And then two more people joined them. One was Theo and the other one was Augustus. Years of burying her feelings held her in good stead as she plastered a smile on her face and set about greeting them.
‘Your Majesties,’ she said, curtseying to them, and something of her hurt must have shown on her face as she rose because Augustus frowned and started to say something. Whatever it was, she didn’t want to hear it. ‘What a surprise.’
‘A pleasant one, I hope,’ said Theo as he took her gloved hand and lifted it to his lips.
‘Oh, we all live in hope,’ she offered. ‘I live in hope that one day the people I hold dear will have my back, but that day’s not here yet.’
‘Yes, it is; you just can’t see it,’ Theo countered. ‘I’m here, welcome or not, with the ulterior motive of being seen with you in public.’
‘Indeed, I can see the headlines now. Ice Princess Falls for Playboy King. Liesendaach Gives It a Week.’
‘Perhaps.’ Theo didn’t discount it. ‘Or I can give your publicity officer here a quote about how much respect I have for you as a person and as a representative of the royal family of Arun. I can mention that it’s no hardship whatsoever to continue to offer you my friendship, admiration and support. I can add that I’m not at all dismayed that you’re now free of your ridiculous childhood betrothal to the new King of Byzenmaach. And we can see how that goes down.’
The press advisor melted away with a nod in Theo’s direction. Theo and her brother stayed put.
‘Damage control, Moriana. Look it up,’ Theo said curtly.
‘Well, I guess you’d know all about that.’
‘I do.’ But he didn’t defend his wild past or the chaos he occasionally still stirred. He never did. Theodosius of Liesendaach didn’t answer to anyone.
A small—very tiny—part of her respected that.
‘So,’ she said. ‘Welcome to my annual Children’s Hospital Charity Auction. Have you seen the catalogue?’
‘I have not.’
‘I’ll have one sent over.’ She nodded towards some nearby display cases. ‘By all means, look around. You might see something you like.’
‘You won’t accompany me?’
‘No, I’m working.’ He’d dressed immaculately, as usual. No one wore a suit quite the way Theo did. He was broad-shouldered and slim-hipped. Tall enough to look down on almost everyone in the room. His cropped blond hair was nothing remarkable and his face was clean-shaven. It wasn’t a pretty face. A little too stern and altogether too craggy. Lips that knifed towards cruel when he was in a bad mood. His eyes were his best feature by far. She might as well give the devil his due. They were icy blue-grey and often coolly amused. They were amused now.
‘I have other duties to attend and people to greet,’ she continued bluntly. ‘How fortunate Augustus is here to take care of you. What a good friend.’
‘Indeed he is.’ Theo’s gaze had yet to leave hers. ‘I like it when you wear red. The colour suits you and so do the pearls. My compliments to your wardrobe mistress.’
‘I’ll be sure to let her know. I mean, it’s not as if I could ever be in charge of my own clothing choices, right? Who knows what I’d come up with?’ There was something different about Theo tonight. Something fierce and implacable and hungry. She bared her teeth right back at him. ‘Any other underhand compliments you’d like to shower me with before I take my leave?’
Augustus winced. ‘Moria—’
‘No!’ She cut him off. ‘You don’t get to diminish me either. All your fine talk this morning of supporting my decisions, of letting me be. I believed you. Yet here we are.’
‘Your brother’s not at fault,’ Theo said smoothly. ‘Moriana, we need to talk.’
‘About your proposal? My reply is in the mail, seeing as that’s your preferred method of communication. Seeing as you’re here, I dare say I can give you the highlights. I refuse. It’s not you, it’s me. Or maybe it is you and all those other women I’d have to live up to, I don’t know. Either way, my answer’s no. I am done listening to the two-faced, self-serving babble of kings. Now, if you’ll both excuse me.’
‘Go. Greet your guests. We can talk after you’re done here. I’ll wait,’ said Theo the Magnanimous. ‘I’m good at waiting.’
Moriana laughed. She couldn’t help it. ‘Theo, you may have waited for your crown but you’ve never waited on a woman in your life.’
She was close enough to see his jaw clench. Close enough to see hot temper flare in those eyes that ran more towards grey tonight than blue. ‘Oh, Princess. Always so wrong.’
