Oh, no. Would Rozaria recognize her as the woman who’d escaped from the camp? That would put Paxton in jeopardy. Aerity raised her palms and looked into the woman’s eyes. “Perhaps it’s because I’m unarmed this time.”
Rozaria sneered. “Exactly why you should hold your tongue.”
Again the prince laughed. “You injured my cousin and killed her finest creation. Her wrath was quite a spectacle.”
Rozaria crossed her arms and glared at Prince Vito.
“Cousin?” Aerity said with interest. “She left that part out when she spoke so fondly of you that day.”
Rozaria uncrossed her arms and moved forward. The prince grabbed her arm in a graceful reach, but that didn’tstop the woman from unleashing a tirade at Aerity.
“Do not stand here and pretend to be a friend of Kalor! I recall everything you said that day.”
“I was angry,” Aerity said with just as much passion. “You were the cause of upheaval in my life. Because of your creation my father was giving me away like some disposable item.”
“You poor darling,” Rozaria spat. “You were to be forced to marry a coldlands brute, and meanwhile Lashed were being slaughtered by your ignorant townsmen.”
“I did not want that to happen! I tried to get my father to see reason, but he refused. Did your precious insider tell you that?” She pointed at Duke Gulfton’s body and swallowed hard. Then she looked straight at Prince Vito, preparing to tell a lie that sent pain throbbing through her. “You did me a favor by removing my parents from the throne. I have done more good for Lashed in mere days than has been done in a century. I have lifted the magical restriction laws—”
“Not everywhere!” Rozaria rebutted. “We saw your proclamation.”
Aerity shook her head emphatically. “It was a start, and it was just as much for the protection of the Lashed as anything else. Look, Rozaria, I don’t agree with your methods. I made that clear when we met. But I do have the same vision as you: for Lashed and Unlashed to live in peaceful equality. Surely there is a compromise.”
The prince placed a hand on Rozaria’s shoulder and pulled her back, stepping forward. Aerity’s heart rate pickedup as he came nearer. He stared, taking in her hair and clothing, the shape of her. And before his eyes even made it back up to hers he said, “I’m not certain you have the same vision as we, dearest.”
Aerity tried to control her breathing and not move. He finally met her eyes again, and she wanted to rock back on her heels from the feeling of revulsion.
“You see, Your Majesty, I want to rule Eurona. All of it.”
Oceans deep. . . She braced herself, remembering what Paxton had told her of the prince’s plans. “I assumed as much.”
Again that creepy smile came to his smooth face. He raised a hand to move his hair behind his shoulder and Aerity saw his fingernails, as dark as if they’d been painted with blackberries.
“I will require someone by my side,” he said. “Someone the people trust who can ease my transition into power.”
There it was. Her heart had slowed to an eerily calm beat as she let herself slide into the role that it would take to overcome this foe.
“Am I to be that someone?” she asked.
Prince Vito studied her as he would a butterfly under a pin.
“Leave us,” he said quietly to the room as he stared at Aerity.
Nervously she began to second-guess her acting skills. What would he want from her? Would he call her bluff and kill her? Or expect her to prove her affections right then in amore substantial way? She wanted to vomit at the thought.
“She’s not to be trusted, Vito,” Rozaria said. “She told me her father was a good man.”
The prince and Aerity kept their eyes locked.
“It matters not,” he murmured. “I saidleave us.”
As people began streaming out, Aerity glanced over the prince’s shoulder and saw something that made her muscles seize. Paxton stood beside the door, staring with a wrathful intensity that frightened Aerity. He’d seen and heard it all.
Seas! He would ruin everything!As Rozaria got to Paxton she took his hand and glanced over her shoulder, sending a glare back at her. Aerity wanted to rip their hands apart, but mostly she needed Paxton to get hold of himself and trust her.
“You heard him,” Aerity said in a voice weaker than she’d hoped for. “Leave us.”
She was speaking more to Paxton than Rozaria. Thankfully Rozaria was so busy glaring at Aerity that she didn’t notice the sheer look of fury on Paxton’s face. Rozaria spun in a huff and pulled Paxton by the hand. He stood like a rooted tree until Rozaria looked up at him and tugged again. Then, to Aerity’s relief, he stiffly allowed her to lead him out the door.
