The Princess and The Jester - A.D. McCammon Page 0,54

she.”

It’s a relief to hear Violet isn’t as in the dark about the whole Arwen and Aidan situation as I thought. I hated there being another secret between us. The last one devastated her, but she seems almost amused about Arwen’s pretense.

Their disappearing act has probably been obvious to everyone. They haven’t been very smart about it. I went looking for Arwen earlier and caught them locked up in a guestroom together. Even then she tried to play off their involvement. I’m not sure if the girl believes she’s fooling everyone, or if she’s simply lying to herself.

I chuckle. “Nah, let her have this. I’m guessing she won’t tell us until she’s ready to admit it’s real. The badass Arwen isn’t afraid of anything except catching feelings.”

Violet’s shoulders bounce with her laughter. “All three of you have some serious issues when it comes to relationships,” she teases.

“And this is why we’re so close, Saint. Isn’t it a beautiful thing when fucked up people find each other?”

Gwen remains unmoving as I slowly stalk toward her, chirping crickets the only thing filling the silence between us. She’s not happy with me or the fact that I told Aidan to leave. He was the last guest straggling behind, and I was tired of waiting to be alone with her.

She shoots to her feet once I reach the patio chair she’s sitting in, not so subtly putting more space between us. Her eyes narrow as I smirk.

“You don’t have the right to tell my guests to leave,” she sasses, crossing her arms.

I regard her with a tilted head, the smile on my face growing. She’s so adorable when she’s heated. “Are you angry with me, Princess?”

She huffs, throwing her arms up with exasperation. “What do you think? You’ve been lying to me for weeks. This entire time, you’ve just been…”

She pauses as emotion clouds her features, swallowing them back down before continuing.

“All of this was some kind of sick payback for you.” Her words hold more pain than fury, causing an ache in my chest.

When she looks down at her feet, I inch closer. “How do you think it felt finding out that the girl I was falling for was the same one who broke my heart?”

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” she croaks, her hazel eyes filled with remorse as they meet mine again. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you or lie to you.”

“What were you trying to do?” I press.

“I don’t know.” She shrugs, chewing her bottom lip. “It wasn’t some carefully thought out scheme, okay? I missed you. But you were never going to talk to me, so I thought—”

“You’d be someone else?” I jab.

It feels good to hear her say she missed me, but it doesn’t excuse what she did.

Guilt creases her brow as she shakes her head. “Not someone else. I didn’t pretend to be someone I wasn’t. Or change my personality. It was all me.”

That’s true. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it’s why we clicked so easily from the beginning.

Her eyes watch me with caution as I come toe-to-toe with her. “But you refused to tell me who you were. Why?”

“I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t,” she answers, her voice shallow from the weight of the sorrow it’s holding.

“Does it have anything to do with Shane blackmailing you?”

The color drains from her face, her eyes glossing over with tears. “What? How did you…?”

“That’s not important.” I tuck her hair behind her ears, cupping her head in my hands. “You don’t have to worry about him anymore. I took care of it. He won’t bother you again.”

“Oh god,” she says, tugging my hands away from her face. “You…you talked to him? What did he say?” Her words are stuttered as she takes a step back, genuine fear painted on her pretty face.

My stomach gets queasy. The asshole really did a number on her. It’s a good thing she and I didn’t have this talk before I paid him a visit or the fucker might’ve ended up in the hospital.

“Not much,” I reply, the tension in my gut hidden by the casual tone. “He tried to deny it at first.”

She shifts on her feet, her gaze jumpy as it avoids me. “He didn’t tell you…”

“No, he didn’t tell me what he’s holding over your head.” I grab her hand to pull her close again and lift her chin, forcing her to meet my stare. “You don’t have to tell me, either,” I reassure her. “But…there’s one