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“You all right?” Georgie asked as they watched the group disappear into the darkness.

“Fine.” One of the greater lies he’d ever told, because James was most certainly not fine.

“You two were trapped alone together for a long time,” Georgie said softly. “Anything I should know?”

“No.”

“I don’t believe you.”

James slowly turned to face him. “We’ve been friends a long time, George. But there are still lines, and you’ve stepped across this one.”

Though they stood in total darkness, the only light to be seen held by the soldiers waiting well out of earshot, James could feel George’s scrutiny. Then his friend said, “Why are the Amaridians trying so hard to kill you?”

James stiffened.

“Four times, James. Four times, Katarina has tried and failed to have you killed. Why? Because it’s not because of Carlo’s missing fucking testicle. ”

Ahnna was far from the only one he was lying to. Georgie had been his closest friend almost his entire life, yet the other man knew nothing about his weeks-long stays in Cardiff. Nothing about James’s mother’s royal blood. Nothing about how James had spent his entire adult life as the liaison between his father and his uncle, trying to mend a conflict of ideology that was core to Harendellian belief.

Decades of lies.

He was so goddamned tired of it, so he said, “I can’t tell you.”

Georgie blew out an angry breath. “Fine. Keep your secrets, but I’m through keeping mine. The night the Ithicanians were in Verwyrd, I had them followed.”

Though he could feel the rift widening between them, James had no interest in hearing Georgie berate him further about Ahnna, so he interrupted. “Later, Georgie. What you have to say can keep. I need to speak to my father.”

“I don’t disagree,” Georgie said. “I’ll escort you. It will give us time to talk about—”

“I’ll ride to Whitewood Hall alone. Give me your horse.”

“Jamie, the Amaridians are trying to kill you in earnest,” Georgie snapped. “This is no time for you to be galloping about the countryside.”

“Perhaps not, but I’ll ride faster alone.” Not waiting for an answer, James strode to where the guards held the reins of George’s horse. Taking them, he said to his friend, “One day I’ll be able to tell you everything, Georgie. And I hope you’ll forgive me for keeping it from you.” Then he swung onto the horse’s back.

“Damn it, Jamie!” George shouted. “There’s something I need to tell you about Ahnna!”

But James wasn’t interested in his friend’s admonitions that he needed to keep his distance from Ahnna, so before Georgie could say more, he dug in his heels and galloped north.