He shrugged.
She laughed again. “So what then, exactly, is the difference between you and Atlantis?”
“I still gave you a choice. You came back here of your own will.”
“No, I came back here because you cornered me. You played fast and loose with my life. You—”
She fell back against the wall, her face contorted by pain.
“Thinking of reneging on the oath already?” He could only imagine the agony that slashed through her.
She looked as if she could scarcely breathe. Her voice was hoarse. “This cannot be a valid pact. Release me now!”
“No.”
Never.
She closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, they were full of cold fury. “What kind of person are you, to live without honor or integrity?”
His nails dug into his palm. “Obviously, the kind chosen for what others are too decent to do.”
He wanted to come across as flippant, but instead he sounded harsh and angry.
She clenched her hand. “I liked you much, much better when I didn’t know you.”
It did not matter. He had what he wanted from her. What she thought of him was henceforth irrelevant.
He had to draw a deep breath before he could reply. “Your affection is not required in this endeavor, Fairfax, only your cooperation.”
She stared at him. Suddenly she was right before him. Her fist struck him hard low in the abdomen.
He grunted. The girl knew how to hurt someone.
“You bastard,” she snarled.
An irrelevant thought gripped him: he should have kissed her when he still had the chance.
He straightened with some effort. “Supper is in half an hour, Fairfax. And next time, tell me something I do not already know.”
CHAPTER 9
EVERY THOUGHT BROUGHT AGONY.
Iolanthe didn’t know when she collapsed on the floor, but it was as good a place as any to suffer.
The pain was unlike any she’d ever known—messy and brutal, dirty, rusty blades scraping along her every nerve ending. She almost prayed for the clean blackness of suffocation.
It took her a long, long time to find ways to think that did not renew the torture. It was painless to picture the prince’s eventual wife cuckolding him with every attendant in the castle. It was also all right to imagine his children detesting him. And most satisfying of all, it did not hurt to envision the entire population of Delamer spitting on his casket, for his funeral to turn into a farce and a riot.
She didn’t need to be a historian to know that the House of Elberon had been in decline. No doubt he wanted to revive its fortunes and make his mark. No doubt he wanted to be the next great prince. She was but a pawn in his plan, just as for the Bane she was but a thing to be sucked dry and discarded.
She felt raw and depleted, as if she’d come through a terrible illness. She almost could not believe that when she’d awakened this day, her biggest concern had been Rosie Oakbluff’s wedding. That seemed years ago, a different lifetime altogether.
Holding on to the edge of the desk, she pulled herself upright.
Somehow this was not too unknown a place, being barely on her feet while the world reeled around her. In fact, there was an eerie familiarity to it: each time Master Haywood had lost his post, she’d thought they’d come to an abyss from which they’d never emerge.
Except this time, it really was the abyss, the end of life as she knew it.
What should she do?
As if to answer her question, her stomach grumbled—she’d been too nervous at tea and too distracted by her thoughts in the inn. She almost laughed. She was still alive, so she must eat—and downstairs supper awaited.
This she was accustomed to: carrying on no matter what; making the best of a terrible situation.
What else was there to do?
Titus knocked on her door and received no answer.
“You do not want supper?”
Still no answer.
He went down by himself. To his surprise, when he arrived outside the dining room, she was already there, deep in conversation with Wintervale. Or rather, Wintervale analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of rival houses’ cricket teams, and she listened attentively.
Wintervale must have said something funny. She threw back her head and laughed. The sight stopped Titus cold: she was terrifyingly pretty. He did not understand how Wintervale could stand so close and not realize a thing.
Wintervale continued talking. She gazed upon him with a frank appreciation. The urge came upon Titus to smash Wintervale into a china cabinet. It was difficult to believe that he had known her only mere hours: she had already turned his life upside down.