Sea of Starlight (The Riven Kingdoms #2) - Shari L. Tapscott Page 0,51
help your kingdom, Cassia, but we need to be clear about one thing.”
“Yes, fine. What is it?”
Braeton steps close, holding a hand at my back to keep me from backing away. He leans in until his jaw hovers dangerously close to my ear, almost as if he’s going to tell me a secret. Softly, with his breath tickling my skin, he says, “I won’t do it for your father or your brother or your people. I’ll do it for you, Cassia. You alone.”
I blink, unsure how to answer.
Swallowing a pang of desperate longing, I press my hand to the prince’s chest and slowly push him back to a safe distance. “If I agree.”
“If,” he confirms with a solemn nod.
“Which I haven’t done yet.”
“I know.”
“And you can’t charm me into it, so…stop.”
His eyebrows go up, and he looks genuinely astonished. “I…I wasn’t.”
“You were,” I argue, waving my hand at him. “With the ‘you and you alone’ speech.” I poke a finger at his chest. “Don’t think I can’t see right through you.”
Braeton presses his lips together, looking like he’s trying not to laugh. If he’s acting, he’s doing a fine job of it. Even his cheeks grow pink.
“Is it so hard to believe someone might like you, Cassia?” he finally says.
“Yes. I mean, no. But you are…. And I am…”
I can’t think straight. Did Braeton say he likes me? Was that a confession, or simply a rhetorical question tossed out on a whim?
The Renovian prince studies me too closely, and I shift back, putting a little more distance between us.
“I need to go,” I finally say.
Braeton catches my hand as I try to turn. “I shouldn’t have asked you to help me escape. I put you in a terrible position, and I appreciate that you even contemplated it. Let’s put this behind us.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to help you,” I murmur.
“I know,” he answers, his hand still holding mine. “But I would rather stay here, in the middle of a strange game of tug-of-war between your brother and father, than have you think I’m using you. Please believe me when I say that meeting you has made this whole ordeal one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”
My heart swells, and I feel like my feet no longer touch the ground.
“You’re doing it again,” I whisper.
Ignoring me, he continues, “You’ve become a true friend, Cassia. Do not doubt it.”
A friend. A friend.
I force a nonchalant laugh. “We’ve gotten rather somber, haven’t we? Goodness.”
Braeton chuckles, shaking his head. Then, with no warning, he tugs me close and wraps his arms around me. I go still in his arms, as startled as I was the first time he embraced me while he was sick.
“Thank you for everything,” he says softly.
I close my eyes, reprimanding myself for liking this quite so much.
My arms lift without my permission, and I wrap them around Braeton’s middle, returning his embrace.
For just a moment, he tenses under my touch, and then he relaxes. I bite my bottom lip, trying to hold back a giddy smile.
“Cassia?” he says softly, his breath against my temple.
“Hmm?” I pull back just enough to meet his eyes.
Before he can answer, the chamber door unexpectedly swings open. Edwin freezes on the other side, and Braeton and I leap apart.
My brother’s expression goes slack. But he’s not the imminent threat because he’s not alone.
“Hello, Father,” I say, and dread pools in my stomach.
My father’s expressionless stare is terrifying.
Hoping there is a chance he didn’t see me in Braeton’s arms, I plaster a smile on my face and take another step away from the Renovian prince.
Edwin widens his eyes, glancing at Father and then back at me, looking like he swallowed his pewter frog.
“Cassia,” Father says sharply. “You shouldn’t be here.”
I turn to Braeton, terrified. Our conversation about losing his head doesn’t seem quite so amusing anymore.
Without giving us so much as a word to explain ourselves, Father steps into the hall. “Take the prisoner to the dungeon.”
“Father!” I protest, but I needn’t bother because he doesn’t even pretend to listen to me.
Devin walks inside, refusing to look my way. He and his fellow guard grasp Braeton by the arms.
“NO!” I protest. “This isn’t Braeton’s fault—he didn’t do anything. I was the one—”
“Enough,” Father says sharply, his hard, gray eyes meeting mine.
I shy back, certain I’ve never heard him use that cold, dead tone on me.
“Do not despair, Cassia,” he says. “I will deal with you as well.”