Some of the water dribbled from the glass as he brought it to his mouth. “England?”
“Iam told that I mustn’t continue standing for the Daemons that made this throne worth fighting for, all for my public image and favor. Iwillensure their safety, whether or not they stand with me against opposing forces. I will ensure it because they are my subjects, as are you.” She felt a stab of pleasure as he clenched his jaw. “You are not my council. She is.” Lilac looked toward Piper, who’d relocated their little huddle to the nearest table off to the left. “They are.” The two sisters giggled together, glasses of wine in their hands, but Piper stared distantly at the quartet, picking at her nails.
She was listening in.
“And?” Garin said. “What does your daywalker think of all this? Of your thrall bond? What does she advise you?”
“You don’t want to know what she thinks.”
His mouth tightened. “I am her sire. She’s entitled to her opinions, wrong as they may be. Ultimately, her nature will force her to fight for what is best for me. And what is best for me is what keeps you safe.”
“Piper’s loyalty to me, and mine to her is a tenuous bond I would not test. Don’t underestimate the power of friendship.” With a friendly smile, Lilac touched his bicep lightly for the sake of anyone in the crowd watching. “You might’ve come here to ensure my marriage, but she will fight tooth and nail for my right to choose.”
“You really think that’s why we’re here?” He laughed, and several pairs of eyes drifted their way. Garin paid them no mind, propping a foot up on the table leg and boxing her in. “If it came down to it, I’d have this entire room laid siege in minutes, the emperor’s ring on your finger in the blink of an eye. Guillaume is just outside; don’t think for a moment I won’t summon him. I don’t need Myrddin’s help to usher you to the altar for Maximilian, not when you are my thrall.” His fangs suddenly glinted between his lips. He passed a hand over his face, exhaled, and took another sip of his water. When he spoke again, his fangs were gone. “While I do pride myself on being one of yourrareloyal subjects, do not forget I am first a vampire—one most shocked to find a hawthorn stake being pulled from my back as I was thrown from the nightmare of becoming your regnant against my will. So shocked, in fact, that in my thirst-driven stupor, all I could think of was finding you.”
“It’s our thrall bond. You knew this would happen.”
“No one knew any of this would happen,” he snapped. “It startedbeforethe bond was even completed. Before last night. If I’d known?—”
“You wouldn’t have saved me.” It was what he’d been too cowardly to admit at the inn.
“I would have saved you no matter what it took.” A flash of heated anger crossed his face. “That is what should scare you more. You don’t understand, I wasblindedby my need for you. I was desperate—a wounded animal willing to crawl to the basin. There was not a thought in my mind but you. And your maddening scent. The pattern of your pulse follows me like a haunting melody.”
The current of their conversation had changed as quickly as the shifting need in his eyes. Lilac was vaguely aware of Myrddin in the middle of the dance floor, entertaining the gathered crowd with a handkerchief and disappearing coin. Her mother’s shrieking laugh was heard in the distance, but those noises were muffled, as if a veil had been draped over their table.
No one paid attention as she watched him with a mixture of longing and disdain.
Garin exhaled, unfurled his clenched fists, and placed them on the table. “This changes nothing.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Lilac agreed. “I have made a choice.” She resisted the violent urge to reach out and touch him, as if her body begged her not to say the words. “For myself. For my kingdom.”
“You seemed undecided this morning.” The intensity in his expression faltered forcibly. He turned to his plate again, the movement of his hands forced as he tore into the turkey leg with his teeth. “It is not the first time I’ve had a drink thrown in my face, but I’ll admit it’s the first time it’s happened while on one knee.”
He had some nerve to appear taken aback by her response. “You expect me to believe you, on your knees—thatwas on behalf of Maximilian?”
He chewed, unphased. “Rest assured, my being here is not some valiant effort to save you from the fate of your marriage, either.”
“Good. Because it is what I want.” Lilac watched Garin’s face, still at her half-hearted lie. He paused over his plate and placed his fork down, but did nothing more. It didn’t matter that she’d made the decision at the peak of her anger at Garin’s urging, under the pressure of Artus’s threats. It wasa lie meant to maim Garin. He would not toy with her. Lilac would not allow it.
Maybe one day, when she overlooked the kingdom from some stained-glass window in Vienna, after making the trip there and back, discovering what it was to rule between two kingdoms, two crowns—twohearts—she too, might believe the lie. She would pretend, existing in the balance of folly and poise. She and the emperor did not have to get along. They could be cordial, and she could make various demands as his bride, couldn’t she?
Maximilian would have his mistresses to pleasure him. That was a given. And she would have…
Lilac found herself fighting back furious tears.
Garin could not be her paramour. He ignited more fury and passion in her than any lover would. But she would not beg. She was done abandoning herself.
He was silent, nodding once.
“My hand will be his, and so shall my heart. You have made it clear I have no other choice. I refuse to be backed into a corner, or to ask you for an alliance that will never come. I have only ever entertained the prospect of marriage in the context of love. Despite everything I’ve come to reconsider these past few weeks, it is this belief I shall stand by.”
“Do you think you will come to love Maximilian?”
Would she? Could she?
The cruel answer contrived in her moment of fury stuck in her throat. “He at least will not make me feel like my love is something to bargain for. At least his conditions are straightforward and uncomplicated.”
“Splendid,” Garin replied, despite the wicked edge to his tone. “Shall I have Ambrosius retrieve the marriage contract now?”
