Page 34 of Fit for a Prince (Fit For A Crown #1)

Chapter thirty-one

A tlas muttered a curse under his breath that was almost as bad as the one I said in my head. He stepped in front of me, not touching me yet still shielding me. He waited for Lochlan to close the door, the slit of light from the hallway shrinking painfully slowly until it cut to black.

“Lochlan.” Atlas sighed the name more than spoke it. “You’re supposed to be sparring with Roy.”

“Actually, I’m supposed to be in a meeting with Diaspro.

That’s what all the servants are gossiping about, after all.

” Lochlan strolled into the room with a straight back, folded arms, and a prominent click of his polished shoes.

“Imagine my surprise when I learned I had already arrived despite being across the palace.” The lamp elongated his shadow on the wall, framing him with a lanky ghost that crept all the way up to the ceiling.

“Tell me, Diaspro, just how torturous of a death were you hoping to earn yourself? ”

He brushed his hand against his belt, lifting up the side of his overcoat enough to show the blade of a thin dagger on his hip. The pitiful weapon hardly alarmed me, but for some reason it made Atlas shift back on his right heel. It was the same movement he did before his sparring matches.

“This was my charade, not hers,” he said with the same force as the first breeze in a hurricane. “If you want to fight someone, fight me.”

“I know better than to provoke the king’s knight.” Lochlan shifted his coat back over his belt, then turned his gaze to me. “I’d rather speak with his pawn.”

“She doesn’t need to explain this to you,” Atlas said. “As I said, this was—”

“This is my meeting.” Lochlan held up a palm, silencing his brother. “And now that I’ve arrived, I’ll take it from here. Diaspro and I have much to discuss.”

He turned the knob on a second oil lamp, doubling the light yet somehow increasing the daunting aura in the room.

With the added light, it was easier for me to see Atlas’s expression.

His face hadn’t changed, yet he didn’t look the same.

He was still rocked back on his right heel, ready to spring into action at the slightest flinch from his brother.

Atlas swiped the letter off the table and held it up for Lochlan to see in the fresh light .

“Keep your hands off of her,” Atlas warned.

It was just a piece of paper, and his words were just a spoken breath, but the power of both didn’t go unnoticed by my throbbing heart.

I lost my breath as Lochlan scanned the letter and slowly lost his smug grin.

“Harming the lady who apologized to you wouldn’t look good to the king. ”

“You’re defending the Ivalonian now?” The sting of betrayal seethed from Lochlan’s every word, but he didn’t allow himself to crack.

“I’m only looking out for Cedric.” Atlas sounded detached from his own voice, causing my foolish heart to wonder about his sincerity.

“Of course,” Lochlan clipped. “Because Cedric has so much to offer this kingdom...just as much as Diaspro does.” Lochlan stepped forward so they were standing head to head.

It was like looking at a mirror’s reflection with no glass in between, yet the image had still cracked.

“Now get out of my office. This is my meeting, after all.”

He pointed at the door, standing firm as he waited patiently for Atlas to accept the fact that he had overstayed his welcome. It took a moment, but Atlas finally started for the door with the letter in hand.

He made it two steps before Lochlan snatched him by the shoulder. “And I’ll be keeping that letter. ”

“Not a chance,” Atlas hissed. “I won’t let you kill her to spite me.”

“And I won’t let you get away with faking my forgiveness.

” He stretched out his hand, beckoning for him to hand the parchment over.

“Give it up. I’ve alerted the servants that you were here to entertain Diaspro in my absence, so trying to convince them this meeting was only between her and me is pointless.

If you hand the king that letter, I’ll be sure he knows exactly how you forged it. ”

No...

I could feel Atlas’s frustration echo through me.

He gripped the letter like it was the hilt of his favorite sword, but after a long pause, he thrust it against Lochlan’s chest. My heart sank when he passed it over, but in that brief exchange, Atlas passed me a look that was far from final.

I couldn’t explain it, but I’d watched him fight long enough to know that he saved his best moves for when he was cornered.

He faced the door after that but paused to hiss something in Lochlan’s ear that made Lochlan snicker.

I could only pray this didn’t hurt Mara.

Once Atlas left, the silence felt suffocating. Lochlan moved back behind his desk, taking a moment to place his quill back where he preferred it and brush off any foreign dust his brother might have left behind .

I broke the silence with a swift breath. “What did you want to speak with me about? Are you looking for feedback on the design of my tombstone? Or am I only here because you can’t stand not having a turn with your brothers’ toys?”

He looked up from his desk from the same angle Atlas had just minutes earlier. The pristine desk suited Lochlan more. Like him, it was organized, well maintained, and hid all of his thoughts and projects from wandering eyes. I couldn’t deduce anything from looking at either of them.

“I actually wanted to congratulate you, princess.” He grinned.

“Congratulate me?” I didn’t like where this was going. “For what?”

