Chapter 48

48

Ella

I went to see my sister as soon as I left the prince's study. I was shaking with frustration, and Belle always had a way of calming me. While Doctor LaMazi had received Cassius's orders, she only permitted me five minutes, and she watched me like a hawk the entire time.

Considering my previous stunt, I probably deserved it.

Unfortunately, with the doctor hovering over my shoulder, there wasn't much we could say. Belle had overcome her fever and weakness, and was now moving about on crutches, agitated by her confinement. Luckily, as she'd been under strict observation, she hadn't been questioned during the uproar.

Some of the weight pressing on me lifted at this news, but a small part of me was disappointed. If she'd been questioned, Horace would have silenced her like me, and she'd realize the mages were not on our side. As it was, everything was still a mystery to her.

When she saw my neck, the lines of her face grew taut with anger. "Who did this to you?"

"The prince. I was with him during all the commotion."

Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth, then shut it as she realized the implications. "Oh, Ella. I'm so sorry."

"I'm not."

I leaned in to whisper in her ear, but Doctor LaMazi put a restraining hand on me. "Your sister has had enough excitement for one day and needs her rest. Visiting hours are over—for a week."

She and Lanny ushered me out before I could say another word.

Feeling no better, I headed to the stables and set to work grooming the horses, though they didn't need it. I was desperate to do anything to keep me busy and keep my mind off all that had happened.

I was brushing Tenebris's thick, silky hair, when he nickered softly. A cold shiver danced down my spine, and I glanced over my shoulder.

Cassius stood in the doorway, masked in shadows. "I've been looking for you."

The tone of his voice was off. Something was the matter.

"I visited the infirmary to check on Belle," I said, aiming for casual.

His body grew tense, and though I couldn't see his face in the shadows, I understood his silence: You didn't tell her anything, did you?

"I said nothing," I whispered.

I hadn't divulged what the prince had told me in the woods with Doctor LaMazi hanging on every word. Even if she hadn't been there, the information was too dangerous to speak inside the castle walls, and I didn't dare put my sister at any more risk than necessary. Beyond that, Cassius had revealed a part of himself that he kept hidden from the world. He'd trusted me with that, when he'd probably known he shouldn't. He should be my enemy, but after everything he'd done, didn't he deserve my discretion? How could I betray his trust?

The bitter truth sank in. Whatever my original intentions had been, I'd fallen under his spell.

"How is your sister?" he asked softly.

"She's healing well. The doctor even said that she might be able to leave next week if she's lucky."

"Good." His tone was clipped, and none of the tension in his broad frame had eased. He met my eyes with a gaze as cold as the winter sky. "Due to present circumstances, it's time for you to leave, too."

My breath stilled, and my mind went blank. The temperature in the stables had plummeted, and the soft breeze blowing through the door had grown frigid. "Leave?" I said, my voice tottering. "As in now, or next week?"

"Now. The sooner, the better, in fact." His voice was ice. Compassionless. Devoid of emotion, just as it'd been when we first met.

It was the voice of someone who would not be defied.

Panic seeped in like frost around the edge of a window. I couldn't leave the castle now , not with everything I'd just learned, not without some way to reveal the truth of who the Triad were and what they were doing. Not when he and I had grown so close.

"No," I said, forcing the storm of emotions from my voice. "Please, no."

He stepped into the golden lamplight, the sharpness of his expression matching his words. "The ball is nearly here. I need to focus on my new queen, not some farm girl intent on destroying me."

His words plunged deep like the tip of a pike. I set my jaw as I drew close, unable to fight the magnetic pull he had over me. "Is that all I am to you? A stupid farm girl?"

His eyes were dark and tired, his hair disheveled like he'd raked his fingers through it too many times. "You're not safe here," he said violently, releasing a fraction of his tightly coiled tension. "You need to go home to your manor and never look back."

But I couldn't leave. I needed to find a way to break the Triad's spell over the woods as well as their hold over him. If not that, I needed to at least find evidence that I could bring to my stepmother—a clue that could reveal the truth I couldn't speak.

"I know it isn't safe. I don't care. Just let me stay through the ball," I pressed, willing to beg on my knees if necessary. "Let me leave with Belle."

A muscle in his jaw clenched, all patience gone. "You're leaving now."

He grasped my arm and towed me toward the doorway. I dug my heels into the ground, trying to break free of his hold, but his mind was set, and I was no match for his strength.

"Cassius, please. This is a mistake."

"The only mistake was letting you get so close." He didn't look at me, just took me outside and gestured to the two waiting guards. The servants and soldiers in the courtyard all stopped what they were doing and stared.

My throat tightened as all my ambitions fell away. I wasn't just losing a chance to help the resistance. I was losing him.

I pulled free. "I'm not a mistake. We could fix?—"

"We can fix nothing." He looked down at me then, a tempest in his beautiful gray eyes. "This was always bound to end badly. I was a fool to let it go on so long."

I saw it then, the flicker of sorrow on his face. Perhaps he didn't want this. Perhaps he was just following his duty to the throne, to the Triad, to the whole bloody kingdom, or even just keeping our secret safe, as he'd promised to do.

Or perhaps he just felt guilty, casting me away like I was a crust of moldy bread.

I pressed my palm to his chest, searching for any indication that his heart was breaking like mine was. "Don't lie to yourself. You and I?—"

"There is no you and I." Cassius stepped back and let my hand slip away, a pitying expression cutting his face. "I'm the prince, and you were nothing but a distraction. You believed what you wanted to believe. A fairytale. That's all there ever was."

