the noise from the falls dying down as she walked deeper inside. This wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have where they could be overheard.
By the time they reached her rooms, her anger had lessened, leaving her with the sinking feeling of being alone in a world that was not her own. She’d have given anything to have Myles with her.
Griff shut the door and approached her, his arms crossed over his chest. “Number six. When you get angry, your lip juts out stubbornly, and all I want to do is kiss the frown away.” He leaned in, but Brea sidestepped him.
“Do you really want to kiss me, Griff, or is that what you’re supposed to make me believe?”
“Why would you say something like that?”
She turned to the window, looking out on the realm she’d marveled at only a day before. Now, Fargelsi had lost its shine for her. She’d longed to belong here, but she wondered if she ever truly would.
Griff put a hand on her shoulder and she let him, having no more energy to push him away. She turned into his embrace, burying her face in his shirt. “Tell me the truth,” she whispered. “There’s no prophecy about me.”
“Brea—”
“Why did you really come to the human realm for me?”
When he didn’t respond, she lifted her eyes to his. “It was so you could become king, right? You needed someone with my aunt’s bloodline to make you a legitimate contender.”
He released her and stepped away. “You don’t understand.”
“I think I do.”
“Regan is my queen. She has been a mother to me. That throne is rightfully mine.”
“And what of me, Griff?”
“I lo—”
“Don’t say it!” Her hands vibrated in anger. “I swear to God, Griffin O’Shea. If you tell me you love me right now, I’m going to punch that pretty face of yours.”
“I never expected to feel this way about you.”
A harsh laugh pushed past her lips. “Oh, that’s rich. You don’t get to be this guy. The one who says everything he did was for my own good.”
“You were being arrested when I found you.” He scrubbed a hand across his face.
“No.” She shook her head. “I was in jail when your brother found me, not you. Was I just a game to the two of you? Some competition?” She calmed her breathing and jolts of magic leaked from her fingertips, sending sparks across the floor. “I know why you came for me, but Loch? How does he play into all of this?”
“I don’t know.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And I don’t believe you.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Do you even know what that is?”
A knock sounded on the door and a gruff voice filtered through. “Lord Griffin, are you okay in there?”
“Yes,” Griff called back.
Brea pressed herself back against the cool window. “How did they know you were in here?”
Or that they were arguing? She thought of Neeve’s odd behavior when she brought up the message or the fact that she’d resorted to covert methods instead of speaking to Brea in the ample private time they had. Lifting her eyes to the vines creeping along the ceiling, she looked for any kind of listening devices. But this wasn’t like back home where they’d use cameras and recording devices.
No, here, magic could be anywhere.
She stepped toward Griff, forcing him back.
“My aunt is listening to me.” Her jaw clenched.
“That’s not possible.”
“Yes, it is. Anything is possible here.” She could see it in his expression, in the tightening of his eyes, the flattening of his lips. The truth. He’d known. “I need to be alone.” If she didn’t step away from him, she’d lose her minimal control over the power inside her.
“Brea—”
“Go!” The word roared out of her, a command more than a request.
Griff’s shoulders dropped, and he stared at her for a moment longer. “Not everything was a lie.” The words were so quiet she almost missed them.
When he was gone, she slumped onto her bed, the tension leaving her body as she sucked in a few deep breaths.
Nothing could be as perfect as this new life seemed. She should have known they didn’t want her around for her. It was all a scheme.
As a little girl, she’d never dreamed of being a princess or living in a palace. She’d only wanted to be as normal as everyone else, to have a family who loved her.
But that had been too good to be true.
How much of what Griff told her was a lie? She sat up, an impossible thought coming to her. Would he