Chapter 47
3rd POV
“She is the problem, brother,” Meera said as she paced through her brother's chambers.
Her beautiful face and those curls that, only a few years ago, had started a new fashion trend throughout the city and driven every girl to wear her hair the same way, now sat messily around her head.
She ran her hands through them, pulling at the strands and loosening them, while her lips were bitten raw from nerves.
“Calm down, sister,” Sanaedeo said, sitting on his bed the entire time. His eyes were tired, and his face was drawn into an expression somewhere between concern and melancholy.
“What if she tells someone? I'm sure she saw us. And now she's not in her room. It's dawn, and she's gone.”
She pressed both hands over her face and pulled at the skin.
“Sister, stop.” Sanaedeo rose from the bed and walked over to her. He took her hands in his and gently pulled them away from her face. Tears had gathered in her soft, doe-like eyes, while her nose was red and puffy.
“She isn't going to tell anyone,” he tried to reassure her in a gentle voice.
“How do you know?” He simply shook his head.
“Where is Corian?” he asked, trying to calm her by mentioning her lover.
“Outside. He's waiting. He didn't want to come in.”
Sanaedeo nodded and released her hands. Then he took her face gently between his palms.
“Sister, she won't tell anyone. I'm certain of it. She figured out my secret a few weeks ago, and she didn't tell anyone. She didn't even ask questions. She just teased me about it the way she always does.”
Meera pulled away from his hands, fear once again wrapping itself around her.
“They would kill him, brother. They'd make me watch if they found out. These aren't the old times anymore, and those knights don't mean to them what they once did.” She cried out through her tears, gesturing toward the walls of the castle.
“Meera, Isolde isn't stupid, and you can see for yourself that she has secrets of her own. She would lose too much.”
“She isn't the only problem.” She stopped in her tracks and lifted her face toward him. Her expression had gone cold, and her voice was filled with hatred and disgust.
“That bastard. That fucking Faran. He has started circling me again, and now he's circling her too. And last night he was making trouble again.”
Sanaedeo, the crowned prince and surely the most beloved royal this court had seen in recent history, finally understood.
“This isn't really about Isolde, is it?” he asked.
She sat down on his bed, her body sinking between her parted knees. She wanted to scream, to tear every stone from the walls and drive Faran out with an entire horde of soldiers. But she wasn't brave enough.
Finally, she found her voice again.
“Isolde has the same feelings for her knight that I have for mine. That's obvious. And she won't tell anyone for no reason, but what if...” She looked at her brother with frightened eyes, the only brother she had ever loved.
“Meera, you're getting ahead of yourself. First, he would have to find out about her. Then he would have to force her to tell him about you. And even if all of that happened, he has no right to decide any punishment.”
He sat beside her, speaking in the soft voice he'd used from the beginning.
She looked at him again and shook her head. “But what if he gets to have the right?” She clenched her jaw and looked down at their intertwined fingers and the bloodied skin around her nails in her lap.
He finally understood what she was trying to say, but he let her finish.
She took a deep breath and, with her eyes closed, spoke the truth that had been twisting inside her heart.
“He is prepared to do anything, and you have no heir. The kingdom will never accept your peasant girl as its queen. Never.”
Sanaedeo rose from the bed in anger.
He wasn't angry at her, nor at her fears. No, they were completely justified. They were possible. Faran wanted the throne and control, and he would kill for them if he had to.
“What are you saying? That I have to leave the only woman I've ever loved in my nearly twenty-six winters and what? Take some lady instead and abandon her so that all of you can live comfortably? I've given you everything. Not just you, but this damned court too. But I will not give her up.”
Meera rose from the bed.
“Do you think we made a mistake by falling in love with them?” she whispered, hoping Corian couldn't hear her from outside.
“Love cannot be a mistake, sister, ever.” His arms fell to his sides. “And Isolde won't be a problem for anyone except herself.”
Meera only faintheartedly nodded.
“And yet I'm the one who was seen, not her.” She headed toward the door, then turned back to her brother one more time. “Now get ready. We have breakfast with Prince Haarza. It seems Isolde really caught his attention.”
Sanaedeo pursed his lips, already aware of the prince's intentions. But he also knew his wild-hearted sister. She would never accept the love of a prince.
Not while she has the heart of a knight.