I heard the guards snicker and felt the judging eyes of the crowd searing my back. My chest ached with anger and shame, but I refused to give them the pleasure of seeing me crack. "That's not true, and you know it."

He opened his palm. "I need your token."

I needed to get word to Belle, and I couldn't leave without Pip. "I need to collect my belongings."

"They're being collected as we speak."

I could forgive him for sending me away, but not like this. I wasn't na?ve. I knew it couldn't last. But he didn't have to publicly shame me at the castle gates. I pulled the bronze token from around my neck, and it glinted in the torchlight as I pressed it into his palm. "You're a bastard, you know that, right?"

"I never pretended to be otherwise," he said coldly, without an ounce of remorse—or any emotion—in his voice. Then he turned to the guards. "Escort her home. See to it that she makes it there unharmed."

The guards fell in beside me, an armed escort like I was a convict, not to be trusted. It was over. No more spying. No more negotiation. No more waiting to feel his lips trace over my skin.

It was done.

"Will you tell Belle that I'm gone?" I asked softly, though there was no way to disguise the hurt or humiliation in my voice.

The prince nodded, like he couldn't be bothered to waste his breath, then reached into his coat, pulled out a velvet pouch, and tossed it to me. "For your service to the Crown."

My service to the Crown. My skin heated with anger.

The weight of the pouch told me there were far more coins in there than I was owed. The gesture should have been kind, but instead felt like I was being paid off and carted away for my dirty deeds.

And they had been dirty. I'd fallen for the enemy, let him feed on me and seduce me. My stepmother—hell, everyone in the resistance—would be shocked if they knew what I'd done. I'd seen the horror on my own sister's face.

"Come now, miss," one of the guards said.

I didn't put up a fight. There was no point. The prince wanted me gone, and that was that. I would be gone, and he would marry his queen.

My heart splintered at the thought. Not just for myself, but for him. His brother's abdication had condemned him to spending an eternity with a woman he didn't love or desire. Like all of us in the Bloodvale, the prince was trapped.

I tore free of my escort's light grasp and spun to face Cassius one last time. He met my glare with an unyielding gaze.

"Marry Lady Marbury," I said earnestly. I'd read about her in his stack of papers.

The prince's stone expression wavered in surprise.

"She's your best option for queen. She's well-connected but not so much as to be a burden. She likes horses, and rumor has it she's kind to her servants. She'd be good for the kingdom, and she'd make a good match."

My information for the resistance might not change anything, but perhaps if Lady Marbury were queen, then our lives would be a little less grim.

The prince's brow furrowed, something unreadable there. Regret? His lips parted as if to say something, but then he turned and walked away.

The prince's men marched me toward the gate, forcing me to endure the silent judgement from a handful of staff who'd gathered to watch from the steps.

Shame and frustration churned my gut. I hated leaving without saying goodbye to Cara. I was sure that there'd be a dozen new rumors about what had happened to me, and I didn't want her to think the worst. But even if I managed to slip away from the guards, I couldn't enter the castle without my token.

Worse was leaving Pip. How was I going to get him home?

I struggled, but the soldiers' grip on my arms tightened. "Don't make this any more difficult than it has to be, miss."

The wicked sisters emerged on Bianca's balcony. Even from a distance, I could discern the triumphant grin on Lorayna's face.

"Your time is up, it seems," Lorayna's voice echoed from above. "What a pity. I was looking forward to seeing what the new queen would do to you."

Bianca's beady eyes danced in delight. "Don't worry, we'll tell her all about you and where you live. I'm sure she'd love to visit your little pigsty. Maybe you could even give her a pointer on how to whore for the prince."

Anger burned through me, but I held my tongue and looked away, refusing to show them any emotion. One of these days, those two would get their just deserts.

I reached the gate, and Cara's voice carried across the courtyard. I turned to see her running toward me with my satchel and a bundle in her arms. "Ella! Wait!"

I slipped around the guards and met her halfway, wrapping her in a hug. "I'm so glad to see you."

Her warmth burned through the despair and betrayal weighing me down, and for a moment, my heart felt light again. Of course she'd come. She was a rock.

"I heard you were dismissed, and I came as fast as I could."

I released her and stepped back as guilt tugged at me. "You shouldn't be seen at my side. You don't need my reputation following you—I'm poison."

"I'll always be on your side." She handed me my satchel, and relief fell over me at the flash of white and brown fur that moved under the leather flap. Pip.

"Thank you," I whispered, unable to find the words to express my gratitude, and not daring to say anything more with the guards so near.

She pressed the bundle she was carrying into my arms. "This is your mother's dress. I wanted to make sure you didn't leave it behind."

Something twinged in my chest. I tried to speak, but instead, my eyes welled up.

Cara smiled knowingly. "I fixed it a while back, but when you became the prince's mistress…well, I fancied it up a bit as a surprise. I'm afraid it's not what you would wear around a manor house, though."

I pulled her into a hug again. "Thank you, Cara. You were always the best thing about this place. I'm going to miss you."

"Fates, the castle is going to be lonely without you."

"I hope you get to see the masquerade. You've worked so hard for it."

She smiled at me, eyes forlorn. "We seldom get what we want, do we?"

"That's life in the Bloodvale." I looked up at the prince's tower, swearing there had been someone standing in the window.

I threw my sack over my shoulder, made Cara promise to be safe, and let the soldiers march me out.