“She needs to move on,” he sighed, his hand twitching, as if he were fighting back the urge to let go of me and run his hands through his hair.
I cocked a brow. “Why does she need to do that? I’m not exactly an expert on love, but I’m fairly certain people don’t check on someone every three seconds if they harbor no feelings for them.”
When he looked back at me, his eyes had lost some of that mischievous fervor. “Dinah’s different. She’s good.”
“And you’re not? Last I read the papers, you weren’t exactly the evil twin.”
He laughed, a dry hoarse sound. “No, I’m afraid that title still belongs to my brother.”
My mind flashed back to a newspaper article from about a year ago.
Naenden King Executes Brother’s Wife for Conspiracy Against the Prince.
I’d thought the entire situation was horrible, of course. And honestly, one could never be sure the writers of these sorts of articles were bothering to tell both sides of the story, especially when a fae as powerful and cruel as the King of Naenden was the subject. Did Fin not believe his brother? The article had claimed the king had killed the princess in his brother’s interest.
Or maybe he did believe him, and something like that was just simply unforgivable, regardless of the intentions.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said. The words felt weak coming out. Useless.
“Me too,” he said, absentmindedly glancing back at Dinah.
I bit my lip, unsure of whether I was overstepping. But then again, I supposed he’d been overstepping when he’d whooshed in to rescue me from a night of pining after Evander. And he had made me feel better. “I’m sure it’s difficult to move on after something like that. There must be a lot of guilt surrounding any feelings you might develop for someone else. Especially for someone who was fortunate enough to marry for love.”
Fin scoffed. “Fortunate? Is that what you’d call it?”
I swallowed. Yes, I’d definitely overstepped. But still. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to offend.”
He glanced down at me, his eyes softening, then he broke into a sad smile. “You can go ahead and argue your point if you wish, but I assure you, you’re not fooling me.”
“Fooling you?”
“Into thinking I should listen to you because you have experience being betrothed to someone you don’t love. Trust me, it took about three seconds of the prince waltzing with that female and half a glance at your face to know otherwise.”
My stomach tightened, and my mouth went dry, irritation buzzing at my cheeks. “One might say it’s even worse this way. To marry for love, when your betrothed is simply marrying for duty. What am I supposed to do?” My throat constricted, a painful bulb forming around my throat. The next few words I had to push out. “Sit around and pine after him as he takes his mistresses to bed? Throw myself at him, fully aware I’m simply one of many?” And then the true reason. “Love him, while the whole time, he’s in love with someone else?”
My eyes stung, and Fin released my hand, bringing his to my cheek and brushing my skin with his thumb, catching a tear beneath his touch.
I couldn’t help but glance over at Evander, who was now dancing with another woman…with…the Queen of Naenden.
“For what it’s worth,” Fin said, catching my attention once more, “my brother’s a monster, and my sister-in-law won him over in the end. I’d say Evander’s not nearly as far gone.”
I sighed a smile at him. “This is pretty pitiful, you know. The both of us pouring our hearts out to complete strangers.”
“Miss Payne,” Fin said with faux offense, clutching his chest. “And I thought you said we were friends.”
I let out a laugh-sob, and he leaned forward, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
“For what it’s worth,” I whispered, “I think Dinah would understand if you told her you needed time.”
Fin flinched, and for a moment I thought I’d offended him, but then he pulled away, and I found it was a hand on his shoulder that had startled him.
Evander leveled a sickeningly forced grin at Fin, one that didn’t even attempt to meet his eyes. “One more song and I might be tempted to take offense,” he said, his voice lighthearted enough, though I could sense the tension behind it.
“And I’d never dare risking such a thing,” Fin said, tapping Evander on the back.
Fin winked at me before he bowed and walked away.
CHAPTER 42
EVANDER
It was as if all the thoughts that make a horrible person—well, horrible—were all competing for first place in my mind.
There was the obvious one, of course. The classic go-to.
The fae prince who’d stolen every single one of Ellie’s dances that night was irrefutably uglier than me.
Okay, maybe not. But he was shorter than me.
Maybe.
By at least an inch from the looks of it.
If he’d managed to keep his wife alive, then perhaps he wouldn’t feel the need to seek comfort in Ellie.
Okay, that was the truly despicable one—the thought I felt bad about the instant it stroked my mind, threatening to fester there.
Honestly, though. What was he doing dancing so publicly with a woman hardly a year after his wife’s death? At the hands of his brother, who currently sulked in the corner, no less.
