for me?” I gasped.
“I have spent the last few months installing those stupid mirror centers in every city and town I visited, just in case you sent word to me. Look.” He pulled out a small mirror in a case. “I even keep one on me at all times, in the hopes you would ream me out like before. But nothing. You dropped off the face of the known kingdoms.”
“I was only following our agreement, Xander.”
“That’s Prince Xander to you.”
His words hurt and felt like stones in my stomach as I corrected myself. “Prince Xander.”
He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out the chess piece king. “Then you had the gall to have your sister send me this. That’s when I knew what you had done. That you had abandoned me.”
“No, you abandoned me. Traded me for Earlsgaarde—er, Allemar to save your kingdom. You’re holding the wrong piece, my lord. We should have used a pawn instead of a king,” I said bitterly.
“This is what I think of our bargain.” Xander stood and tested the weight of the chess piece before chucking it into the creek bed. It slowly sank to the bottom, leaving only rings upon the surface.
The tears were flowing freely now. “Where did you go? You could have stopped Tipper from arresting me, sending me to Florin.”
“I didn’t know until it was too late. You ran away from me, and I needed time to cool off. When I had calmed down and returned to the manor, I learned you had left with Earlsgaarde. Tipper said you went with him willingly, that you admitted to murdering all those people.”
“That was a lie.”
“I know that now. Pru was the one who told me the truth. I was a fool to believe the woman I loved was a monster. She couldn’t have done those things, and I was ready to risk everything to get her back.”
“You love me?” Tears welled up in my eyes.
Xander reached up beneath the hood to touch my face, but I shuddered, pulling back. “You cursed me, Rosalie, to marry for love. I should be angry, furious even, if I hadn’t already started falling for you hard.”
“I thought you hated me.”
“No, I hated how much I thought about you.”
“You couldn’t possibly, because you didn’t know me.”
“Rosalie, I’ve known since the night I kissed you that you were mine.” He grinned. “I just needed time to come to terms with the fact that my enemy, the woman I married, was also the woman I loved. The woman I needed more than the air I breathe.” He leaned forward, pressing his face into the crook of my neck, and took a deep breath. “Remember, I knew the night I saved you from the thieves, who you were.”
“But why play along?”
“Because I didn’t like how fast I was falling for you. It was as if you really did put a spell on me, and I hated it. I hated myself and took it out on you.”
His admission made me laugh, and I hit him in the shoulder. Xander pulled out the rose pin I had lost and attached it to my cloak.
“You were right about one thing,” I whispered, my hands shaking as I gripped the edge of the hood, preparing to reveal myself and have him go running away in horror. “I am as hideous as a beast.” I pulled the hood back, my dark hair still covering my face, but I struggled to look at him. I couldn’t meet his gaze in case his face turned to revulsion. I couldn’t bear it.
What had I done?
Xander’s hands reached for my cheek, pulling me closer. His left hand brushed my dark hair away from my face, revealing the small white scar that marred my beauty. I closed my eyes, not willing to see his reaction. He gasped, and I shuddered, a tear squeezing out between my lashes to slide down my cheek.
His thumb brushed it away, and his warm breath lingered on my cheek as his lips claimed mine. My eyes opened in surprise and my lips parted as Xander kissed me, his hand on the back of my neck, pulling me in closer. How could I have forgotten his kisses? I missed him so. Reaching for him, I gripped his vest, my breathing becoming ragged.
He broke the kiss first, and his eyes searched my face, truly seeing me, and what I saw there did not make me pull away. All I saw was an outpouring of unconditional