Page 98 of The Gilded Fae (Royal Fae of Rose Briar Woods 2)

“You saw me this morning,” he reminds me.

“I still missed you.”

He goes still, and then he tilts my chin up. “Sabine…what’s wrong?”

I blink quickly, looking away. “I need to tell you something, but I’m not sure I should.”

Alex’s frown deepens. Gently, he guides me toward my dressing room and closes the door once we’re inside. “What’s the matter?”

“For the last five years, Lord Cavinder has been selling people into West Faerie,” I say before I lose my nerve. “He was working with my mother.”

He stares at me, his face blank. “Frederick’s father?”

“Alex…I think he set up you and the troupe.”

Running his hand through his hair, Alex turns from me. I press my lips together as I watch him, unable to help him process the information. He’s going to have to work through it on his own.

He stares at the wall, slowly shaking his head. When he turns back, he looks desperate. “I don’t like the man either, but are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

Gently, I say, “He asked me to pick up my mother’s side of the bargain now that she’s incapacitated.”

“He told you outright?”

“He tried to pass it off as a grand charitable arrangement. He said my mother was finding the people he sent positions, and the money she gave him was not a payment but a gift.”

Alex swears under his breath. “And he admitted he sold my troupe?”

“Not outright, but Alex—the timing is right. What else could have happened?”

Alex crosses the room, sitting in the chair Frederick occupied this morning. He sinks his head into his hands, looking like a man defeated. “Why?”

I shake my head, as lost as he is.

“Does Frederick know?” he asks.

“I don’t think so.”

Alex looks at me sharply. “Are you certain he doesn’t?”

“I’m not. But Alex, do you think he knows?”

“No,” he says miserably. “The fool cried like a baby when I returned.”

I sit in the chair at my dressing table, and the two of us fall into a pensive silence. After a minute, I look up. “Do you want to tell him?”

Alex stares at the floor, pondering the question. Finally, he says, “No.”

I nod, agreeing.

Deciding it’s time to change the subject, I say, “I’ve decided to return to your hotel. Frederick said he would transfer my things over today. I’ll speak with Wilma about a room.”

“Good. I don’t want you in that house.”

“I don’t want in that house either.”

He gives me a tight smile. “Are you all right?”

“Lord Cavinder was angry when I turned down his proposal, but he’ll get past it. And it won’t be too difficult to avoid him once I’m out of the townhouse.”