Dancing with Deception

Dancing with Deception (14)

Chapter 14

“It’s a promise.”

The nerve. The absolute nerve of him, I thought, remembering his words.

I punched my fist into my pillow as I turned down the bed, struggling to keep myself composed and my anger masked from Ella across the room.

I hadn’t told either of my friends about our quarrel, partly because I didn’t want to admit to needing extra sword practice, but mostly because I didn’t want Prince Alexander’s ridiculous assumptions to hurt Ella.

She didn’t deserve feeling upset just because the Prince mistakenly thought I had feelings for Nicholas, especially considering his accusations could have been true had the timing been different.

I didn’t want her to entertain the possibility of Nicholas and I, as anything more then friends, even if his brother thought I was completely unworthy of anything more.

I dug through my bags aggressively, venting my frustration silently as I looked for my nightclothes.

No matter how many times I thought he couldn’t possibly be more infuriating, he’d go right ahead and prove me wrong.

Did he truly think he had any control whatsoever over whom I could and couldn’t be interested in? But of course, of course he thought he should have a say in the matter.

Granted, I’d always known having an interest in Nicholas would rile him, and I would have expected stunned disbelief, even anger. What I hadn’t seen coming was his flat out declaration that I simply wasn’t good enough for his brother.

It took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to pursue Nicholas simply out of spite, just so I could shove the fact of it in Prince Alexander’s face. There was a time when I would have done so without hesitation.

Despite how much I resisted playing into such petty games, the temptation to fall into old habits was still there, and to that end I avoided Nicholas altogether.

I desperately needed a run to ease my tension, but for the last few nights I’d taken the cautious route, avoiding my evening runs to keep out of the halls even though it felt ridiculous to do so. In truth, I didn’t trust myself to see Prince Alexander without it provoking some kind of rash behavior.

Needless to say, the influence of my mother wasn’t so easily cleansed as I’d hoped. The poison tipped dart I’d carried around for so long may have been extracted, but the taint remained under the surface, less potent perhaps, but there nonetheless.

And Prince Alexander seemed to be the trigger for everything I wanted to leave behind.

I moved behind the dressing screen in the corner of the room, taking a deep shaking breath, and trying to think calm thoughts as I changed.

My mind naturally turned to Nicholas, and immediately I felt guilty. He had been unknowingly caught up in a feud he knew nothing of, and all because I’d been too stubborn to admit my feelings for him were purely friendly.