Starfall (Starflight #2)(12)
She considered every angle, no matter how wild, as the maids styled her hair in a twist and secured it in place. The light scrape of metal against her scalp told her she now had access to hairpins, but she wouldn’t win this battle with lockpicks and pulse pistols. For Marius, tonight was about settling a vendetta. She would have to placate him, and her instincts told her humility was the key.
For that reason, she didn’t object when the maids zipped her into a strapless minidress more fitting for an escort than a princess. Nor did she complain when the guards left her feet bare and her wrists bound as they escorted her to the banquet hall. If Marius wanted her humbled before his court, she would give him that.
Once the banquet doors parted and she stepped across the threshold, she took care to shorten her stride into the steps of a girl ashamed. She dropped her gaze to the glittering quartz tiles beneath her feet and didn’t look up until she heard a familiar baritone that turned her blood cold.
“My god, is that you, dear Cassy? You’re nothing but skin and bones.”
The intimate use of her nickname grated her nerves. Nobody except Kane called her that. But she peeked shyly through her lashes at Marius, making sure to bite her quivering lower lip for effect.
From his seat at the head of the long dining room table, Marius looked the same as she remembered: like he belonged on a billboard. He’d always been beautiful, both by genetics and design, and tonight was no exception. There wasn’t a blemish on him, from the copper waves curling gently against his collar to the tips of his perfectly manicured fingers. He seemed as sculpted as ever, with a body that was literally known to stop traffic. (His exposed chest had once caused a three-hovercraft pileup.) But beneath the facade of perfection simmered a cruelty that all the enhancements in the galaxy couldn’t hide.
That was why she’d refused him.
The half dozen girls hovering around his chair didn’t seem to mind. Especially not the one sitting on his lap, stroking his well-trimmed beard with her fingernails. She looked content enough to purr, barely flicking a glance in Cassia’s direction before gazing in wonder at Marius’s face.
He lifted a chiding hand toward his guards. “Shackles? Our guest is a sovereign, not a soldier. Free her so we can dine like civilized human beings.”
The guards obeyed, but they lingered within arm’s reach, keeping their eyes fixed on her hands. They must have heard what she’d done to the Daeva. In retrospect, maybe punching the bounty hunter had been a bad idea.
“Come.” Marius indicated the upholstered chair adjacent to him at the table. Every head in the room turned toward the seat. “I ordered my chef to prepare your favorite: braised pheasant with asparagus spears, hold the truffles.” With a grin that didn’t reach beyond his lips, he added, “I remembered you hate mushrooms.”
He snapped his fingers, and a dozen platter covers simultaneously retracted, filling the room with the steamy scents of roasted meat and decadent spice. Cassia’s stomach grumbled as she settled in her chair.
Marius laughed at the sound of her hunger. “Had I known the Daeva would starve you, I would have sent someone else to bring you home.”
“Would you have?” She unfolded her napkin. “Even knowing why I left?”
His arrogant smile slipped. When he recovered, his lips were noticeably thinner than before. “I won’t pretend I was happy to learn you’d run off with a bastard, but if what I’ve heard is true, you’re not the first girl he’s seduced for money. I can’t blame you for falling victim to his charms. You were only sixteen.”
The terseness of his response caught her off guard. She scanned his face for a hint of subtext—a sardonic twist of his mouth to show they both knew the real reason she’d left. But if the bloom of color on his cheeks was any indication, he actually believed she’d run away with Kane out of love. And if that was the case, it meant her parents hadn’t told anyone about her accusations.
She saw a way to make Jordan’s idea work.
“You’re more forgiving than I deserve,” she murmured, staring into her lap but speaking loud enough for all to hear. She peeked up at Marius and then back down again. “I knew it was a mistake as soon as I left, but I was too afraid to come home and face you. Now there’s been so much suffering, and it’s all my fault.”
“Mmm,” he agreed. “Things could have been different if you’d stayed.”
“Maybe it’s not too late to fix this. We can join our thrones and stop the fighting.”
He turned his attention to the girl on his lap, grinning as he ran a lazy finger down the length of her spine. Despite his attempt at uninterest, clearly this was what he’d wanted—for Cassia to publicly ask him to take her back. “Why would I agree to that when I’m about to capture your throne? There’s no need for a marriage alliance now. The fighting will end in days with your surrender.”
“But there are insurgents in my city,” she warned. “A rebellion to destroy the monarchy, all because of the war you waged against them. They’ll never follow you unless I show them there’s nothing to fear.”
Marius lifted a shoulder. “Rebels can be destroyed easily enough.”
“True,” she conceded. “But if you keep using your weapons, soon there’ll be no one left to rule.”
That must have resonated with him, because he hesitated and wrinkled his forehead in consideration. She knew she almost had him. She thought hard of a way to sweeten the deal, to give him whatever he needed to save face with his people.