It wasn’t easy to turn away from the challenge in his gaze but she did it, more mindful than ever of Aury’s warning. This wasn’t the boy she remembered from childhood or the teenager who’d poked and prodded at her until she’d snapped back. This was the man who’d watched and waited for ten long years before rising and taking his country back. This was the hawk in the granary.
And maybe, just maybe, she was the mouse.
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, after personally greeting all the guests in attendance and seeing that they were well lubricated, Moriana looked for Theo again. Not that she had to look hard. She always knew where Theo was in a room, just as she always tracked where her security detail was, and where her brother was. It was an awareness that would have made a seasoned soldier proud and she’d been trained for it since birth.
Know your exits. Know where your support is. Know where your loved ones are at any given moment. Theo wasn’t a loved one but he’d always been included in that equation for he’d been a treasured child of royalty too. The last of his line and therefore important.
Casimir, her former intended, had also been the last of his line and she’d always tracked his whereabouts too, whenever they’d been at functions together. She’d misplaced Casimir on occasion—no one was perfect. She’d misplaced him on several occasions.
Many occasions.
Moving on.
Theo didn’t look up from the display he was browsing as she made her way to his side. He didn’t look up even as he began to speak. ‘You’re good at this,’ he said.
‘Thank you.’ She wanted to believe he could pay her a genuine compliment, not that he ever had before. ‘I’ve been hosting this particular fundraiser for the past seven years and I have it down to a fine art, pardon the pun. Collecting the auction items, curating the guest list, knowing what people want and what they’ll pay to have it. Knowing who else they might want to see socially. People say I have a knack for fundraising, as if I simply fling things together at the last minute and hope for the best, but I don’t. I put a lot of work into making sure these evenings flow like water and do what they’re meant to do.’
‘I don’t doubt it,’ he said, finally turning his gaze on her. ‘Hence the compliment.’ He tilted his head a fraction. ‘You’re an exceptional ambassador for your people and you’d have been an exceptional asset to Casimir as queen consort. It’s Byzenmaach’s loss.’
He wasn’t the first person to say that to her tonight and he probably wouldn’t be the last. ‘I doubt Casimir’s feeling any loss.’ She didn’t like how thready she sounded. As if she’d been stretched too thin for far too long.
‘He hurt you.’ Three simple words that cracked her wide open.
‘Don’t. Theo, please. Leave it alone. It’s done.’
She turned away, suddenly wanting to get away from the sedate auction room and the gossip and the expectations that came with being a Princess of Arun. Perfect composure, always. Unrivalled social graces. A memory trained to remember names and faces. She had a welcome speech to give in fifteen minutes. Who would give it if she walked out?
He stopped her before she’d taken a step. The subtle shift of his body and the force of his silent appraisal blocked her retreat. ‘You’re not coping,’ he said quietly. ‘Tell me what you need.’
She didn’t know why his softly spoken words hurt so much, but they did. ‘Damn you, Theo. Don’t do this to me. Don’t be attentive all of a sudden because you want something from me. Do what you usually do. Fight. Snarl. Be you. Give me something I know how to respond to.’
He stilled, his face a granite mask, and she had the sudden, inexplicable feeling she’d just dealt him a brutal blow. And then his gaze cut away from her face and he took a deep breath and when he looked at her again he wore a fierce and reckless smile she knew all too well. ‘I’ll fight you mentally, physically, whatever you need, until we both bleed,’ he promised, his voice a vicious caress. ‘Just as soon as you stop breaking in front of me. I know your family trained you to hide weakness better than this. It’s what you do. It’s all you do. So do it.’
Yes. This was what she needed from him, and to hell with why. No one said she was the most well-balanced princess in the universe.
Thread by thread she pulled herself together, drawing on the anger she sensed in him to bolster her own. Build a wall—any wall. Anger, righteous indignation, icy disdain, attention to duty, whatever it took to keep the volcano of feelings in check.
‘Have you seen the Vermeer?’ she asked finally, when she had herself mostly back under control. ‘I thought of you when it first came in. It would round out Liesendaach’s Dutch collection.’
He studied her for what felt like hours, before nodding, as if she’d do, and then held out his arm for her to claim. ‘All right, Princess. Persuade me.’
* * *
