Page 9 of The Rebel's Prize

"It was, to a degree. There was still some damage to the palace and others. But in answer to your question, no, we are not returning to the capital. We are to continue on in this journey, looking for Deandra." His gaze narrowed, the green of his eyes, if anything, frostier still. "I assume that's where you were trying to go in your addlepated scheme."

She stiffened in the chair. "Addlepated?"

Lucien's mouth thinned. He turned to Sejerin Silya and inclined his head politely. "Sejerin, perhaps you would give me a few moments alone with my wife?"

Damn.

If she thought it would do any good, Chloe would have asked Sejerin Silya to stay. But she doubted the seer would side with her. After all, she was the one who'd married them the first time. And in Andalyssia, husbands had more authority over their wives than in Illvya. Silya would think it quite within Lucien's right to chastise her as he saw fit.

Eventually the seer nodded. "Of course, Lord Castaigne. I will wait outside."

"I'm sure Captain Jensen can find you something to eat and drink should you wish it," Chloe said. "He is a good man."

Lucien snorted softly, but he didn't argue with her.

Sejerin Silya rose from the chair and made her way out the door, closing it behind her. Lucien's hand clenched, then his fingers flicked wide, and she felt the wards flare around her.

Perfect. Now she was locked in a room with her husband.

Lucien didn't speak, just sat there, leaning back in his chair, arms folded across his chest, head tilted at an arrogant angle, and his eyes fixed on her as though he half expected her to make another run for it. She wondered how long it would take before he broke and started yelling at her. In some ways that might be easier to take than the frosty disdain she was currently receiving.

"Samuel has done no wrong in this," she said. "I trust you won't do anything vindictive."

One eyebrow lifted. "Samuel?"

"Captain Jensen. You know very well who I mean."

"You seem overly familiar with the man. Am I mistaken, wife, and you have established a trading business since you left Lumia?"

"You also know how I know him," she said tightly. "He was the captain who took me to Anglion."

"That makes him a smuggler," Lucien replied, "and I would be well within my rights to see him face punishment for those crimes."

"Is it a crime to save my life?" Chloe retorted. "Would you prefer that whoever Charl was working with saw that I had an unfortunate accident and died? After all, it didn't take them long after my return to try to set me up to take the blame for an attempt on the emperor's life. Samuel may not have led a blameless life, but he's never tried to kill me."

"Your captain can go to hell as far as I'm concerned," Lucien said. "I am interested in you."

"Well, you found me. I'm here. What more do you need to know?"

His hand thumped down on the table. "Youran," he snarled. "Worse, you broke the bond."

"I thought it was for the best." Her choices had been limited. Or really, there’d been no choice at all if her vision was true. But she couldn’t tell him that. She’d sound crazy. Even though she had been trying to keep him out of it. Not taint him with the accusations against her.

"I thought you had died," he roared. His hand thumped the table again. "When I felt that bond break, I thought you weredead, Chloe. Do you know what that felt like? To think that I may have lost you. Can you imagine that? I was trying to save the emperor, and Imogene was panicked because she didn't know where you'd gone, and I felt the bond just...end." For a moment, the anger in his face was replaced by something closer to anguish before he got control of himself.

She stared at him, horrified. She hadn't thought that he might interpret the sudden snap of their bond in that fashion. She hadn't meant to be that cruel. "I...I didn't think."

"No," he said. "You just ran. Did you think I would not protect you? Do you not trust me that far, at least?" His voice was a snarl again. Vicious and deadly. But it was the snarl of a wounded animal, she thought, fueled by hurt as much as rage.

"I trusted you," she said, "but you couldn't protect me."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because your magic doesn't work against this magic. You can't prove that my memories haven't been altered, so you can't tell if I'm speaking the truth. It would be only your word." Which was why they needed Deandra. She was the only person, so far, who they had reason to believe knew how to cast the memory charms involved.

"There are those who think my word is beyond price," he bit out.

"I know. But if the emperor had died, do you think the judiciary truly would have taken your word over the potential guilt of your wife? The wife of a known traitor?"

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