Page 178 of The Nightmare Bride
Business as usual, really.
I tried and failed to regain control of my arm. “Let. Go. I’ll come with you, just stop manhandling me.”
“Fine.” The seneschal released me without breaking stride. “But if you run, I swear to Zephyrine I’ll haul you downstairs by your hair.”
The moment he turned his back, I gave him the finger. Immature? Yes. Satisfying? Also yes.
In Olivian’s study on the second floor, he collapsed behind his desk and glared. “You have no idea how thoroughly you’ve fucked this up.”
I crossed my arms and glared right back. Sitting would’ve put me at eye level with him, so I didn’t. “I’d actually say I actually have a pretty good idea, since that was theentirepoint.”
“Oh? And was thepointalso to ruin Amryssa’s chance at leaving Oceansgate?”
“Her chance at...wait, what?” I squinted, wondering if I’d heard him correctly.
“Leaving!” He slapped an open palm on the desk. “Do you think I actually want her here, suffering nightmare after nightmare? Do you think I wouldn’t have sent her to Hightower ages ago, if I could have? Do you think I haven’t been trying to arrange a safe place for her foryears, and now you have the audacity to destroy that for her, you ungrateful, conniving wretch?”
Blood drained from my cheeks. My knees gave out, dumping me hard into an armchair.
“I should wring your meddling neck,” he continued, the words hateful and hot.
I sat there, immobilized by the idea that he might actuallycare. “I don’t... But...you never said that. You never told me you wanted better for her.”
“What do you think this was all about?” he roared, then reined himself in, fisting his eyes and dragging in a breath.
When Olivian looked up again, he’d achieved a sliver of calm, however tenuous. “I had an agreement,” he said. “With the king.”
“Yes,” I said faintly. “For new lawmen. You said.”
“But that was only part of it. An insignificant part. The rest involved Amryssa having a place in the capital, once she was wed. She would’ve been a princess. Eligible to be cared for in Hightower. She would’ve had the kind of life I can’t afford to buy for her in any other way, because our coffers areempty, Harlowe. Bled dry. It’s cost me everything we had to keep Oceansgate afloat these nine years.”
My mouth opened. Closed again.
The seneschal planted his elbows on the desk. “If not for you, Amryssa would’ve had a home. Asafeone.”
I absorbed that. “But...this is her home. She and Kyven were supposed to livehereafter the wedding.”
“For a time. But if she’d outlived Kyven, Hightower would’ve taken her in. You understand?”
My throat went dry. He’d saidif, but an unspoken, unmistakablewhenhung in the air.
WhenAmryssa outlived Kyven.
Olivian stared, his eyes as hard and flat as chips of green glass. His words writhed in my mind until the shape of his plans came into focus.
“Seven hells,” I breathed. All this time, I’d glimpsed the tip of the iceberg without once suspecting a behemoth lurked beneath. “The king didn’t banish Kyven here at all. He sent him to die. Hisown son.That’swhat your half of the marriage bargain was. To make the prince disappear.”
Olivian said nothing.
“It’s true, then?” I continued. “Kyven’s a monster? A...killer? So awful his own father wants him gone?”
The seneschal made a gruff, affirmative sound.
I sat back, my mind awhirl. “But who was supposed to kill him? If Kyven had married Amryssa, he eventually would’ve tried to hurt her, and?—”
It clicked.
A bitter laugh fell from my lips. “Oh, goddess. You wantedmeto do it. I would’ve murdered him the moment he touched her, and then you could’ve shipped Amryssa to the capital without getting your hands dirty. I would’ve been the one to bear the punishment. Is that right?”
