Blinking, I focus on the bracelets set out in front of me, suddenly feeling guilty that the lady has probably been showing me things and talking to me, and I haven’t paid attention at all. “No,” I say, shaking my head. “They’re beautiful, but I don’t need any jewelry.”
“No one truly needs jewelry, my lady,” the woman says. “But it’s nice to have something pretty.” She holds out a simple band that has a black jewel in the center of it.
My fingers trail over the soft silver metal. “It is very pretty.”
“We’ll take it,” Slade says, passing the woman money. Her whole face brightens up.
“See that?” I hear the man say. “Got her claws into our king, didn’t she?”
“She must fuck like a goddess and squirt out gold cum.”
More jeering laughter. The raspy man finally ending it with a whooping cough.
My fingers fist at my sides, and gold starts to lather against my palms.
Behind me, Digby goes ramrod straight a split second before he lurches forward. I whirl around and catch his arm just in time, feeling the gold in my palm glob up and soak into his sleeve. “Don’t,” I tell him with a shake of my head.
“My lady—” he grits out.
“It’s fine.”
His face goes red, but at least the rest of his bruises have faded away. “It’s not.”
“What’s wrong?” Slade asks, coming up beside me with the wrapped up bracelet, his gaze bouncing between Digby and me.
I drop my hand, tuck it into my pocket. Though Slade’s eyes don’t miss the faint handprint on Digby’s shirt.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I say with a smile, though I think it’s shaky, because his gaze turns more intent, and he looks around us, as if searching for whatever might have upset me.
But one look over my shoulder, and I see that the men have scattered like rats from a sewer. The gold in my palm hardens like an angry stare.
“Actually,” I say, turning back around. “I think I’d like to head back to the castle now.”
“Really?” Slade asks.
I nod, and he watches me for another moment before he goes to speak to the others. I look back at Digby, noting his expression is pulled tight, brows shut in together with a crease. Brown eyes casting off disappointment like a drawn out shadow.
“Should’ve let me say something to them.”
His grumbled words almost unearth some of the soiled weight that’s been dumped on my chest.
“You can say something until you’re blue in the face, and it won’t do any good. People rarely change their opinions when they’re argued with. They only tend to listen to the voices of those they already agree with.”
“It isn’t right. What they’re saying about you.”
I look around, catching the eyes of more people, their willful stares making me itch like the searching scratch of wayward fingers.
“Or maybe it’s exactly right,” I say beneath my breath.
Digby’s eyes sharpen on me, but Slade comes back up before he can say anything else. “I think I’d like to sit in the carriage on the way back, if that’s alright,” I say.
Slade stops short, gaze diving into my own like he wants to swim past the surface and find what lurks beneath my deepest depths. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I say again, trying to perch that false smile on my face.
He looks over his shoulder at the others as they mount their horses. “You all go on ahead. We’ll catch up.”
Surprise flits through me, but I say nothing. Digby gives me a look before he follows Judd and Lu to the horses, while Slade leads me toward the carriage. I see the guards untether Honey, as well as Slade’s horse, attaching their reins to their own mounts.
All while more stares follow me, more voices chipping in.
“That’s the gilded pet. She killed Midas, you know. Caught him with another lover and stabbed him in a fit of jealousy.”
“You think that’s paint on her skin, or you think it’s really gold?”
“What do you reckon a lock of her hair is worth? Must be nice to walk around with wealth growing out of your scalp.”
“She’s nothin’ special. Take away the gold and what do you got? A jilted saddle who forgot her place.”
“What’s she doing here? Wasn’t one king enough for her? She’s gotta go and try and trap the eyes of ours too?”
“Hopefully, he’ll see through her gilded charms and rot her where she stands.”