“I can handle this from here.” Tiberius tore the heated iron from the fire and blew on the tip until it went brighter. “You can leave us. All of you.”
“But—” Havelock again. “Your Highness—”
“Careful,” Tiberius seethed. “If you’re about to imply that I can’t handle one tied-up female, then I’m going to either be offended or think you’re incompetent at tying knots.”
The soldiers filed toward the door.
“Wait!” Evangeline begged. “Don’t go! He’s been bewitched by Marisol—”
“Do not besmirch my love!” Tiberius whirled around and brought the fire iron down on the low center table, shattering one of his liquor bottles.
Glass flew like arrows.
Liquid sizzled.
Evangeline sucked in a gasp as she watched the bottle of Fortuna’s Fantastically Flavored Water totter back and forth.
It fell on its side.
Thankfully, it didn’t break.
That had been close. Evangeline would have to be more careful. Mentioning Marisol was clearly out of the question unless she wanted to risk her only chance of surviving. There was also the hope that Jacks might make a perfectly timed appearance and come to her rescue once again, but she couldn’t rely on that. For all she knew, he was still asleep on his sofa.
The soldiers all left the chamber.
Tiberius stalked closer, boots pounding on the broken glass—
He stopped abruptly and eyed the tipped-over bottle of antidote with a scowl. “How did this get in here? I hate these things.” He picked up the bottle with two fingers and brought it toward the fire.
No! No! No! She wanted to scream.
But instead of throwing it in, the bottle worked its magic. Tiberius stopped, took another look at the concoction, popped the cork with his mouth, and drank.
Evangeline felt her hope grow bright.
But after only a few seconds, Tiberius wrenched the bottle from his lips. He shuddered and gave the drink a foul look. “Once I’m king, these drinks will be the first thing I outlaw.”
Tiberius weighed the fire iron in his hand as if deciding how he wanted to do this.
Evangeline could only take shallow breaths. She needed to buy more time for the antidote to work. She doubted begging would help, but maybe she could get him to talk without triggering a violent reaction. “The last time I saw you, you said that when we met again, you’d tell me why you had disappeared.”
A bitter laugh.
Another drink.
Followed by another wince.
“I left after my brother and I fought about you,” Tiberius said grimly. “I told him you weren’t the savior everyone claimed. I told him you’d be the death of him.”
“Why would you think that?”
“All that matters is, I was right.” The prince pointed the fire iron directly at Evangeline’s throat.
“No—I didn’t do this.” She rocked her chair, urgently hoping by some miracle it would fall hard enough to shatter the arms and legs and set her free. But the chair was too heavy. She couldn’t even get the seat to budge. “I didn’t kill your brother—”
“I know,” Tiberius said. “I’ve known it the whole time.”
“Wh—what—” Evangeline sputtered. He was telling her what she’d hoped to hear, but the young prince still looked as if he had no intention of letting her go. His freckled face was that of a stubborn soldier with an order he was determined to carry out.
“I don’t understand,” she said. “If you know I’m innocent, why are you doing this?”
“It’s too dangerous to let you live.” Tiberius shook his head, expression determined, and yet Evangeline sensed he didn’t get any pleasure from this.
He took another drag from the antidote bottle and then pulled down the neck of his striped doublet, revealing a dark black tattoo of a broken skeleton key. “Do you know what this is?”
Evangeline shook her head.
“This is the symbol of the Protectorate.”
The Protectorate. She had heard the name before. But where? Her heart quickened as she tried to think. Then her heart stopped altogether as she remembered.
Apollo had told her about the Protectorate the night he’d shared the stories of the Valory Arch. They’d been in the first version of the story, where the Valors had made something horrible. Apollo had said the Protectorate was some sort of secret society responsible for protecting the broken pieces of the Valory Arch and making sure it would never be opened again.