A Girl in Black and White (Alyria 2)

I bit my lip on a smile. “Okay, I don’t. Sometimes I get a little carried away.”

Their gazes shot to the Titan in question, as if me just lying about knowing him would send him over here to kill us all.

“The Untouchable Prince,” Steady said wryly.

“Oh,” I said as if in understanding, and then lifted a shoulder. “I’ve compelled him to be my lover.”

They both paused, before watching my expression to see if I’d been jesting.

I didn’t blink.

Their gazes found each other’s in complete turmoil, it practically collided with the sweet smoke in the air.

“You are both too serious,” I said, grabbing Steady’s cheroot out of his loose hand, and taking a puff. The coughs were instantaneous, my eyes watering down my cheeks. “Gosh, that’s awful.”

“It’s not meant for women,” Steady censured, taking it back.

I took a swig of my wine to get the awful taste out of my mouth. “I won’t even argue that one,” I croaked, getting the last bit of coughs up.

They both watched me like it was a strange occurrence the ‘Girl in Black’ would cough from a little smoke. I’d never smoked in my life; my grandmother would have horse-whipped me.

“There’s a warrant for your head,” Tuko supplied, eyeing me with condescension.

“Really? I didn’t know I was that popular.”

“If we don’t take you in, it’s our necks on the line.”

“Please,” I scoffed. “The magistrate doesn’t even know who’s been peeing on his bushes let alone what’s happening outside his yard.”

It was then that I realized whatever Steady was smoking, it was going straight to my head.

It was close to ten minutes later, after the two guards decided not to turn me in, that we’d somehow gotten into conversation. Well, I thought I was doing most of the talking while they vaguely listened; in reality, they were probably only debating themselves whether or not to change their minds and arrest me.

“ . . . so then Weston killed him—like usual. He has a serious jealous streak. Now that I know he’s truly mad—or going to be—it all makes a lot more sense. But surely you can see how confusing it was at the time.”

At some point as I finished up that story, both king’s guards had straightened up like they’d been pulled at the end of a marionette string.

“Serious jealous streak, huh?”

I sighed. I really was imbibing a little too much if I hadn’t even felt Weston sneak up on me. I poured my drink into a potted plant, giving up on the idea of sleep tonight. Getting drunk hadn’t been a good idea with him around, anyway.

“If the shoe fits . . .” I muttered, dropping my cup into the plant as well.

The guards’ expressions couldn’t mask their horror at my insolence to the prince they a moment ago, thought I’d been jesting about.

“I look away for a second, only to find you drunkenly spilling all my family’s secrets.”

Tuko swallowed, his Adam’s apple moving like he was going to lose his head from hearing what I’d told him. He hadn’t even known Weston was that Weston, but he did now.

“I don’t keep anything from Gregory and Darren,” I said seriously.

They both flicked uneasy gazes at me, pleading with me to shut up.

“He’s a lot more bark than bite,” I told them, but then blinked, adding hesitantly, “well . . . besides that one time.”

“So that’s your mother?”

My head whipped toward Weston, uncertainty mixing with the wine in my stomach.