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“I knew she would be useless,” Kaezlyn murmured under her breath before wiping her mouth with a napkin. She threw it down on the table with too much force.

“As opposed to what?” I sneered mid bite. I was no longer a princess. What was the use for table manners? “What is it you want from me?”

Useless. Her insult echoed through my head as I took a large drink of wine. It was a title I was used to holding. I slammed my now-empty chalice of wine down on the table, reaching for the bottle to pour myself another.

Helion watched me with opened amusement, not saying a word as he ate his meal.

Edgar hadn’t touched his food. Instead, he had abandoned his cup and reached for a bottle to swig out of directly. Selkie watched him with open concern on her soft, delicate features.

“Clearly you all knew me before I was brutally murdered and cursed to reincarnate by my husband,” I spat the word out like poison. “But I do not remember you.” I took my time to look each of them in the eyes. “So be very fucking clear with me. What do you want?” I asked slowly, exhaustion threading through my voice.

Kaezlyn’s ruby-stained lips parted, as she tilted her head back and laughed. “You are nothing but a damsel waiting to be saved, aren’t you?” Her red curls bounced as her laughter rolled through her. “Stop acting like a victim. This is⁠—”

“Kaezlyn,” Helion said in a firm warning.

Her laughter died, and she pushed away her plate in disgust.

I tried to prod the bond, to gauge what was going on in Helion’s mind. But he was blocking me more firmly than ever. He draped one arm over the back of my chair, caging me in with the careless confidence of a male who knew exactly how much space he was stealing.

His other hand slid beneath my seat, fingers hooking under the frame. He dragged the chair toward him in one slow, deliberate pull. My traitorous heart fluttered as his eyes dragged to my lips. The legs scraped over the floor, the sound sharp in the silence as my body slid closer to his.

Those eyes stayed fixed on mine, bright with something dangerous and knowing, as if he wanted me to feel every inch of distance he took from me.

His breath warmed my mouth when he spoke. “Careful, Lyra,” he breathed, voice soft enough that only I could hear. “What if your ignorance is the only thing keeping you safe?”

I tried to turn away, feeling eyes watching us.

“Don’t look at them,” he murmured, hand cupping my cheek and stopping me from turning. “Look at me.”

His dimples deepened as my gaze slid back to his. I much preferred slashing a blade through his chest then being this close to him.

“Eat your food, drink your wine, and stop asking questions,” he breathed, leaning in until his forehead leant against mine. “Or our deal is gone.”

I didn’t trust him, and I certainly didn’t want to do as I was told. It went against every defiant part of me to nod. He pushed me back and topped up my wine.

I did not speak for the rest of the meal, mulling over Kaezlyn’s words. She’d drugged Helion in the game, making him blind with lust. Why?

The others made aimless conversation around me as if they were forced to, and the sensation of being watched had never truly faded.

Edgar was the only other one with nothing to say. He leant back in his chair, blond hair dishevelled, sipping his wine and staring at nothing with a dark look in his eyes.

Sitting this close to him made my skin crawl and my heart race. He was the architect to my scars. My tormenter for several years. Yet he sat next to me now as if he hardly knew me, drinking himself into a stupor.

“I’ll see you all in the morning for more eternal suffering,” Edgar slurred, raising the bottle of wine in a salute as he stood from the table.

“What is wrong with you?” I asked, almost gently. He was far from the man my kingdom held sacred.

“You.” He hiccupped and swayed on his feet, lifting a finger from the neck of the wine bottle to point at me. “You’re a pathetic little princess scared of chains.”

I gripped my fork and drove it down into the back of his hand with a sharp, satisfying crunch.

He went still, his gaze lowering to the prongs buried in his flesh.

For a moment, no one moved. Edgar lifted his brows, and an unhinged laugh spilled from him as if I had merely inconvenienced him.

He staggered toward the door without bothering to remove the fork.

“You already tried killing me once, princess. You failed. Like you do at everything. You couldn’t even fucking die like you wanted to.”