Page 34 of A Storm in Every Heart (Enchanted Legacies #2)

“ I ’m going to go stand near Lord Ren until he asks me to go sailing,” Dellanore states confidently.

“That’s not fair!” Avaline hisses, rounding on her. “I’d intended to sail with Ren.”

“Then you should have said so.” Dellanore smiles smugly. “I saw him first so naturally I should be the one he asks.”

“I’m not sure why this matters, seeing as he hasn’t even looked at either of you,” I say mildly.

The twins fix me with identical scowls. “Shut up, Kastian!” they snap at nearly exactly the same time.

I roll my eyes. My sisters are all older than me, but you would never know it from the way they talk to each other.

The twins, Dellanore and Avaline, can’t avoid arguing for more than ten minutes at any given time.

One would think they hated each other, except that they always take each other’s side against anyone else—usually that person is me.

“Why are you interested in Lord Ren?” I ask, already regretting involving myself in their argument. “He’s a third son with barely a title and no money.”

Dellanore raises her eyebrows at me. “It’s not as if either of us needs the money.”

“Yeah, but he’s fuc—I mean, he’s entertained nearly every woman at court.”

Avaline rolls her eyes. “Then he’s probably quite good at it.”

“Ugh, never mind.” I wrinkle my nose in disgust and step away from them, leaving them to their pointless squabbling.

It’s late morning on the second day of Vernallis’s visit to our court, and dozens of nobles stand around the wide grassy lawn between the castle and the enormous freshwater lake that takes up a third of the castle grounds.

Normally, the lake is home to a gaggle of swans, but today it’s dotted with dozens of small rowboats, and I frown as I watch couples climb into the boats and set off paddling around the lake.

On my left, a cluster of noblewomen are eagerly attempting to capture my attention, evidently wishing for an invitation to join me on a sail. I lower my head to avoid making eye contact.

I hate whoever’s idea this was.

I’ve already made it a priority to keep track of where Lyra is, so I can steer clear of her and avoid the awkwardness of having to join her on a sail out of courtesy. Right now she’s safely on the opposite side of the lawn talking to her father.

I don’t find the idea of rowing around the lake nearly as romantic as the rest of the court seems to, and I have no desire to share a boat ride with anyone. The thought of engaging in forced small talk with a stranger, with no means of escape short of leaping overboard, makes me shudder.

Unless, I suppose, I was trapped in a boat with someone worth talking to.

At that thought, I find myself scanning the crowd, both knowing and refusing to acknowledge who I’m looking for.

I spot Daemon by the lake, looking relaxed and confident while surrounded by a crowd of giggling girls. I wonder if I could send my own group of admirers his way? He seems to enjoy the attention.

Regardless, if Daemon is here, then Odessa must be around here somewhere. I let out a sigh and roll my neck, trying to release some of the tension building at the base of my skull.

Despite knowing I shouldn’t, I can’t stop thinking about Odessa Ashwater.

Rather than deter me, Magnus’s warnings last night have only made me more interested.

I’m not entirely sure I believe Odessa is a siren.

It would certainly explain her beauty, but I’ve only ever thought of sirens as monstrous and deadly.

I’ve never heard of one living on land for any great length of time.

If only I’d won our bet yesterday, I could have asked her about it and demanded she be truthful in payment. Instead, I’m waiting for her to demand her favor of me. I’m oddly looking forward to it.

I raise my gaze to scan the lawn again, not even bothering to try to convince myself that I’m not looking for Odessa.

Finally, I spot her distinctive hair, flaming red in the sunlight, and my heartbeat kicks up, pounding against my ribs.

Dressed in a blue gown and a wide-brimmed hat, she’s standing at the end of the small dock and talking animatedly with a man clad in a red jacket.

I shift to the left, attempting to see past the crowd separating us.

My heart sinks when I realize who she’s speaking with—Lord Ren, the same degenerate bastard my sisters were fighting over.

As I watch, Lord Ren points toward one of the boats, prompting Odessa to smile and nod in agreement. Suddenly, a wave of intense anger wells up inside me. My stomach burns and turns hard, my breath coming faster. Before I know it, I’m moving.

Hundreds of eyes follow me as I sprint across the lawn. I vaguely wonder how many of them will report to Magnus about this and what my father will say later when he hears that I’ve shoved Lord Ren into the lake and held him under until he stopped breathing.

I come to a screeching stop at the dock’s edge and walk briskly toward Odessa and the lord, struggling to suppress my violent fantasies.

