Page 31 of The Nightmare Bride
“To my office, so you can write to the king. You’ll accept the entirety of the blame for this, then petition him for an annulment.”
“An annulment?” I cried. “What? You can’t do that.”
“Ican’t, you’re right. But the king can. An unconsummated union can still be dissolved, as long as he grants an annulment and the two of you sign the certificate.”
Ice hardened in the pit of my stomach. “But...what if I refuse?”
Olivian’s gaze thinned—a threat. “You won’t.”
“Okay, well...what if Kyven does?”
His withering look conveyed exactly how likely he consideredthatprospect. “He’s a prince. Who just married a glorified housemaid. I doubt he’ll have a problem.”
I barely refrained from flipping him off. “So that’s it? I go to all this trouble to save Amryssa, and you want to throw her to the wolves?”
He bared his teeth. Down the hall, an approaching steward spotted us and abruptly reversed direction. I imagined how we must look—Olivian in a towering rage, me clutching my dagger while being hauled along in my nightgown.
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.
