I wondered where she’d disappeared to. Was there someone at home who hadn’t realized where she’d gone that night? Overprotective parents who held a grudge against the fae and wouldn’t allow their daughter near one, even if it meant saving themselves from squalor? A master, perhaps, less than thrilled about the idea of having to free his slave? A jealous lover? A husband?

My mind throbbed at the thought, and the ale churned in my uneasy stomach.

Surely not.

While my reputation among women was fairly accurate, my subjects seemed to be under the impression I’d sleep with anything with a set of breasts.

While I could see how they came to that conclusion, I did have rules.

I didn’t mess with married women. Not knowingly, at least.

The bartender sloshed another drink onto the table.

I chugged it and asked for another before he made it back behind the bar.

How many drinks before I could flush that souring thought from my mind—that Cinderella had a husband back home?

It would make some sense. Explain why she’d left so quickly, why she hadn’t made herself known.

My father’s voice rang in my head. Perhaps she had the good sense not to tie herself to a brother-killer. Perhaps she saw right through you.

I shook my head. The bartender must have been serving me the cheap stuff. Usually the drink drowned out my father’s voice.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. At least, not since Jerad.

Before my brother’s accident, alcohol had been a balm. Something that whisked away my worries, warmed my hands and feet and made my face buzz.

Now it just sort of numbed everything. It wasn’t a great feeling, but it was better than the pain.

Usually.

Despite myself, my mind wandered to Ellie.

Arrogant, better-than-me, life-ruined-because-of-me Ellie.

If I had to be chained to a self-righteous bore for the next five decades while the only woman I’d ever loved grew old and died, at least she was pleasant to look at.

Once she wiped that sneer off her face.

Okay, she was still gorgeous when she was sneering, but that was difficult to appreciate in the moment.

“You’re looking lonely over here,” a sultry voice purred.

I raised my eyes to find a busty woman peering down at me like a lioness ready to strike. She looked familiar, and I wished I could blame my inability to recall her name on the alcohol.

I held up my tankard, and it splashed all over my sleeves. “Got plenty of company right here.”

Apparently she wasn’t convinced, because she slid into the booth next to me, her curvy thigh practically resting on top of mine.

I flashed a feral grin at her, aware that it was all she could see of my face with my hood shading my eyes. “I said I’m not interested.”

Her seductive grin soured into a sneer. “Well, that’s a first,” she hissed as she popped up from the counter and strode away.

Did she mean that was a first coming from me, or the first time she’d been turned down by a drunk male in this tavern? It made my head pound to ponder it, so I didn’t.

I left way too much coin on the counter for the barman, considering what I paid him under the table, but the ale was making my head spin, and I didn’t have the mental energy to count what I owed.

When I stumbled into the streets, the castle loomed over me.

I made it a good three steps before I vomited. At least I made it into the gutter.

Ale has no place in the mind of a king, Jerad’s voice reminded me. That’s what he’d always say when I tried to convince him to come out with me.

“Well, I’m not king yet,” I spoke to no one in particular. “And if our father has his way, I’ll never be.”

If something ever happens to me, the responsibility will be passed to you. Are you ready to give up your childish behavior?

“Too late, something already happened,” I choked. “Shouldn’t have come with me that night.”

A slurred voice cut through the alcohol clouding my mind. “You’re the one who shouldn’t have come out tonight.”

Firm hands gripped my shoulder, then someone kneed me in the gut.

The pain buckled me, my drunken limbs swaying in shock.

The man holding me spit in my face. “You must not be from around here. Otherwise you’d have known to leave your jewelry behind.”

A fist caught me in the jaw. I swung, but the man before me caught my hand midair. He wrenched a golden ring off my finger—Jerad’s ruby ring, before shoving me to the ground.

“Give that back,” I hissed, but the words came out slow, slurred. Unintimidating.

“Yeah, okay,” the man chuckled.

I spit on his boots.

Something collided with my skull, then everything went black.

“What in Alondria is wrong with you?”

The voice was familiar enough that it stirred me from sleep, but I found myself annoyed at being ripped away from the darkness so hastily. It had been peaceful in the darkness.

Now the street lanterns blinded my eyes, amplifying the pounding in my head.

A shadowy figure stood over me, concern etched across her brow.

Blaise.

The grin on my face came out of nowhere. Everything hurt, and I’d almost been murdered and left for dead by a bunch of lowlifes. I wasn’t sure what I was happy about, but the giggles burst from me all the same.