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Lyrik kept going. “He’ll live.”

“You can’t kiss him and walk away.”

“Trust me, that wasn’t a kiss.”

“No matter what it was orwasn’t, it’s going to confuse him.”

“Shut up and give Nicu some fucking credit. You underestimate ’im. All of you do. It’s why he ran away in the first place.”

“If you know him so much better, then don’t go. Don’t do this. You’ll regret it.”

“And I guess that’ll be the first time I’ve ever regretted something.”

My mouth went berserk. “But you love him!”

Lyrik halted, his shoulders tensing. He spun and stalked my way, no swagger in sight, getting so close that his hot breath struck my chin. Fair enough since I had plenty of glare in me, too.

I didn’t want it to be true. He didn’t deserve Nicu.

He murmured in a low and dangerous voice, “Say that to me again, and you won’t need a fairytale to keep that nose from growing. I’ll cut it off myself.”

Little did he know, my nose couldn’t grow anymore. Anyway, let him deny it. I still knew a lie when I heard one.

I sneered, “You’re a fool.”

“Aren’t we both.” I couldn’t hide the effect that had, and he saw it, and he mocked, “Didn’t you know? We don’t get to love them; we’re the bad guys. Villains make the story interesting, they raise the stakes, but they never win.”

“You’re a prick, but not a villain.”

“Then let me fix that.”

He took off, on the verge of fucking off and fucking up. I fumbled for a comeback, finding my snarl as he reached the corner. “You underestimate him, too. He’ll destroy you for this. If he ever sees your face again, hewilldestroy you.”

Lyrik braced his hand on a column, his wound smarting. “Good.”

And then he was gone.

***

A gruff command sent me back to the sitting room. I hadn’t noticed until Lyrik disappeared that a guard had come after me because I’d ventured too far. I’d been told not to quit the vicinity without an armed custodian, by order of the princess and jester, while they deliberated.

I returned on the man’s heels to find Princess Briar waiting for me. Thankfully, I’d been too far for her to hear the argument with Lyrik.

I glanced around for Nicu.

“He’s with Poet,” the princess said, inclining her head toward the sitting room.

Despite the topaz gems lining the flaps of her robe, it was still a robe. Nonetheless, she exuded sophistication, her shoulders poised, her hands clasped in front of her like a gateway that very few people got through.

In the end, that private garment might as well have been a ballgown, for all its grandness and the way she carried herself. Yet her serene expression made me realize two things.

First, Nicu had not told his parents about his feelings for Lyrik, because the princess would not be looking so peaceful if shedidknow.

If she found out later, or if the jester found out...well, maybe they would eventually. But probably not this morning. And not from me.

That was Nicu’s story to tell.

Second, the princess did not despise me. She might resent my part in all this, but she did not hate me. She wasn’t that kind of ruler.