Page 59 of The Shadows Between Us
“A lady never kisses after the first outing.”
“So you wanted to?” Now his eyes snap upward. They narrow in on my black eye like an arrow honing for a target. He rises and strides up to me. “What happened? Did Leandros—?”
“Of course not.”
He raises a hand up to my face, and I hold perfectly still. A single gloved finger reaches forward and briefly brushes the skin beneath my eye. The leather is smooth and cold.
Kallias’s hand tightens into a fist and drops to his side.
“He took me boxing.”
“Boxing?”
“He took me to watch the matches. After I won several bets in a row on which player would beat the other, I decided to try my own hand at it.”
Kallias looks as though someone has just presented him a question with an impossible answer. “Why?Why the devils would you do that? You were beaten!”
I raise myself up tall. “Well, yes. But I had a marvelous time until then.”
A breathy laugh escapes the king’s lips, and I can tell the humor isn’t kind.
“Why are you here?” I snap.
“I canceled my evening of meetings,” he says. “I thought to surprise you by taking you out tonight. But you weren’t anywhere to be found. I thought to wait for you.”
“How many hours have you spent sitting on my bed?”
He runs his fingers through his hair in an angry swipe. “Why would you spend the evening with Leandros?”
“Does it matter who I spent the evening with? He’s kind and fun andactually has time for me.”
Kallias is quiet for a moment, likely trying to come up with his next argument. I don’t give him the chance.
“I agreed to your scheme,” I say. “I’m playing the part of your beau. But you know what else came with the deal, Kallias? Friendship. You promised me a friend in you. You weren’t delivering. I had to seek friendship elsewhere.”
“You have Rhoda and Hestia,” he says.
“Rhoda and Hestia aren’t going to ask me to dance at parties. Do you know that no men will approach me? I’m off-limits. It’s as if I have contracted the plague.”
He’s silent.
“Leandros and his friends are the only ones who treat me like a person rather than the future queen. Do you know why they empathize with me? Why they befriended me? Because they, too, know what it’s like for you to call them friends and then cast them aside.
“Maybe Iwastempted to kiss Leandros. Maybe I’m lonely. Surely you know what that’s like!”
Kallias recoils, as though I slapped him.
I don’t feel sorry. Not one bit.
“I’m not a doll that you can dress up and leave alone until you’re ready to play with me, Kallias. I’m a person. And if you can’t respect that, I’ll pack my things and leave tomorrow.”
Oh, I really hope it’s not the last of the ale talking. Surely it’s my sensible mind, knowing that Kallias won’t call my bluff. That he’ll apologize and beg me to stay. That he’ll change his ways and start paying me attention.
Or perhaps I couldn’t control the threat, drunk or not. Kallias angers me in a way no person ever has. Not even my father.
I hold my breath, waiting for him to say something.
The king’s shadows flare, like flames engulfing his whole body. He turns without looking back and leaves, melting through the wall of solid stone.
