Luka swallowed. “Yeah, don’t worry about us.” His words lacked conviction. “While you try and decode a clue as to how Lennox and I can get out of this arranged marriage, we have an engagement ball to attend.”

I knew he was trying to lighten the atmosphere of the room, but his words nagged at something in me.

“Right,” I bit out. Luka and I had a tumultuous track record with balls. And considering we had yet to truly discuss the fallout after the last ball, I wasn’t ready to be his swooning fiancée in a matter of days.

How could I pretend to be happily engaged when I was at war with my feelings for Luka? And after yesterday—he had run into that cave after me knowing there was a higher chance he’d get lost in the labyrinth than find and help me.

But yet he still took the chance.

I wondered if there would be a day when he would stop taking a chance on me.

31

LUKA

Tonight was the ball formally announcing my and Lennox’s engagement to the Blood Court.

The news was not a secret, many already knew of our pending marriage, but after tonight, it would be official in the eyes of the people of my court.

Lennox Adair was to be my bride.

As if I wasn’t already painfully aware of the marriage I had trapped her in.

Lennox was warming up to me, surprisingly enough. She was willing to talk to me again. But we continued to get ourselves into situations where I made my feelings toward her abundantly clear, which left me feeling like a fool afterward.

I was trying to be her friend. A supportive person in her life, because that’s what I know she needs right now. But at the catacombs, during Caspian’s party, and in the garden in Arcadia—my actions had been more than that of a concerned friend.

After the events of the past week, I expected Lennox to run in the opposite direction. I expected my actions to cause her to pull away, but it felt like they were having the opposite effect. I could tell Lennox was inching toward friendship territory with me again. I should be ecstatic. That was what I had beenhoping for while we had been apart, that despite everything we might be able to be friends again. This should feel like a step in the right direction.

But everything changed when I laid eyes on her again. And it got worse with every moment we spent together since we reunited.

Friends were the last fucking thing I wanted to be when it came to Lennox Adair.

I would get there. If that was all she was willing to give me I would gladly take it—it’s more than I had hoped when I left her in Alethens.

But I didn’t want to be her fucking friend.

I wanted to fuck the word friend out of her mouth.

I wanted to be her everything.

Her friend, her confidant, her partner, her lover. I wanted it all.

But I doubted she’d ever give me that.

I don’t think she‘d ever give that to anyone—not after how she blamed our relationship for distracting her leading up to the attack on Alethens.

She said she had forgiven me, but I knew she didn’t forgive herself for letting her guard down.

It would take time, but I would wrap my head around being friends with Lennox. Ihadto.

But not tonight.

Tonight we were to be a happily engaged couple in front of my court and I was going to milk it for every second it was worth.

I shouldn’t have been surprised by Lennox’s appearance as she opened the door—Goddess above she was breathtaking.

She stole the breath from my lungs in her gown, the color the deep red associated with the Blood Court. The top was fittedlike a corset, the thin fabric covering her breasts strained against the fabric, but the rest of the bodice was sheer. The bottom half of the gown fitted to her body, different from the flowing skirts she typically chose. But as always, there was a slit up the side that traveled so high I wondered what it might expose if she moved just right. On her exposed thigh sat a dagger, both the pommel and blade a glimmering black.