The Rebel Prince (The Season Series #3)

Chapter 49 - Part 2

I turned back towards the gardens, dreading the impending tug in my chest. The one that always awakened in Adelaide's presence. Only now, maybe it had evolved into a desire to throttle her. I prayed it would be the latter.

"I was just leaving," I said.

Her heeled slippers clicked across the terrace. I hated the way my legs locked up, unwilling to listen even though my mind screamed for them to keep moving. I pressed my eyes closed in disgust. Was this how easy it would be for her, then? Was my body this weak, this traitorous?

"You've been avoiding me all evening," she said, her voice small, "I was hoping we could talk."

My chest constricted. My teeth gnashed together. There was no more avoiding it, now. I had to face her. I had to face her and endure whatever her mere presence did to me. The shame of it would eat me alive if I harbored any desire towards her besides murder. Every one of my muscles tensed as I glanced up to the sky, to the stars that reminded me of Beatriz, then turned to Adelaide.

But where I'd expected her beautiful, pouting face to punch me in the heart, it didn't. Where that same look of dejection had once spurred me to do whatever it took to chase it away, now it kindled the fire of hatred in my heart. She'd colluded with Dulciana. She'd sent Callum after me. He and his men had almost killed Beatriz and Nisha because of her. Dulciana knew Frederico's movements because Adelaide had somehow shared the contents of my letter.

Now, finally, when her teeth glittered up at me in the moonlight, nothing stirred within me. No rush of victory that I'd earned one of her smiles. No urge to gather her in my arms and drown in her. No flush of delight and desire racing across my skin.

Instead, all I was contemplating was how easily I could snap her neck.

I exhaled the breath I'd been holding. My tense muscles loosened. All the knots that had tied in my stomach disappeared, and I vowed that I'd have a little more faith in myself in the future. I was free. I was no longer the weak little creature so easily swayed by the girl who'd broken my heart. I was free of her, at last. I was so relieved that I almost laughed.

"What could we possibly have to talk about?" I demanded, folding my arms. I relished the brief, confused dip of her brows and the way I was no longer tempted to ease her confusion. Instead, when I looked down at her, in her opulent gown and glittering jewels and expensive perfume, all I could think of was Beatriz. The sly way she'd smirk at such extravagance, all while caressing her knives.

But Adelaide was still a snake, and I'd almost forgotten that when she closed the space between us and reached for my face. "You came back for me," she breathed, leaning closer.

I closed my hands around her wrists and pulled them away. "No, I didn't. If I'd had any choice in the matter, I'd never have returned at all."

Her eyes narrowed before she schooled them back into wide-eyed fawning. "Thomas." She drew my name out and I realized with a sickening lurch that she knew exactly what it did to me—what it used to do to me. She wielded it like a witch with a spell, just like she had all along.

I didn't fight the condescending smile that curved my lips as I released her wrists and stepped away. "That little trick won't work anymore, Addie dearest."

I relished the way her nickname no longer bounced around my chest, like some secret bridge between us. Instead, I flung it at her like an insult.

She reached out and seized the lapels of my jacket, trying to tug me towards her. I chuckled, planting my feet in the wide, balanced stance Beatriz had taught me, and slid my hands into my pockets.