Page 135 of The Shadows Between Us
My hands drift to his hair, still slightly damp. There’s a hint of some other scent about him, but I can’t quite place it. It mixes nicely with the rose.
I wish Kallias would walk in. I wish he would think to check my progress. Wish he would change his mind and ask me to stay. Beg me for forgiveness. Get on his knees and—
“Are you all right?” Leandros asks, pulling away. “You seem distracted.”
All the years of practice with my previous lovers makes it easy to pretend. “You make it hard for me to think.”
He grins.
“You are too good for me,” I say. “How can you be so kind when I rejected you? Leandros, I’m so sorry. I never should have said no.”
He leans forward and kisses the tip of my nose. “Think nothing of it. I knew you would see my merits eventually.”
I smile as my eyes catch sight of the window. The sun is beginning to set. “I have to go. He ordered me away before sunset.”
“Don’t worry. You won’t be gone long.”
I reach for what I can find. A small purse of money. My favorite jacket to protect me from the cold. “You saw how angry he was.”
“Give me some time to talk with him. You’ll be back at court, this time on my arm, in no time.”
I feel sick. No, just miserable. Kallias would never permit me back at court, and even if he did, I couldn’t bear it to be here and not with him. I kissed Leandros, and for what? It didn’t make me feel better. It didn’t enrage Kallias. All it did was give Leandros false hope.
Perhaps not entirely false. I can’t go back to my father. He’ll probably throw me out just like I did to him at my ball. My best chance is to marry quickly. Perhaps I can persuade Leandros to make an offer for me and then keep me in his country estate.
“I will write to you,” I say.
“I will collect you,” he answers. “When it’s time.”
So optimistic. How does he manage it all the time? Surely it must be exhausting.
CHAPTER
29
The carriage clops along the street, wending down the slope of the mountain, carrying me to an inn located at the base.
In all my misery, I failed to realize one thing.
I’m lucky to be alive. Kallias had every right and authority to order my immediate death. He could have me hanged along with Vasco and Zervas.
But he told me to go.
Why?
Why would he do that?
Not a single reason comes to mind.
The passing scenery makes me sick. It reminds me of when Kallias and I rode up the mountain together. When I fell into him. When he trusted me with his secrets. When he remained a gentleman while we went swimming.
He was anything but a gentleman last night.
My heart seems to break all over again when I remember our time together. When I think of his touches and kisses. When I think of the things he whispered into my hair.
Oh, but I did love him.
But he was cruel in forcing the confession from me. And when I told him how I loved him, he laughed in my face.
