The Wedding Night They Never Had

Her gaze dropped to her lap and she smoothed a non-existent crease in the fabric of her dress. ‘Nothing. It was a shock, that’s all.’

He didn’t think that was all it was but, given how nervous she seemed, he decided not to press. ‘And so you give me permission to start proceedings?’

‘Do you need my permission?’ She didn’t look at him. ‘You can do whatever you like. You’re the King.’

‘Yes, but you’re still my wife.’

‘No, I’m not. I might be your wife legally but I’m not in any other sense.’

Cassius watched her, caught by the strange, sharp note in her clear voice. If he hadn’t known any better, he would have said that she sounded hurt, though he wasn’t sure why that would be. Did she want to be more to him? If so, she must know how impossible that was. She was not in any way the Queen Aveiras needed and, as the country already had a king they hadn’t asked for, he wasn’t going to foist an unsuitable queen on them too.

That wasn’t the legacy he wanted for the family he’d lost.

‘That’s true,’ he said gently. ‘So won’t it be a relief to you when you’re not my wife at all?’

She looked up, the colour of her eyes silvery behind her glasses. Idly, he noticed that her irises got darker closer to her pupils, the grey turning into charcoal. Her lashes were also darker, the contrast startling with her pale hair and skin.

‘Why do you keep patronising me?’ Her stare was very direct. ‘You don’t have to soothe me like a child. If you want to divorce me, divorce me. What does it matter if I agree to it or not?’

The feeling that had woken up inside him when she’d come in gripped him tighter. But he continued to ignore it, because he hadn’t felt it for years, and he shouldn’t be feeling it now, especially not with her.

Not when that way led back to the prince he’d once been and the choices he’d made that had changed his life for ever. He’d never be that prince, that careless man, again.

‘I know you’re not a child.’ Absently, he cupped the brandy balloon between his palms, swirling the liquid, warming it. ‘And I’m not trying to be patronising. I’m just trying to do the decent thing.’

She lifted one shoulder, her fingers pleating the fabric of her dress. ‘Well, you don’t need to.’

Cassius frowned. ‘Would you really have preferred me to send a palace employee out with the divorce papers, then?’

‘As long as you gave me some jewellery, that would have been fine.’

Ah, yes, the jewellery. He’d once been famous for showering his lovers with expensive pieces. He’d liked giving them gifts, small tokens of his appreciation for the pleasure they’d given him in return.

He’d thought himself so generous back then, but in reality once he’d got rid of a woman he’d never thought of her again. So, yes, he’d been generous with his money, but selfish and shallow with everything else.

It wasn’t something he liked to be reminded of and he didn’t like it now.

‘Well, since I haven’t actually slept with you,’ he said, ‘Jewellery wouldn’t be appropriate.’

Her mouth opened then shut, and she blinked. ‘Uh...no. That’s true.’

You shouldn’t have said that.

No. It had been inappropriate. Perhaps it was the brandy. In which case he should put down his glass and not have any more.

Except he didn’t put down his glass. Instead he sat back in the comfortable arm chair and extended his legs, crossing them at the ankle. He took another sip.

He was relaxed, sitting here in the quiet of the house in this little room that was starting to feel more and more cosy despite the clutter. Relaxed in a way he hadn’t felt for years. He knew he shouldn’t be falling back into old habits, that he had a duty to his crown and to his country, but he wasn’t in the vast, cold spaces of the royal palace in Katara now. He was here with Inara and there was no one to see him but her.

‘What exactly is the issue, Inara?’ he asked after a moment. ‘You keep telling me that nothing’s wrong yet any fool can see that something is.’

She didn’t respond, merely continued pleating the fabric of her dress and smoothing it out.

‘You’re...interrupting my research,’ she said at last.

‘Your research.’ More amusement coiled inside him. ‘And how exactly am I interrupting it?’

‘Oh, just by being...’ She made a vague gesture in his direction. ‘Here. In the house. Hovering.’