Read Online Marrying Her Royal Enemy by Jennifer Hayward - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jennifer Hayward
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the newspaper the next day and saw the news of the crash.”
When Athamos was dead. “Do you wonder,” she asked, unable to stop herself, “if you’d said something sooner...?”
Cassandra paled, her deep olive skin assuming a gray cast. “Every day. Every day since it happened. But at some point I had to forgive myself. Move on. Punishing myself wasn’t going to bring Athamos back. It wasn’t going to change what happened.”
Stella bit hard into her lip, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth. She should tell Cassandra it wasn’t her fault, that she couldn’t have predicted what would have happened, but a tiny part of her couldn’t forgive the woman for not sharing the truth with Athamos before things got out of hand. And because she suspected Cassandra had been hedging her bets. If the crown prince of Carnelia had fallen through as a potential mate, she could have picked up the pieces with Athamos and still become queen.
She studied the woman across from her. “Have you found happiness now, with your fiancé?”
Cassandra’s gaze dropped away from hers, but not before she caught the myriad of emotion that ran through those dark eyes. The sadness. “I have found...peace.”
“With a man who wants to take the potential for that away from this country?”
The other woman lifted her chin. “It isn’t wise to judge others until you’ve walked in their shoes.”
But the deep, searing flare of jealousy invading Stella didn’t care about fairness. Athamos was dead. Cassandra Liatos was still clearly in love with Kostas. Perhaps their relationship, made impossible according to her fiancé, had never really finished. Perhaps Kostas still loved her. It made her feel ill in a way she’d never experienced before.
And that, she told herself, was ridiculous. Her and Kostas’s marriage was not a love match. It was a partnership. It was, however, a potent reminder of what it would cost her to allow her old feelings for her fiancé to resurface. To allow them to rule her.
She lifted her gaze to Cassandra’s. “I wish you and Captain Mena the best of luck. I hope you find the peace you are looking for. I really do.”
Turning on her heel, she strode inside. Alex had been right. That had been no kind of closure.
* * *
“How many High Court justices will you appoint?”
Kostas attempted to concentrate on his conversation with a high-ranking Carnelian judge, but the sight of his fiancée in the arms of Aristos Nicolades had unearthed a strange, combustible force inside of him that felt a great deal like jealousy. A foreign emotion he had little experience with. If he wanted a woman, he pursued her and enjoyed her. If she played games, one of those ineffectual exercises designed to inspire him to think seriously about her, she was gone within the hour.
But right now, watching Stella enclosed in the casino magnate’s arms on the dance floor, an intense conversation going on between the two of them, he was not unaffected. He wanted to walk over there and end it.
Exhaling a long breath, he pushed his attention back to the woman in front of him, a powerful figure who was a key supporter and would be an ally in the justice system. “I’m not sure yet. Rest assured, you will be among them.”
He concluded his conversation with the judge, making his way toward the dance floor, attempting to corral his temper while he was at it. It was tradition that the engaged couple kicked off the dancing, but since his fiancée had been out on the terrace with Cassandra Liatos, a collision he hadn’t been able to prevent, then taken to the dance floor with Aristos, he’d had to cool his heels while his event planner continued to look as if she might burst a blood vessel.
He was also feeling as if he might burst a blood vessel at his fiancée’s latest rebellion. He caught her hand as she walked off the dance floor with Aristos and the look of careless disregard on her face sent his blood pressure up another ten
When Athamos was dead. “Do you wonder,” she asked, unable to stop herself, “if you’d said something sooner...?”
Cassandra paled, her deep olive skin assuming a gray cast. “Every day. Every day since it happened. But at some point I had to forgive myself. Move on. Punishing myself wasn’t going to bring Athamos back. It wasn’t going to change what happened.”
Stella bit hard into her lip, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth. She should tell Cassandra it wasn’t her fault, that she couldn’t have predicted what would have happened, but a tiny part of her couldn’t forgive the woman for not sharing the truth with Athamos before things got out of hand. And because she suspected Cassandra had been hedging her bets. If the crown prince of Carnelia had fallen through as a potential mate, she could have picked up the pieces with Athamos and still become queen.
She studied the woman across from her. “Have you found happiness now, with your fiancé?”
Cassandra’s gaze dropped away from hers, but not before she caught the myriad of emotion that ran through those dark eyes. The sadness. “I have found...peace.”
“With a man who wants to take the potential for that away from this country?”
The other woman lifted her chin. “It isn’t wise to judge others until you’ve walked in their shoes.”
But the deep, searing flare of jealousy invading Stella didn’t care about fairness. Athamos was dead. Cassandra Liatos was still clearly in love with Kostas. Perhaps their relationship, made impossible according to her fiancé, had never really finished. Perhaps Kostas still loved her. It made her feel ill in a way she’d never experienced before.
And that, she told herself, was ridiculous. Her and Kostas’s marriage was not a love match. It was a partnership. It was, however, a potent reminder of what it would cost her to allow her old feelings for her fiancé to resurface. To allow them to rule her.
She lifted her gaze to Cassandra’s. “I wish you and Captain Mena the best of luck. I hope you find the peace you are looking for. I really do.”
Turning on her heel, she strode inside. Alex had been right. That had been no kind of closure.
* * *
“How many High Court justices will you appoint?”
Kostas attempted to concentrate on his conversation with a high-ranking Carnelian judge, but the sight of his fiancée in the arms of Aristos Nicolades had unearthed a strange, combustible force inside of him that felt a great deal like jealousy. A foreign emotion he had little experience with. If he wanted a woman, he pursued her and enjoyed her. If she played games, one of those ineffectual exercises designed to inspire him to think seriously about her, she was gone within the hour.
But right now, watching Stella enclosed in the casino magnate’s arms on the dance floor, an intense conversation going on between the two of them, he was not unaffected. He wanted to walk over there and end it.
Exhaling a long breath, he pushed his attention back to the woman in front of him, a powerful figure who was a key supporter and would be an ally in the justice system. “I’m not sure yet. Rest assured, you will be among them.”
He concluded his conversation with the judge, making his way toward the dance floor, attempting to corral his temper while he was at it. It was tradition that the engaged couple kicked off the dancing, but since his fiancée had been out on the terrace with Cassandra Liatos, a collision he hadn’t been able to prevent, then taken to the dance floor with Aristos, he’d had to cool his heels while his event planner continued to look as if she might burst a blood vessel.
He was also feeling as if he might burst a blood vessel at his fiancée’s latest rebellion. He caught her hand as she walked off the dance floor with Aristos and the look of careless disregard on her face sent his blood pressure up another ten
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