Our return to River Bend goes more smoothly than our first visit. There’s no question that Tovian will stay in my rooms. To my surprise, Lorcan is housed in the same wing instead of the guest wing. I don’t protest it.
Maybe I should have.
Not long after our arrival, I catch a maid coming out of his room with her skirt askew, fastening her bodice. My spine ices. The cold spread quickly down my arms and legs. I cannot believe the implications.
She lifts her chin haughtily, then realizes who I am and blanches.
I see red.
“What were you doing in there just now?”
“I…uh…” She swallowed visibly. “I was changing his…I mean, I was refreshing his bedclothes.”
“Refreshing them. At this hour.”
The maid’s face turns scarlet.
I march into Lorcan’s room, where he’s still fastening his trousers. My stomach twists. No. It can’t be. He’s not this kind of person. He was not a man who fucked random women and never bothered to learn their names.
He lovedZosia.Who was still missing.
And he hasn’t done a damned thing to find her.
I don’t know this man.
“What were you doing with the maid, Lorcan?” My tone is steel, my words clipped.
He gives me thislook. Like I’m a fool. I guess I have been. Clinging to the past, unable to get my footing in a new reality. Then again, I never have seen him clearly.
“What does it look like, Princess?”
Something inside me breaks. I stride forward, arm raised, intent on slapping sense into the man. Lorcan catches my hand before I can strike.
Rage burns through my veins.
“How could you?” I try to hit him with my free left hand, but it’s no use, he’s so much stronger and faster than I am. “Shelovedyou. Youpromised. I heard everything that night.”
With both wrists manacled, I resort to kicking him in the shins. Not terribly effective, since I’m wearing slippers, not boots.
Lorcan looks confused and pissed off.
“She’s waiting for you to come and rescue her and you’re out here slutting your way through Auralia like—like—”
I break off in a furious growl and aim for his balls. He blocks me, just barely. We lose balance and tumble onto the bed. I’m so grossed out by the fact that he was having sex with a stranger not five minutes ago, and irate that he’s not letting me hit him like he deserves. The more I struggle, the harder he restrains me.
“Get off,” I seethe between clenched teeth. My breath comes in harsh pants. Adrenaline is ripping through my bloodstream. I don’t want him touching me. I want to wail on him until I whack his brains back into place. He doesn’t let go of me. “I’ll have you fucking hanged, folk hero or no. I will kill you, Lorcan, if you don’t let go of meright now.”
“Stop. Hitting. Me.”
As if I’ve managed to land a single proper blow. I would, though, if he let go. I’d leave him black and blue, and he’d deserve every bruise.
Since I can’t hurt him with my fists, I go for the low blow.
“Or what? You’ll rape me? You’ve fallen that low?”
He freezes. I know in that instant I’ve gone too far. Our friendship won’t recover from this.
One more devastating loss in a year marked by them.
