The Glass Queen (The Forest of Good and Evil #2) - Gena Showalter Page 0,119

bristling. “Once you have offered reparation for your behavior today—arranging a marriage without my permission, glaring at me, and speaking to me as if I am your servant—we will chat.”

Saxon shouldered Milo aside. “I am her escort,” he said, hooking his arm through mine. “Until the tournament’s end, Princess Ashleigh Charmaine-Anskelisa belongs to me. A decree her father made the day of her arrival. If he lied to me, if you or anyone else touches her without my express permission, I will consider it a declaration of war.” He led me forward.

Oh, my. His intensity...his power. His jealousy? I fanned my overheating cheeks.

To me, he muttered, “I’m proud of you, Asha. You are calm and collected, while I am soon to shatter. How long have you known about the engagement?”

“Two seconds?” Maybe three. “I didn’t mean to agree to it, but there was no stopping Leonora.”

“That, I know. Your eyes flashed ice blue when you spoke.”

They had?

“Does she use him or punish me?” he asked.

“Both?” Classic Leonora, always upping the stakes. “But it doesn’t matter. You will win the tournament, and I will be released from the engagement. You have to win, Sax.”

“I will.” He’d never sounded so determined.

And so, the boy I wanted would wed my stepsister, as feared—as hoped—whether he wanted her or not.

I missed my next step, but with Saxon’s help I righted quickly.

“You are unwell?” he asked.

Yes. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be well again. I was going to lose Saxon. I’d known it, but to have it confirmed...

I bit the inside of my cheek. I still hadn’t figured out a place to live, but I had accepted that my father would never see worth in me, no matter what I did or said.

At the reminder, a damn broke, and years of hurt coursed within me in a rush. Why was I devastated by a truth I should have admitted ages ago? Why had I clung to hope? What had my father ever given me but rejection and toil? Today was the first day he’d ever smiled at me. He’d done it because he’d known what I hadn’t. He’d arranged what he considered an advantageous marriage for me. A powerful warlock had chosen his sickly daughter and when we wed—we wouldn’t wed—that warlock could aid the kingdom free of charge.

To King Philipp, I was nothing. Less than nothing. A thing to be used for gain.

He didn’t deserve my pain.

“Asha? Sweetheart?” Saxon rearranged his arms, slinging one around my lower back to rest his palm on the flare of my hip. He used the other to pin one of my hands to his chest. “Tell me what’s going on. If you are worried for Milo’s safety—”

“I’m not. I don’t like him. He’s sneaky and underhanded.”

Saxon visibly relaxed. “He’s dangerous. Far more so than I realized.”

Yes, far more so than I had realized, too. Milo knew my secret. The thing I both did and didn’t want Saxon to know. Had he guessed or not?

I needed to tell him. Surely I was wrong before. Surely he wouldn’t want to use me to kill Leonora.

His family would, though. I tossed a glance over my shoulder. Saxon’s family trailed us, both females glaring at me. In that moment, their identities clicked.

Hello, evil stepsisters.

I knew I was right, and glared right back. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of intimidating me.

Behind the duo, Milo escorted Dior, who looked horrified to be with the boy who’d chosen to wed another.

Undeniable guilt flared. “You should be escorting Dior,” I whispered to Saxon. While fate had seemed to strive to keep Saxon and me apart, it seemed to thrust Saxon and Dior together.

“Why?” he asked. “I don’t want her.”

“That’s...” I began to smile, but caught myself. “Terrible. She’s a good person and...” The emotional upheaval of the day was beginning to take its toll, this line of conversation suddenly too much for me. I finished with, “You’d be lucky to have her, that’s all.”

He vibrated with incredulity. “You want me to be with her?”

Not even a little. But what I wanted didn’t matter. I could only have what I could have.

“Ashleigh?” Saxon prompted.

“I want you happy,” I replied, and maybe I could have that.

Gaze softening, he reached out to stroke my ring, hanging between my breasts. “You make me happy.”

I gulped. “What does it mean? The ring, I mean.”

“Craven gave it to Leonora as a pledge of his eternal love.”

After so many other blows today, the information exploded like a bomb inside my head. The