Page 47 of The Twisted Throne

Three.All of which he regretted, because they encouraged thoughts he had no business thinking. “None,” he replied, “but then again, I’m not the one who has to marry you.” He held out his hand. “You coming,Your Highness,or shall I request your dinner bebrought to the top of the stairs so that we might continue this delightful exchange without interruption?”

Ahnna’s hazel eyes narrowed, but she gave no commentary as she descended. Most ladies clutched the railing or the hand of an escort, but Ahnna did not so much as glance down at the steps, moving with the grace of a dancer and the confidence of a lioness. Her hand closed on his arm, grip firm as he turned her down the corridor.

“I confess,” she said, lengthening her stride. “I’m surprised to see you will be attending dinner.”

“And why is that?” He increased his own stride to match hers.

“Didn’t your father keep you behind for a tongue-lashing over the loss of his ship?”

“Hardly. We had a drink.”

“So much for not needing liquid fortitude.”

“We were discussing more important matters thanyou,” he said stiffly, annoyed over being caught in a lie.

Ahnna only made a humming sound, increasing her pace again and forcing him to match or fall behind.

“Slow down,” he growled. “This is not dignified.”

“Walk faster,” she replied. “I’m hungry.”

Any faster and he’d have to break into a run, and James did not fail to notice that all the servants were staring at them with concern over the urgency of their pace. “We’re late,” he said to one, his irritation flaring as Ahnna gave a soft laugh.

“You are behaving like a child, Your Highness,” he said, giving another servant a reassuring nod. “A child raised in a barn rather than a palace.”

“A boat, if you wish to be accurate,Your Highness.” She cast a sideways smirk at him, a glimmer of gold cosmetics accentuating her hazel gaze. “You should worry less about what people think of you.”

“And you should worry more.”

Her gaze snapped forward, and he knew that he’d struck a nerve. Yet rather than enjoying the moment of getting the upper hand in their endless arguments, James felt like an ass. “My compliments to Hazel. She has outdone herself tonight.”

The corner of her mouth turned up. “And here I thought to suffer your criticism over my lack of skirts.Unladylikeandundignifiedandunbecomingwere words that came to mind.”

As though words were even possible with those long legs stretching out with each stride she took, the silk clinging to the muscles beneath, his only thought what it would be like to have those legs wrapped around him again. “The style does not negate Hazel’s skill.”

“I’ll tell her.” Her eyes flicked up, catching him watching her. “I see you’ve availed yourself of your own tailor. Shame. I enjoyed your too-small shirts, for they had about as much give as your sense of propriety.”

James’s cheek flushed, and seeing they’d reached the doors to the ballroom, he hauled her bodily to a halt, be damned what the gaping guards said. “Never have I met a lady like you.”

“Thank you, James,” she said with a wink, but there was an odd hollowness to it. “You always make me feel so special. Usually right before you tell me to go back to where I came from.”

His lips parted but no retort came forth, and the doors were already opening, the herald announcing them. Yet as their titles poured from the man’s lips, he watched Ahnna’s behaviorshift.The smirk fell away, along with the amusement and the nerves he suspected the repartee had hidden, and in its place rose the princess of the wildest kingdom in the known world.

Chin up, shoulders back, and eyes cool, she surveyed the watching nobility with an air that he’d have described as haughty on any other woman. But for Ahnna, it was nothing but the purest formof confidence. Wild and untamed, and every goddamned part of him wanted her.

She’s not for you. Never for you.

She tightened her grip on his arm, and instinctively, he stepped forward. Not leading her but matching her as she strode down the long path leading to the head table. The nobility all bowed and curtsied as they passed, the idiots among them tittering about her trousers and scars, but James marked how the real players among them watched Ahnna with interest, reevaluating what they’d believed they were getting with the Ithicanian princess even as they recalculated how they might use her in their own endeavors.

Ahnna’s eyes roved over them with dispassionate interest, and James heard one of his sister’s ladies-in-waiting whisper, “Did you see how she looked at me? I thought she might leap forward and cut my throat!”

James waited until they’d walked another few paces, then murmured, “Don’t let it go to your head, Highness. I’ve heard Elizabeth say the same thing about the queen’s lapdogs.”

“You do God’s work in keeping my ego in check,Highness.”

It was a struggle not to smile.

That struggle vanished as his eyes flicked to the head table, the degree to which she’d distracted him rendered apparent as he abruptly realized his brother was not seated to Alexandra’s left. Not in the room at all.

---