I scanned the people who had gathered in front of the line of carriages, but didn’t see Maksim anywhere. That was hardly a surprise. If there was something that we all did for the sake of tradition—like gathering together to say goodbye to someone before they departed—he was sure to miss it. And today was no exception.
As the horses nickered and stamped, eager to get going, my parents loaded into their carriage and Prince Galen got into his.
He didn’t give me so much as a bow or a kiss on the hand. It was as if I didn’t exist. That was fine by me, but I knew that surely my mother would have noticed the willful disregard for polite custom. And it would bother her more than she probably would ever admit.
With that thought in my head, I managed to slap a smile on my face, bowing as the carriages disappeared down the long private road that led to the King’s Highway.
Once they had mostly disappeared from view, I let out a sigh of relief and then turned to Maria. But on her face, I saw pure horror. Her eyes were locked on a servant girl who had scurried out from the house to clean up the horse manure that the horses had left.
I grabbed Maria by the hand. Through gritted teeth, I said, “Tell me. Right now.”
She blew out a breath and shook her head slowly, as if in utter disbelief.
“I heard gossip in the kitchens that Prince Galen spent the night with Nicolette.” She nodded slightly at the girl scooping up the horse manure with a pitchfork. “Someone said he beat her terribly. Just look.”
I stared at the girl and saw her face was bruised, her lip fat and bloody. As she leaned forward, the sleeves of her uniform dress slid up from her wrists. Angry purple bruises bloomed from her skin. On her cheek, I would have sworn that I saw a welt in precisely the shape of a leather belt.
Most fiancés might be expected to be furious with the girl for bedding her husband-to-be, but not only did I care little for who Prince Galen chose as the object of his affections, but it was also pretty clear that Nicolette was taken against her will. And she was so young.
He is not only rude, he’s a monster.
As soon as I saw her face, my resolve was made iron. There was no way, in this world or the next, that I was going to marry Prince Galen.
Absolutely no way.
I gripped Maria’s hand hard in mine and led her across the grounds to the stone wall that marked the boundary of the old wood, which was Maksim’s own private hunting grounds and land.
“I have to find a way out of this,” I said, staring almost blankly, emptily at the magnificent branches of the great oak in the distance.
Maria nodded silently beside me.
“I have to.”
“You have to. You have to,” she agreed.
I took a deep breath, trying to clear my thoughts. “But how?”
Maria nibbled on her lip, and eyed me without turning her head.
“Tell Maksim. Tell him how you feel about him. He’s a prince in his own right. He’s got power and resources that we can’t even imagine.”
I scoffed. “How I feel about him? He knows how I feel about him.”
“Stop that. The time has passed to pretend you hate him.” She wasn’t going to tolerate any more nonsense from me about this, I could tell right away. “I know how you feel, I see how you act. If there’s anybody in the world that can help you now, it’s him.”
I let go of Maria’s hand and wrapped my arms around myself, pacing to and fro for a moment, thinking it over. I wanted him. Desperately. With every fiber of my being. But even still… I stopped my pacing beside Maria, with my shoe scraping the gravel.
“Even if I do tell him, he hates me. You know that. He’s awful. And yesterday…” I began, unsure of how much to tell Maria about what happened between us in the wood. Better to err on the side of not enough than too much. “Yesterday he made it absolutely clear that no matter how I might feel, he’s got no interest in me at all.”
Even as I said it, I knew I was only telling part of the truth. His reaction to the kiss was one of disgust. But his body had given him away long before that. His hard cock pressing against me. That lust in his eyes.
“Tell him,” Maria said, now with even more impatience. “Love and hate are near enemies, Anika. They seem far away, opposites even. But they aren’t. It’s like…” She searched the air, looking for the words. “Like jealousy and admiration.” She raised her hand, unpinching two fingers just a hair. “They’re so very, very close.”