“I don’t know! What could you possibly have to gain from impersonating a prince? When you’re nothing but a thief? A brigand?”
“I’m not abrigand.” His eyes flashed. “Why are you always using that word?”
“Because that’s what you call people who steal things!”
“I stole nothing,” he said, low and lethal.
“Except Kyven’s entire identity,” I sniped back.
His nostrils flared. “I may have played a role. But I’m no thief. I’m an actor, like I told you. And before that, a shepherd’s son. One nobody wanted.Alsolike I told you.”
“But you’re from Windfell,” I hissed.
“Yes.”
“Not Hightower.”
“No.”
I stabbed his chest again, doing my best to make it hurt. “Then every moment we’ve spent together has been a lie.”
His jaw hardened. “No. You know me, lioness. Inside and out. I’ve shown you every scar. I’ve told you all about my past,my parents, how I left home when I was young. About the play I saw in Gray’s Reach when I was nineteen. Which not even Lunk has heard about. He’s known me for nearly a year, ever since I left my theatre troupe and came to conquer the nightmares, but I’ve never once shared with him what I have with you. You might not have known me for long, but youdoknow me better than anyone on this earth.”
I bit my lip, my eyes stinging. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make us sound close. Make us sound intimate.”
A sharp light blazed in his eyes. “Weareintimate. You’re my wife, for Hyperion’s sake. What’s more, you understand me.”
“I don’t understand shit.” I pushed at him again, but it was like shoving against a steel wall. “I don’t even know why you’re here. Why you bothered to pretend.”
He hauled in a breath—once, twice, like he was shoring himself up. “Officially? Because we wanted into this house, and I knew I could pass as Kyven with ease.”
“Oh, right. Of course. Because you wanted to rob us, too. You and Vick, the oh-so-noble heroes.”
His eyes narrowed. “Wehelppeople, lioness, like it or not. We got Althea out, didn’t we? And her family. Lunk and I would’ve gotten Miss Quist out, too, if she’d actually wanted to go.”
I gaped. “You told Miss Quist about this?”
“I didn’t tell her I’m not Kyven. But that I’d smuggle her out of Oceansgate? Yes.”
I breathed and breathed and breathed, but no amount of indrawn air could lessen my rage. “So you knew where Althea was, that day we went searching? You knew thiswhole time? Even though you told me you didn’t?”
His jaw worked. “I believe my exact words were, ‘I’m sure she’s far away, breathing a sigh of relief.’ Which I was, because she was.”
I bared my teeth. “That’s a technicality.”
“No, it was the truth. So were the reasons I gave you for coming here, that night in town.”
“Screw your reasons,” I spat. “It sounds like you wanted to just come in and steal everything.”
“Ididn’t.” His voice hardened to steel. “Vick might have imagined he’d raid this place and then return to the forest. Take up the reins I’d abandoned. ButIcame here to be a husband.”
“Oh, please. You expect me to believe you went to all this trouble just for some new role to play?”
His lips peeled back. “Notjustthat. If you must know, I also intended to do the Lady Amryssa a favor. I meant to satisfy my curiosity, then disappear. She could’ve had Kyven’s title without bothering with all the rest, because no woman deserves to be saddled with a husband she didn’t choose. My sister suffered that fate, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”
