Ava’s words knocked some sense into Alaric. Instead of the king going in for another strike, he stood firm, his eyes burning with rage. I touched my face, feeling the warm, swollen spot where he’d hit me. No doubt I’d have a black eye from that. However, I had more important matters to deal with at that moment.
Alaric continued to glare at me with a cold and hateful stare. Finally, he pointed in my direction and said, “You… yousnake. You untrustworthy, duplicitousliar. How the hell could I have been so stupid as to allow someone like you get close to my daughter, someone who had no shame taking the princess of his nation to bed like some common club girl?”
“Alaric…”
“No, don’t youAlaricme. All this time you were here, you’ve been scheming behind my back to bed her! I do not even know what to say to this kind of betrayal.”
“This wasn’t a matter of taking her to bed,” I replied. “And there was no scheming. What happened between your daughter and me was the result of the two of us spending time together, getting to know one another. What happened between us happened because we developed real and true feelings for each other.”
“Bah!” Alaric swiped his hand through the air, dismissing the idea as ridiculous. “Feelings!”
“It’s true!” Ava said. “I was with Luc because I wanted to be—I wasn’t tricked or seduced. He was a kind and perfect gentleman.”
I narrowed my eyes, a surprising flash of rage welling within.
“Maybe, old friend, if you’d bothered getting to know your daughter over this last month and a half instead of spending the time holed up in your office barking orders at her, you’d have connected with her as well!”
“A snake,” Alaric said. “Nothing more than a snake.”
Might as well get it all out in the open now.
“I’ve done what I had to do to help the people close to you deal with your bullshit,” I said.
Alaric cocked his head to the side, confused.
“What does that mean?”
“Analise. Did you ever wonder how she managed to sneak out of the palace with Ava without you knowing? How she managed to make it to the U.S.? It was because ofme.”
“What?”
“For how long did you think she’d put up with your philandering ways? And for how long did you think I’d be able to stand aside and watch you treat a wonderful woman like her as if she were nothing more than total trash?”
Alaric began to understand, his expression forming into one of anger again.
“Then you’vealwaysbeen a snake.”
Ava watched with wide eyes, understanding that this was a confrontation that’d been years in the making.
“I did what needed to be done. I helped Analise escape from you, and I was there for your daughter when you refused to do anything but scold her for not being the perfect little princess you had in mind. I have no regrets, not one.”
For a moment, it looked as if Alaric might leap across the room and rip me to shreds.
He didn’t, however. Maybe his anger was so intense that he couldn’t even think of what to say or do next. Or maybe he couldn’t deny that there was truth to what I was saying.
“Leave,” he said. “You have one hour to gather your things and go. I never want to see you in this palace again.”
“Alaric—”
He shook his head.
“It’s done. One more word and I will banish you from the kingdom itself.”
“No,” Ava said. “You can’t.”
“I can and I will. Now go.”
There was nothing else to be said. After one more look at Ava, I walked out of the room.