon as he’d managed to understand what he was seeing.
They’d been getting closer these last few weeks, sleeping together at night and nearly inseparable during the day unless he had to sit in council as he’d been doing today.
He never should have been lured out here by Ruby. She’d said she needed to speak to him and there had been a breathless moment of fear that she’d been pregnant, even though he’d taken every precaution that he could think of.
But she’d just thrown herself at him. Kissing him just as Brutus had rounded the corner of the hedge with Emryn hard on his heels.
And it had only been then that he’d realized that she’d set him up. Set his wife up for pain and the destruction of the trust that they had just been starting to build.
Cas went to the doors of her rooms where they led out into the garden, but they were locked. And the door in from the hallway was locked as well.
As was the connecting door, and she’d taken the key from the keyhole, so there was no way for him to open it.
It was clear that she didn’t want to speak to him, but he had to get to her. Or did he? Was it going to be enough to write her a letter and ask for a chance to explain?
He sent it in on the tray that Shana brought her supper in on and a quarter of an hour later; he had a very pleasantly worded reply that essentially said he could do as he pleased, that she had been a fool and that she would not prevail upon him further.
Because of course that was where she would go. Isolate herself as far as possible. Insulate herself from the hurt and focus utterly on something else.
