“The keymistress!” Olivian boomed, his control snapping. “You didn’t marry my daughter, you married her fucking handmaid!”
Kyven’s gaze widened. He looked me up and down as if seeing me for the first time. “You meanyou’rethe keymistress?”
I raised my chin. “I...am.”
“And you married me under false pretenses?”
“I did.”
“But...why?”
A glance at Amryssa granted me strength. “Because. I didn’t want you touching her.”
“Lioness,” Kyven breathed, then spent a mile-long minute just staring. “I’m...speechless. I think I’m also rather impressed.”
I opened my mouth, readying a defense, then realized I didn’t need one and floundered in silence. Well, this wasn’t going as expected. At all.
“Enough dithering,” Olivian shouted. “Just tell me this can be undone.”
I flinched. “Undone?”
“Yes. As in, tell me you didn’t consummate this.”
I stilled. The consummation. Shit. Like the ceremonial kiss, I hadn’t thought that through.
“Well?” Olivian said.
Kyven watched me without blinking. In the silence, the floor tilted, the whole world awaiting my answer. I had the strangestsense that if I lied, my new husband would corroborate me. But that was probably crazy, and besides, lying wouldn’t do me any favors. This marriagehadto bear up under scrutiny. If not, Olivian would only force a repeat ceremony with Amryssa.
No, I needed an honest solution. Or, at the very least, a way to buy time. “We didn’t consummate anything,” I said. Then, for good measure, “Don’t be vile.”
Kyven pressed a hand to his chest. “Ouch. You really are a deathblow to my ego.”
Olivian released a breath. “Thank Zephyrine. Now come with me.” A meaty hand circled my arm as he towed me toward the door.
“Hey.” I pitted my weight against his, but I might as well have tried to topple a centuries-old oak. “Let go of me.”
He dragged me into the hallway without slowing.
“Where’re we going?” I shrieked.
“To my office, so you can write to the king. You’ll accept the entirety of the blame for this, then petition him for an annulment.”
“An annulment?” I cried. “What? You can’t do that.”
“Ican’t, you’re right. But the king can. An unconsummated union can still be dissolved, as long as he grants an annulment and the two of you sign the certificate.”
Ice hardened in the pit of my stomach. “But...what if I refuse?”
Olivian’s gaze thinned—a threat. “You won’t.”
“Okay, well...what if Kyven does?”
His withering look conveyed exactly how likely he consideredthatprospect. “He’s a prince. Who just married a glorified housemaid. I doubt he’ll have a problem.”
I barely refrained from flipping him off. “So that’s it? I go to all this trouble to save Amryssa, and you want to throw her to the wolves?”
He bared his teeth. Down the hall, an approaching steward spotted us and abruptly reversed direction. I imagined how we must look—Olivian in a towering rage, me clutching my dagger while being hauled along in my nightgown.
