Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 141385 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141385 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
She nods and leads me over there, wrapping her arms around herself. She’s trying to make herself look small, but I know her well enough that her anger is already simmering along beneath the surface.
I just need a little something to bring it out of her.
She turns, and her mask has dropped. Her eyes are hard and cold, and her lips are pulled into a thin line that’s as tense as her shoulders. “How did you do it?”
I tilt my head, blinking innocently. “Do what?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“Oh, my hair? I got a new curling wand and—”
“The engagement. To the crown prince. How did you do it?”
“I thought you already knew how that came around. Didn’t Finn tell you how we met during that meeting the other day?”
She flinches, presumably at my casual use of his nickname. “That’s not—” She takes a deep breath before continuing. “Yes, and I want to know how you managed to wriggle your way into the palace. How you conned them into letting you marry him instead of me.”
“Conned them?” A laugh escapes me before I can stop it. “Good grief, Jas. You really can’t accept that he just chose me, can you?”
“There’s no way. No. Way.” She clenches her jaw but quickly releases it when she sees Valentina watching us. “I know you did something. Our engagement was guaranteed until you showed up in front of him. How did you do it? Did you stalk him? Deliberately appear in front of him?”
“You’re losing your mind,” I reply. “Whatever he told you about how we met, it’s the truth. It was a coincidence in the park, and I tried my hardest not to reveal my real name when I ended up in the palace. I had no idea that’s where I was going until I got there, and then it was too late for me to back out. It’s not my fault the queen recognised me. What was I supposed to do? Lie to her?”
“Yes!”
Other eyes around us land on us, and I untuck my hair from my face in a lame attempt to hide my identity. I know this only serves to make me more suspicious, and good.
I want to be suspicious.
I want to be seen.
I want to be recognised.
“Yes,” she repeats, quieter this time. “You should have lied. You knew how I felt about him.”
“Oh, please. Don’t act as if he’s the love of your life.”
“You—” She stops again, as if to gather her thoughts. She takes another moment and smooths her hair from her face, deliberately looking down. “You should have lied. You should never have spoken to him or done anything. I was raised for this. You weren’t. You took it from me.”
“That’s what this is really about, isn’t it? It’s not about Finn. It’s not about what I did. It’s about the fact you think you’re owed an engagement to him because that’s what you were raised to believe.”
She says nothing and merely glares at me.
“Let me remind you of something.” I take a step closer to her and dip my head, gently reaching out to rest my hand on her upper arm in what will seem like a gentle and reassuring, even pleading touch from a big sister to anyone watching us. “You were only raised like that because I was kidnapped. Everything you have right now is because I disappeared. If I hadn’t gone missing, do you really think you’d be recognised as a Sinclair? Even now, everyone believes you’re an adopted daughter, while I’ve been acknowledged fully. Without my disappearance, you’d be nothing more than what you really are: a mistress’ daughter, raised on the sidelines, while I reap the rewards of the Sinclair name.”
“You—”
“‘Your’ engagement? It was never yours. It was always mine. It was my mother who discussed it with the queen, and it was passed onto you as a courtesy.” I keep my voice low, my tone flat, my words tight. “I didn’t take anything from you. I merely claimed what was already mine, and you can’t stand that. You can’t stand that our father had to acknowledge me as his daughter in public because of what I did. You can’t stand the reminder that everything you have is by pure chance, and that to top it off, Finn chose me. He had a choice, and in a world where he could have chosen sweet little Jasmine Sinclair, raised for fifteen years to be his wife, he chose me. Harriet Sinclair. The one who went missing. The one with the unknown past.”
I pull back and meet her gaze. Her eyes are roaring with hatred, and I know she’s about to blow. One more push, and she’ll stupidly give me exactly what I want.
So I do it.
I push.
“Your little daydreams were just that—dreams. Delusions far above anything you deserve. You never would have been his wife. The queen was never going to grant permission.” Just a little more. “He was waiting for me, Jas. The whole time you thought you were going to marry him, he was waiting in the hope I’d finally come home.” One more time. “He was even a virgin. That’s how devoted he was to the arrangement between us, even without knowing me. The best bit? While you were off gallivanting, preening, and planning a future that would never happen, he was fucking me.”