Page 91 of Rise of the Vicious Princess

“Because you’ll tell me the truth, no matter how it makes me feel.”

He glared at her for a moment and then said, “Fine. What’s the question?”

“Am I being foolish?”

“For asking my opinion about whatever this is? Yes.”

“No, for thinking about him like this. Or worse, for keeping him as my bodyguard when I’m having trouble viewing him as just a friendly staff member.”

He sighed. “I don’t like it when Mother and Nalani tell me I have to politely flirt with people at court. I despise having to act in a way that goes against my nature. I don’t think it’s good for anyone to feel forced to ignore their true selves.”

“I’m not sure this is the same thing.”

“Do you like having him around?”

“Yes.”

“Does he like being around?”

“I’m pretty sure he does, but what about in a few months when I have to marry the Montevallian prince? Is it fair to think about Tal like this when nothing can come of it?”

“Can you just . . . stop? If you decide nothing can come of it, can you turn off that part of yourself and never be bothered by it again?” Holland sounded genuinely curious.

Charis considered his question as Tal began making his way toward them. “No, I don’t think I can.”

“Then all you can do is decide each day what you will do and what you won’t do. Just because you feel something doesn’t mean you have to act on it.” Holland lowered his voice as Tal came near. “For example, next time you decide to have a conversation about romance, you could hold off on those feelings until you’re with my sister.”

“You two seem to be discussing something important,” Tal said as he stopped beside Charis and leaned on the railing.

Warmth flooded Charis’s face, and she studied the water and chose her words carefully. “Holland was asking what’s bothering me. I can’t stop thinking about Lord Thorsby changing the wording of the peace treaty so that it reads ‘the heir’ instead of my name. He didn’t ask me first. He just ordered Lady Channing to do it. She was surprised to learn that I didn’t know.”

“He should’ve checked with you, but it is a smart way to go,” Holland said. “That way if something happens to you, the treaty doesn’t fall apart.”

“I know that,” Charis said quietly. “But why not discuss it with me first?”

“Because he didn’t want you to argue against it,” Tal said flatly. “This way, the deal is done, and there’s nothing you can do to change it.”

“I would have agreed to it,” Charis said, the words bitter on her tongue. That was the thing that had nagged at her thoughts since her conversation with Lady Channing. She would have agreed to using “the heir” instead of her name. It protected Calera, and that was the entire point of the betrothal.

To take that decision away from her, to be afraid to come to her with it in the first place . . .

“Either he thought you weren’t smart enough to see what was best for Calera, or he didn’t want you to know he has a contingency plan in place to keep the peace with Montevallo even after you die.” Tal sounded furious. “Which makes it look like he’s the one who’s been trying to kill you all along.”

“But why?” Holland leaned on the railing next to Charis and studied the horizon. “Lord Thorsby has been a supporter of Charis for as long as I’ve been paying attention to court politics. He supports the queen as well.”

“Not always,” Charis said softly. “He lost a son in the war last year. It changed him. Of course, nearly every council member has lost someone in the war.”

“Not Lord Everly, more’s the pity.” Holland gripped the hilt of his sword as if considering removing Ferris from the world so that all the council members could share an equal measure of grief.

“Someone who would benefit from my death is behind the recent assassination attempts,” Charis said, forcing her voice to sound crisp and unaffected. Like she didn’t wake in the middle of the night, shaking as she reached for her dagger, convinced she’d heard a whisper of sound in her closet. Like she didn’t have to force herself to breathe past a noose of panic every time she walked the short distance between her carriage and a building in town. And as though she hadn’t simply pushed food around on her plate for the past three meals until Tal sat down beside her, ate part of the princess’s meal over Charis’s furious protests that it was dangerous, and then pointedly refused to help her move on with her day until she ate the rest.

“And now you think it might be Lord Thorsby?” Holland asked.

Charis permitted herself a single nod, her eyes fixed on the horizon as the blue sister moons drifted behind clouds, plunging the sea into utter darkness.

“We can toss him in the dungeon,” Holland said. “Question him. Find out the truth.”

“Or we can look at all angles first and make sure we don’t accuse an innocent man and ruin his reputation,” Charis said evenly. “That’s what I’ve been telling myself. Lord Thorsby would never survive the type of interrogation my mother would inflict upon him, but if he’s guilty, he has to know that. He would have a plan in place. Something that would be set into motion upon his arrest. That’s what I’d do, at least.”

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