is alliances, and I plan to do just that tonight, looking gorgeous, by the way.”
The lines bracketing Bell’s mouth smoothed out at the joke, just as she knew it would, and soon she had him discussing his wardrobe for the evening. The tension cleared as Xandrian joined in, followed by Surai.
They didn’t even notice when Haven quietly removed herself from the conversation, relieved to no longer have to pretend to be excited about her dress or the evening or . . . anything, really.
Because when she peeled back the superficial emotions she plastered around her like a wall, all she felt was fury.
Fury and fear.
She was just finishing wiping her mouth on a napkin when something drew her attention to Stolas, who was watching her while the others debated silk versus linen.
His chin was dipped forward, his silver eyes more blue than normal as they studied her beneath heavy lashes.
On instinct, she began the process of lifting her lips in a smile when he said into her mind, Don’t.
Her poor attempt at a grin faltered, died. Don’t what? Grin at you? Fine.
Not when it’s a lie. I’d rather you rake your nails across my face than feel the need to deceive me.
For some reason, shame seized her chest, followed by that all too familiar anger. At Archeron. At the Shadeling. Her mother. Herself.
And then, a slow, creeping bitterness at Stolas for not letting her deal with her trauma her own way. For insisting she show him beneath the happy veneer to the monstrous, unfettered rage and trauma beneath.
Fingers curling into fists, she flicked a dark look his way, scowling, letting him feel the roiling darkness skimming beneath the surface.
If that’s what he wanted, fine. He could have it. All of it. Better?
She expected him to recoil. But he held her stare.
And when his wide, full lips slowly lifted into a wolfish grin, there was no doubt the emotion was real.
Immensely.
16
The dinner King Eros planned for them was elaborate but thankfully private. Other than the attendants who summoned them at dusk and the few servants bustling in and out, only Eros, Neri, and Haven’s party attended.
Haven nearly balked as she followed her attendant through a series of corridors and then down an impossibly long, deep stairwell. The sensation of the ocean pressing in on them grew until she could almost hear the deep waters rushing in and around the bricked tunnel they passed through.
On the other side, she was rewarded with a huge conical chamber made of the clearest glass she’d ever seen. And hopefully the thickest, considering they were situated in a deep basin on the bottom of the harbor’s sandy floor, surrounded by turquoise water.
Enchanted, Haven pressed her fingers against the curved wall, watching the orange and silver schools of fish dart past. Coral of every color rose like a city around them, a home to sea creatures beyond her wildest imagination.
Neri joined Haven. The blue silk draped over the queen’s lithe body was the same color as the ocean, and it flowed with her every graceful movement. “This is perhaps my favorite place in all the kingdom.”
“I can see why.” A smile flitted over Haven’s lips as a metallic blue-green jellyfish undulated past them in the current. “It’s like they don’t even notice us . . . or care how much power and magick we might have. They live in an entirely different world, with different rules and hierarchies.”
Neri blinked, her surprise turning to approval before she slid her attention to the reef. “If we’re lucky we might even see the enormous white-fin sharks that hunt in these waters.”
Bell, who was the final one in their party to arrive, flashed a scholarly smile that meant he was about to give one of his lectures. “According to old accounts from the record books, the reef was all but decimated after the last court fled. Years of living without mortals near the ocean let it thrive again.”
“Very good,” Neri murmured, this time not bothering to mask her approval.
“We do have a penchant for ruining things,” Haven added.
With a sigh, Haven tore her gaze from the colorful scene and followed Neri and Bell. A long table had been set up to accommodate their party, and Haven was pleasantly surprised to see that Eros had set a chair next to his at the table’s head for Neri.
Most mortal kings would never dream of putting their wife at the head position. But after hearing they were undeserving of a male’s respect from birth,