Page 48 of The Shadows Between Us
“You deemed him unacceptable for Chrysantha but acceptable for me?”
He pauses only a beat before saying, “Your circumstances are different.”
Because she is his favorite, and I am not. “The point is to elevate my station! Why would you try to make me a countess when I’m trying to become a queen?”
Father shakes his head sadly. “I’m proud of you for trying, but it’s an important lesson to learn to recognize when you’ve been beaten.”
I know when I’ve been beaten, and I have barely even started.
“You will see reason,” he adds. “Once you’ve had time to come to terms with everything. Now why don’t you let me escort you home?”
I look up to the ceiling, gathering my thoughts and calming my tone. “Let me make things perfectly clear, Father. I am not cattle you can sell off, and you can’t force me into a marriage I don’t want. Not when the king himself is providing for my every comfort.”
Father purses his lips. “You will wed Eliades or be disinherited.”
“Then disinherit me! The king sends me expensive gifts. I have plenty of money, and I live in the palace. There is nothing you can do to threaten me. You’ve outlived your usefulness, Father. You gotme into the palace, and now I can take it from here. In fact, once I win the king’s favor, I’ll make sure you don’t seeone pennyout ofmytreasury.”
The room goes quiet, and Father looks at me in alarm for all of a second. “Take some time before you resort to dramatics, Alessandra. I will check in with you later.”
He strides from the room, but his steps are unsure.
BEFORE THE SUN ISquite up the next morning—long before the servants should arrive—I let myself into Myron’s rooms. He hasn’t bothered to lock his doors, so I open one door after the next, until I find the bedroom. The setup is completely identical to my room; however, Myron hasn’t gone through any trouble to decorate to his own tastes.
I slide over to the bed on slippered feet and let my gaze take in Myron’s sleeping form. So vulnerable. If I wanted to kill him, I could do it now.
But what I’ve done to Myron is so much sweeter than letting him get off easy with death.
I reach down one gloved hand and flick the end of his nose as hard as I can.
Myron inhales deeply and sits up in one movement, his eyes widening until he realizes it’s me in the room. He rubs the sleep from his eyes.
“If you’re here because you’ve changed your mind about the nature of our relationship, I’m afraid I don’t want you anymore,” Myron says after a long yawn. “Now kindly leave so I can go back to sleep.”
He makes to settle back into his blankets.
This time I slap him.
That gets his attention.
“What the hell?” he demands. “Need I remind you—”
I hold a paper before his nose. “You’re going to leave the palace immediately. As soon as I walk out that door, you will pack up your things and be gone, never to return. I never want to see your face or hear your name again.”
“What is this?” He reaches for the note, but I yank it back lest he get any ideas of destroying it.
“This is a debtor contract.”
Myron scrunches his nose in confusion.
“I have purchased all of your debts,” I say simply. “From the club. From the men you owe money to. All of it. You now owe me five thousand necos.”
His whole body goes perfectly still.
“Nothing to say?” I ask. “Let me make this perfectly clear in case you don’t understand.I own you. One misstep from you, and I send you to debtors’ prison for inability to pay on your substantial debts. How long do you think it would take your brother to get you out of there? Or—do you think he’d even bother?”
I watch every move of Myron’s throat as he swallows, relishing every second of his new misery.
“You will give back any money you’ve accepted from the nobility, and you will cease to claim any connection to me. If you so much as breathe in a direction I don’t like, I’ll make sure you never see the outside of a jail cell.”
