It seemed that every royal family was in attendance for the annual Kings Festival, even though the prince who was running this city was treasonous. And I wondered how normal this was for Alyria, with how blasé they seemed to be about the whole thing. It wasn’t like they could take Symbia back—not with Maxim’s two thousand men lining the streets and blocking the gates and ports.
My eyes narrowed on Maxim as he rode by, Symbia’s Queen and Princess, their advisors, and the women in their court following behind.
If you can’t beat ‘um, cheat ‘um. Why had I ever trusted Maxim’s word? At least nothing untoward had come of his big mouth. Yet.
The girls all crowded me, trying to get a better view of the prince over some Untouchables’ heads, who were doing a great job of keeping the crowd contained. No one was stepping within a couple feet of them.
Princess Luciana was even comelier in person . . . unfortunately. She rode side-saddle on a pearly white horse, her emerald green skirts cascading down the sides. I suddenly wondered if Weston called her Princess. Ugh, gross.
“Calamity! Your mother at ten o’clock!” Juliana said.
I paused, turning to look in the crowd.
“Your other ten o’clock!”
Oh.
I turned in the other direction while hearing the girls’ laughter. My mother was indeed coming this way, with Clinton at her side. I’d rather do some bodily harm to myself than speak to my mother’s pledged right now. I immediately went in the other direction, squeezing through the tight crowd.
I knew Clinton and my mother were going to force me to think about my future pledging, and I’d rather enjoy the first day of the festival.
“Calamity!”
I paused at the masculine voice, hesitating for a second before turning around.
You see, a lot had happened to me over the past six months. And yet, I was still the same girl in a way. Innocent in regard to men. A virgin. It was laughable, really, being that I lived in a brothel. It wasn’t like I wanted to be, or that I was holding on to it for any particular reason. Virginity wasn’t held as a virtue in the Sisterhood; in fact, it was looked at like a weakness and was the reason I’d never shared my status with the other girls.
It wasn’t that I wanted to rid myself of it because of that; it was because the girl I used to be was a virgin. The weak and naïve one. And I didn’t want to be her anymore.
So, I might have gotten close to a stablehand who worked at the palace to finally absolve myself of it. Though, it never could get further than some harmless kisses. It should have been easy; at least that’s the way the girls made it seem while sleeping with doormen and sailors alike. But it wasn’t as simple as I believed. I was constantly overthinking everything, and anytime his hand went lower than my face I froze up, before making some excuse to leave.
But now I’d gotten myself into a bind. I’d led this man on, and thinking I was a whore, he probably thought I was the biggest tease in Alyria. I was waiting for the day he just walked in the Royal Affair and offered to pay. I would compel him, of course, or maybe I would get the guts to finally do it.
“William,” I said with a smile.
He rolled his eyes, correcting me. “Will.”
“Yea, yea,” I said as he threw a heavy arm over my shoulders and pulled me in for a half hug. “Keep walking,” I told him. “My mother’s at . . .” I frowned, not good with this whole time-direction thing, “five o’clock.”
He turned his head in a different direction than I was going for. I sighed, some amusement rushing me. I grabbed his wrist hanging over my shoulder and pulled him down the alley.
I didn’t know what it was. He was tall, strong, with a handsome almost boyish face. He was even polite, and only a year older than my twenty-one. He should have been the perfect man to get it over with. But, alas, there was something keeping me from it, and I couldn’t figure it out.
“You can’t evade her forever, you know,” he told me, weaving us in and out of people’s way as they trickled through the alley. The streets went slightly uphill toward the palace, creating a maze of roads and alleyways; we’d run into the main route of the parade no matter which direction we headed.
“I’m going to try. Don’t sound all high and mighty up there. Don’t tell me you’ve never evaded your mother.”
“I haven’t,” he answered immediately. “She would beat my ass.”
I let out a breath of amusement, shaking my head while im
agining his mother I’d seen once who was half his size with a quiet disposition. “That’s ridiculous.”
His blue eyes glinted with amusement, pulling me closer with his arm around my neck. “You wouldn’t be laughing after one smack from that spoon of hers.”
I laughed, glancing out at the street when my smile froze on my face, my heart stilling. My eyes stopped on a familiar Titan. He rode with his brother, and a few other of his men decked out in black. He was looking at me like he’d sensed my presence before I did his.
For a moment, the rest of the parade blurred into colors, only his stare clear in my mind. His gaze glanced away from me for a moment, landing on Will by my side. If I wasn’t mistaken, I thought I saw a spark of darkness flick through his eyes, before the indifference set back in.