“Misha talks too much.” He blows out a breath. “All those people want is someone they can trust.
They don’t know anything about Prince Ronan except for who his mother is and what she did to them.
How are they supposed to take him on as their prince, as their king? How are they supposed to trust anything he says?”
“Don’t let them kill him,” I whisper.
Finn’s eyes flash and his nostrils flare. “It’s tempting.” His gaze rakes over me, and he shakes his head. “But as we already established, if Sebastian dies, we don’t know what happens to the crown. I have no intention of letting a mob get at him, as satisfying as it may be.”
“How noble of you,” I snap.
Kane clears his throat and glances longingly toward the corridor. “I can leave.”
“Stay,” Finn and I bark at the same time, neither of us taking our eyes off the other.
Finn lifts his chin. “What do you want from me, Princess?”
Kane groans behind Finn, looking back and forth between us like we’re two bombs about to explode.
“I want you to go, ” I snap. “Be that person. Be the one who rules and protects them. Prove that you want what’s best for them by forming an alliance with Sebastian. It might not fix the court, but it will make it stronger while we search for a long-term solution.”
He folds his arms. “What makes you think your prince is interested in an alliance?”
I shrug. “What makes you so sure he’s not?” After everything Sebastian explained to me, it’s hard to know what to think—to know what was true and what was manipulation—but in my heart I still believe he is good, that he wants what’s best for his father’s people. He had so much hope for these courts and for the continued peace between them that he betrayed me to make it happen. He and Finn aren’t so different.
“I’m going with you anyway,” I say. “I might as well help convince him while I’m there. We’ll figure this out together.”
“The only thing your presence will help us figure out is how much he’s willing to grovel to get back into your bed.”
“Even so,” Kane says, “having Abriella on our side might work to our advantage.”
Finn scowls at him.
“You can’t deny she has a way with you princes.” Kane turns up his palms. “Kings too, it appears.
She even has Misha wrapped around her finger.”
First Pretha and now Kane? I flash him a glare. “I do not!”
He chuckles. “Don’t worry. He hasn’t noticed yet.”
“Misha’s a friend.”
“You’re excused, Kane,” Finn growls, and Kane doesn’t waste a moment before disappearing into the castle.
When we’re alone again, I turn back to Finn. “Let me do what I can to help you convince Sebastian.”
“You’ll make it sound like he’s doing us a favor. Let me handle this.”
“You told me once that he wasn’t your enemy. What changed? Why do you wish him ill now?”
“That was before he destroyed my court with his reckless decisions,” he snaps.
“You mean before he saved my life.”
He closes his eyes. “That’s not what I said.”
I lift my chin. “Your court is in trouble because he saved my life and chained the power of the crown to my existence. Say it however you want. That’s the truth.”
His eyes glitter in the moonlight, and his jaw goes hard. “Stop it. Stop thinking that this world would be better off without you.”
“You said yourself that you’d put Sebastian on the throne before seeing your court fall. That’s exactly where he would be if it weren’t for me.” I step back, shaking my head. These are the thoughts that haunt me. “If I hadn’t taken that potion—”
Before I know what’s happening, Finn spins me around and presses me against the wall. He stares down at me, his silver eyes hard. “But you did. You took the potion, and in doing so, you salvaged one beautiful thing in a world full of ugliness. I, for one, will never be sorry for that.”
I can barely process his words before his mouth is on mine and— gods, the heat of his hard body pressed against me, the feel of his lips sipping at my mouth, like I’m the finest wine and he’s fighting between warring instincts to savor and devour.
When he sucks my bottom lip between his teeth, I open for him. I kiss him back with equal hunger.