Page 47

His amusement intensified, and she vaguely caught a flashbulb as one of the cameras captured the Crown Prince’s moment of humour.
‘About the blood? Not quite—our bloodthirsty days are behind us. But you get my general meaning.’
She did. Like his father before him, he commanded the utmost respect and loyalty. For some reason, that show of humour, eased the tension inside her. Enough to tease out a smile of her own.
His eyes darkened as his gaze raked her face. And right there another moment of intense connection snapped between them. It was broken once more by the flash of a camera that made her want to grit her teeth and snap at the photographers to leave them be.
‘Easy,mi reina. Our wedding day isn’t the right time to unsheathe your pretty little claws. There will be time for that later.’
Her breath caught, and the urge to demand to know when pounded through her. She curbed it, and sat through another fifteen minutes of picture-taking, all the while painfully aware of being under intense scrutiny—especially from her new mother-in-law.
Queen Fabiana was the only person not fully embracing the momentous event of her son’s wedding. Even now she sat primly in a wing-backed chair, surrounded by her retinue who wore equally disapproving looks mostly aimed at Eden.
It was a relief when the royal event co-ordinator announced that it was time to move on to the reception—a much smaller event hosting a few hundred specially selected guests.
For the next hour she danced in her new husband’s arms, then with both brothers-in-law—one all sly smiles and ribbing her about the traps of matrimony she’d willingly walked into, the other his polar opposite, with piercing eyes probing far beneath the surface.
‘What exactly are you looking for?’ she asked Valenti Domene. ‘Maybe if you told me I could save us both the silent third degree?’
‘Treat my brother well, and you and I needn’t have a problem.’
She gasped. ‘Are you threatening me?’
He shrugged. ‘When it comes to my family and those I care about there’s nothing I won’t do. Remember that, Your Highness.’
Before she’d summoned a response Azar was there, smoothly reclaiming her, his gaze ten times more potent than his brother’s.
‘What was that all about?’ he enquired silkily, even as his deep voice pulsed with slivers of danger.
‘Looks like your mother’s not the only one who doesn’t like me.’
His eyes grew sharp. Deadly. But it was directed at his departing brother. ‘What did Valenti say to you?’
Striving to retain her dwindling composure, she asked a question that seared in its delivery. ‘Do you care?’
His frown rumbled louder than a thunderbolt. ‘I care. Tell me.’
She shook her head, fixing a smile on her face as a couple of dignitaries waltzed past, the woman’s gaze sparking clear envy. ‘It doesn’t matter. I’m used to being tarred with a certain brush because of my mother,’ she muttered, then grimaced inwardly.
When was she going to learn to keep past turmoil from dogging her present?
‘I don’t wish you to be hurt. Or for the sins of your mother to be visited on you. By anyone. Including my brother.’
That final sentence was a gruff admission. One that made her gaze fly over his chiselled chin and that infernally hot dimple within it to his meet his eyes.
His slight hesitation hurt, despite her knowing that he was entirely justified to take his brother’s side.
‘It’s okay,’ she muttered airily, fighting to keep her smile in place. ‘He’s your family. I understand.’
The fierce gleam in his eyes deepened. ‘You are my family too—or have you already forgotten our vows?’ he rasped.
The hurt deepened. But the sudden flash of remorse in his eyes stopped her blurting out something she might regret.
‘Perdoname.That wasn’t deserved,’ he said. ‘You have risen to everything admirably.’ He hesitated for a beat, then added, ‘And I don’t wish to start this with discord.’
Eden swallowed, blinking rapidly when emotions surged. Maybe she should’ve given in to the urge to bawl her eyes out this morning in the bathroom, when the enormity of the day, of knowing she’d be going through it alone, without a loving family, had weighed her down. Maybe then she wouldn’t be feeling quite so…overwhelmed now.
Digging deep, she shook it away. ‘Then let’s not.’