Lord Ren holds Odessa’s hand, helping her to lower herself into the boat. She settles her wide skirt around her and fixes her hat before finally lifting her gaze.

I witness the precise instant when she sees me.

Recognition flickers across her face. Her violet eyes widen, and for the briefest heartbeat, her lips curve into a soft, involuntary smile. But then, as if catching herself, her expression shifts, and her brows knit together in a disapproving frown.

Lord Ren, still standing on the dock, pivots to see what has caught Odessa’s attention, and his eyes grow large upon spotting me, breathless from running.

His eyes widen even more as he glances beyond me, undoubtedly noticing the hundreds of nobles gathered on the lawn, all focused on us. “Your Highness, what?—”

I don’t stop walking, knocking my shoulder hard into Ren’s. “Sorry, this boat is taken.”

“What—” Lord Ren teeters, but doesn’t fall into the water—an immaculate show of restraint on my part.

I elbow him out of the way and step into the boat.

Odessa grips the edges of the boat, and her mouth falls open as if words have momentarily escaped her. She finally regains her composure, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Rowing,” I reply, grabbing the oars.

“Get out!” She hisses, looking anxiously around at the crowd on the lawn. “Everyone is staring.”

“They’ll stare more if I get out now.” I raise the oars and push us off from the dock, leaving Lord Ren gaping after us.

Odessa shifts in her seat, looking out over the water as if seriously considering jumping overboard. Evidently, she decides it’s not worth it, because she stays put but crosses her arms more tightly over her chest and refuses to look at me as I row away from the dock.

“Lovely day, don’t you think?” I ask her.

She sniffs, but doesn’t say anything and I’m tempted to laugh. I think I might like teasing her, if only because she looks cute with that stubbornly miserable expression on her face.

“Are you really going to ignore me?” I ask after a silent moment. “This will be a very boring ride if you refuse to talk.”

“Why would I want to talk to you? You kidnapped me and stole my boat!”

I try to repress a smile. “I’d hardly call this kidnapping.”

“Then what would you call it? Piracy? Villainy?”

I can’t hold back my grin. “I’d call it heroism. Believe me, you did not want to be stuck in the middle of the lake with Lord Ren. I was saving you.”

“Oh, please,” she scoffs.

“Ren is an arrogant, penniless gambling addict with a reputation for ruining virgins. You can do better.”

“Better like you, you mean?” She scowls and holds up her fingers as if counting off a list. “Arrogant.” She puts down a finger. “Has gambled literally every time we’ve met.”

She puts down another finger, even as I interject: “I don’t see how one bet on a horse race could be considered an addiction. We weren’t even using money.”

She ignores me, still counting down my supposed shortcomings. “—has undoubtedly ruined dozens of virgins.”

I choke. “Dozens is a bit extreme.”

She raises her middle finger pointedly before putting it down. “Guilty of kidnapping and thievery.”

“I thought we’d covered that already.”

“And—” she says, making a fist with her remaining raised fingers and fixing me with a vicious scowl, “—unfaithful.”

“In what possible way am I unfaithful?” I demand.

“You have a fiancée, whom I have yet to hear you mention even once.” A ringing silence follows this statement, and Odessa’s eyes flash with triumph. “Tell me again how you are better than the man whom you just shoved out of the way to steal his boat?”

My eye twitches. My discomfort is made no better by the fact that I can see other rowboats floating suspiciously closer to us as their occupants try to eavesdrop on our conversation.

I let out a huff of breath. “I don’t have a fiancée.”

“Liar,” she snaps. “You’re betrothed to that woman I met the other night.”

“Betrothed, yes, but not engaged.”

She looks at me like I’m insane. “Do you need a language lesson, Your Majesty ? I would have thought you’d have the best tutors possible, but evidently they’ve neglected to teach you the meaning of the word ‘betrothed.’”

The corners of my mouth tip up and I row faster, trying to escape the other boats and find a shred of privacy. “I know what the word means, thank you, but a betrothal and an engagement are not the same thing.”

“Excuse you, but?—”

I cut her off before she can gather steam and run me over with her argument.

“Betrothals happen between children and they’re broken all the time.

Lyra’s father is my father’s favorite advisor.

The betrothal agreement is really more about them than it is about us.

It’s a public boon my father bestowed on Magnus. ”

“But you’re still promised to marry her.”

“Eventually, maybe, in twenty years the betrothal could turn into an actual engagement…but I doubt it ever will.”

“Why not?” she asks begrudgingly.