He leaned forward, just slightly, and Mina had to stop herself from pulling him to her in one move. Instead, she thought of Felix, and went up on her toes to place a single kiss below his jaw, where she could feel the heavy heartbeat underneath his skin.
That simple moment of contact seemed to break whatever self-control he was still clinging to, and he pulled Mina to him, his mouth pressing down on hers.
If she had known that all she had to do was kiss him first, she would have done it a long time ago.
He pushed her away suddenly, turning his back on the portrait and Mina both as he ran his hands through his hair. When he faced her again, his eyes flashed with defiance. “Marry me,” he said.
The words sounded so sweet to her that Mina wanted to hear them again. And she waited long enough that she did.
He stormed toward her, pulling her to him with one arm around her waist. “I don’t care about your father. I want you to marry me. Will you be my wife and my queen?”
Mina let out a shaky laugh. “I will, with all my heart.”
He kissed her again, and then he just held her close, like someone might try to take her away from him. But Mina had fought so hard for this moment that she knew nothing could loosen her hold now. She clung to him in relief, her lips grazing his neck, but then she felt his heart pounding against her chest, and she quickly put some space between them, worried he would notice that she didn’t have a heartbeat of her own. She would have to be careful not to let any embraces linger too long.
Nicholas kissed her temple. “One more thing,” he said. “We have to tell Lynet.”
“Now? Isn’t it late for us to go to her?” Mina said.
He released her and strode toward the door. “Gossip moves quickly, and I don’t want her to hear it from anyone but me.” Nicholas sent for his daughter, and then he turned back to Mina, his expression serious. “You understand, of course, that I can’t allow Lynet to become too attached to you. I don’t want your father to be alone with her, and if that means that you’ll have to keep her at a distance, then so be it.”
“Of course,” Mina said. She would have been a fool to say otherwise, no matter what fondness she had for the girl.
When Lynet arrived, eyes a little red from sleep but still bright and curious, Nicholas stood by Mina. He looked at her, and then at his daughter, and he took a step forward. He cleared his throat and said, “We have something to tell you, Lynet.” He paused, probably wishing that Lynet would piece the news together and announce it herself to spare him the effort. When she didn’t, he continued: “You’re going to be a queen one day. You know that, don’t you?”
Lynet solemnly nodded her head.
“But until that day comes, this kingdom needs a queen, and that means I … I have to marry again. Do you understand?”
She nodded again, her eyes darting to Mina.
“Mina and I are going to be married,” Nicholas finally said.
Lynet looked directly at Mina now and tried to hide a smile. “You’re going to marry my papa?”
“I am,” Mina said.
“Does that mean you’ll be my mama?”
Mina started to speak, but Nicholas descended on Lynet, going to one knee in front of her. “Listen to me, Lynet. Just because I’m marrying again doesn’t mean I’m trying to replace your mother.” He gestured to the portrait. “That’s your mama, and she always will be. Mina is going to be your stepmother.”
Lynet’s lower lip started to jut forward, but she stopped it before it could become a pout. She looked pleadingly over her father’s shoulder at Mina.
But Mina had already made her choice. “Your father is right,” she said.
Lynet shuffled closer to Mina, staring up at her with those eyes she’d inherited from her mother—but the truth was that she had no mother, except for the snow. Maybe some part of her understood that, and that was why she wasn’t willing to give Mina up so easily. Lynet carefully wrapped her arms around Mina’s waist, laying her head against Mina’s stomach.
Nicholas was watching them, waiting to see how Mina would respond. And despite the girl’s arms around her waist, Mina felt a fierce stab of resentment toward her for making such a gesture in the first place and endangering Mina’s precarious new position. She hung on to that resentment, irrational as it was. She would need it to do what she had to do next.
Mina gently drew the girl away from her. Nicholas nodded his approval, and Mina focused on that rather than on the dejected slump of Lynet’s shoulders. Nicholas took Lynet’s hand to lead her away, and Mina kept her eyes on him rather than on Lynet’s bowed head. If ever there was a time to be heartless, it was now.
16
LYNET
The king’s had an accident.
Lynet knew that could mean any number of things, that there was no reason to think anything terrible had happened, but she knew from the sudden numbness in her fingertips she should expect the worst.
“Is it—” Nadia started to say, but then her head moved just barely in Lynet’s direction and she simply nodded. “I’ll come at once.”
The moment Nadia turned to get her surgeon’s bag, Lynet pushed past her and ran out the door. “Lynet, wait!” she heard Nadia calling after her, but she couldn’t wait. The truth couldn’t be as terrible as what she was imagining, and so she needed to know the truth at once.
The courtyard was crowded with people, most of them gathered around a few men in riding habits—noblemen who’d accompanied the king on his hunt. In the low rumble of the crowd, Lynet made out the words stag and blood, but she didn’t want to hear any exaggerated reports—she wanted to see her father.
Still, she stood frozen on the edge of the crowd, unsure how she would make her way through it without anyone stopping her. Desperately, she looked up: maybe if she scaled the walls, no one would notice, and she would get to her father’s rooms faster.
She jumped as a hand came around her waist. Nadia had caught up with her, and she didn’t say anything as she ushered Lynet through the crowd, shielding her from curious eyes.
Mina was already there when they reached her father’s rooms, alone except for the scarred huntsman. There was blood on his hands and forearms, the flash of red drawing Lynet’s attention at once.
Mina staggered and put one hand on the huntsman’s arm to keep herself upright. It was the sight of her stepmother, ashen and disoriented, that made Lynet lose what remaining composure she had.
“Where is he?” Lynet ran forward, not caring about her fear of the huntsman. “What happened?” She took hold of his arm and decided she wouldn’t let go until he told her. “Please.”
He looked to the queen, but she hardly seemed to notice Lynet at all. “An accident,” he said to Lynet. “A stag.”