“Never in my life have I despised a woman more than you, and I’ve hated plenty of ladies. It’s quite the feat, honestly.” He clenched his smile, his eyes squinting from the force.

Of course.

“I’m honored,” I said snidely.

“Oh, you should be.” He moved back around the desk, walking slowly past his bookshelves to admire the trinkets lining them so he didn’t have to look at the object of his loathing.

“I consider myself a reasonable man, but I’m afraid you’ve robbed me of even that.

” He reached for a shiny silver globe, brushing a smudge off the polished surface.

“That sounds more like an issue with your ability to control your emotions,” I said. “Not with me.”

“I’ve never been one to have issues with control .

” He adjusted the globe, catching my eyes in the reflection.

My pulse spiked from the sudden eye contact, and a tiny smirk twitched at his lips before he turned back to face me.

“But I do have issues with terrorists. Terrorists who infiltrate my kingdom, turn my brothers against me, and make me really loathe them.”

I didn’t like how close he was standing. Unlike Atlas, Lochlan’s proximately felt like an iron maiden slowly closing around me with wicked spikes.

“I don’t know what you’re speaking of,” I said as I swallowed back my discomfort. “My only goal in this castle is to survive.”

“And then what?” His tone darkened. “What happens after you’ve survived ? You know as well as I do that you’ll never live a fairy-tale life, and we both know that you’re capable of getting what you want. What happens when you want more?”

He thinks more like me than I thought—or maybe I’m the one who thinks like him.

I hated it, but it didn’ t make him wrong.

“I’d be a princess.” My ring finger itched. “I wouldn’t need more.”

“You wouldn’t,” he agreed with an eerie laugh clinging to the end of his voice. “But the others would. Your servants, the prisoners, the refugees, Damon... You may not want more for yourself, but for them, I can see that you’re lusting for revenge. My brothers are just too blind to see it.”

He was right.

“And if you were right?” I pressed my hand on the desk, shifting my weight and supporting myself while my nerves fired off every possible warning.

The more I spoke with Lochlan, the more I was flirting with danger, and I was a terrible flirt.

Damon preferred to be more direct, and unfortunately, so did Lochlan. “What could one mere princess do?”

“A mere princess?” He chuckled, the laugh drawing me to his hollow eyes that glistened like spilt oil in the light. “Nothing. But you, Lady Diaspro? Plenty.”

He reached around me, his hand clipping my waist as he slid it across the desk.

My first instinct was to push him away, but he didn’t have a weapon in hand and he was far too calm to be attempting to stab me.

His movement was still quick, and a second later he had retrieved a seal from the corner of his desk .

I caught my breath when I saw that was all he was reaching for, then stiffened again as he reached for a spoonful of wax beads. He folded up the letter he’d taken from Atlas, then started warming the spoonful of wax against the oil lamp.

“What are you doing?” I whispered. It felt like a fragile moment that shouldn’t be disturbed by anything louder.

The wax melted quickly and he poured the contents onto the letter’s fold. “Isn’t it obvious?” He pressed his seal into the wax. “I’m sparing your life, princess.”

What?

I blinked at the finished seal, unable to find my voice until my tongue broke free from its paralysis.

“But...but you hate me.”

“I do.” He wiped off the seal. “Very much.”

“Then why spare me?”

“Because I hate my brothers more.” His steel voice speared me, snapping me out of my confusion.

The candor of his confession was bloodcurdling, and the smile that followed made even my veins curl.

“I’ve hated them far longer than you, which means I desire to take what they love more than I yearn to destroy you. ”

Something they love ?

I staggered back a half-step. For the first time since knowing the princes, I actually felt afraid to be in one’s presence.

“I guess you were right earlier, I did want a turn with my brothers’ toy.” He closed in on me, making up for the distance I’d put between us. “You’ll make a half-decent princess, after all.”

“W-what do you mean?” I cursed my voice for trembling. I was stronger than that. Damon would never have permitted such a weak sound to come from my lips...but Damon wasn’t here anymore.

“It means my brothers care for something, so it’s my new mission to make it mine.

” He reached for my cheek, and his icy touch left me too frozen to swat him away.

“Congratulations again, princess. You’ll get to survive, but it won’t be a happily ever after.

I’ll make you my wife so the others can watch you live in misery by my side. ”

He’ll...he’ll marry me out of spite?

“Hold on,” I said, forcing my tongue to speak clearly. “Cedric may care for me, but Atlas only spared me for Cedric’s sake.” He won’t hurt Atlas by claiming me.

“Oh, come now.” He pulled his hand from my cheek with a tsk. “I thought you were smarter than that, princess. Or perhaps you simply didn’t hear...”

“Hear what?” I straightened my spine, my back scraping against the bookshelf I had hardly even realized I was pressed against.

“The test Lord Fenrick put us through,” Lochlan explained. “There were two votes to spare you, not one.”