The Shadows Between Us

by Tricia Levenseller

Ladies aren’t permitted lovers before marriage. Just one of the many laws I will change once I’m sitting on the throne.

So why has he invited me to stay at the palace? Can it truly be simply because my plan is working?

There’s something about watching him give orders that has my blood flowing faster in my veins. He has such power. Men are forced to obey him without a word of protest. They would do anything he commanded. I want that power.

“I see you,”

I have been entrusted with the name of a king. Now I need him to give me his heart.

Who in the world would steal and then not keep the riches for themselves? That’s just bad business. Someone that stupid must surely be caught soon.

Robin Hood

I handled Hektor as I have handled everything else in my life: alone and with the utmost thoroughness.

“Not yet, he hasn’t.” “Good.” As an afterthought, he adds, “Because it wouldn’t do for people to think you’re being courted by someone other than me. It would ruin our plans.” “Of course.” But could that have been just a smidgeon of jealousy in his tone?

“Ah. An admirer who is hesitant to give up. I can hardly fault them for that.”

He swallows the bite in his mouth. “Alessandra Stathos, that’s positively despicable.” He says the words like they’re the highest compliment he can give me. “You are an absolute gem, do you know that?” My whole body warms at the praise.

The poets can say whatever they damned like. A woman’s worth is not decided by what’s between her legs but by what is in her mind.

And in the meantime, you need to play the perfect fiancé, so no one will suspect anything.” Petros turns to his friend. “In that case, he’s doomed.”

“Hi,” Rhouben says awkwardly. “Would you rather dance with a man or dance with Melita?” Petros asks, as he sweeps me away. The last thing I see is Rhouben enthusiastically engaging in the dance with Petros’s old partner.

“You really are the best, Alessandra. If this works, I owe you my life.” “Don’t be so dramatic,” Petros says. “Would you want a life with Melita?” Rhouben challenges. “Fair point. Yes, you owe her your

“You deemed him unacceptable for Chrysantha but acceptable for me?”

Fear not. While I told them you were a trollop and undoubtedly slept with the man, you would never do something so terrible as help estrange a noble from his family.

WOOOWWW

But just before I go, the skin about my blackened eye warms. Not with pain. Not from the memory of the kiss pressed there. But at the ghost of a gloved hand.

“I have no one right now. But as I said, I grew up receiving little attention from my family. So I sought it elsewhere.” “Oh, Alessandra. If only I’d known you sooner. I would never ignore you.”

“Have you ever been in love?” “No,” he says. “Not ever. What’s it like?” “Horrible.”

“I lied. You’re the most stunning thing to ever set foot in my palace.”

“Do you know how I was able to catch the king’s attention?” She shakes her head. “By being myself. By discussing what I wished to discuss and behaving how I wished to behave and wearing what I wished to wear. It is not conforming to a standard that drew His Majesty’s attention. If you wish to make a happy match, I think you should do the same. Don’t be afraid of who you are. Say what you wish. Be who you wish. Don’t try to be someone else. You don’t want to catch a man who wants me. You want to catch a man who wants you.”

“My little hellion. Quite the force to be reckoned with, aren’t you? Oh, say you’ll marry me, Alessandra!”

“You’re not going to hang me?” “Hang you?” he repeats, letting his hands fall to his sides. “The man did you wrong, Alessandra. Honestly, you’ve saved me the trouble of tracking him down and killing him myself.” “But—” “I pardon you,” he says simply.

He is perfect. Like wdym instead of getting mad at her for killing someone, you want to marry her

“I think that when you care enough for someone, you reach a point where it’s far more painful not to have him at all than to have him and risk losing him. You realize the risk is worth it. Because happiness, however short-lived, is always worth it.”

“Oh, he said he’d be a little late. Some business he had to attend to.”

He is the assasin

It’s Leandros.

“I can’t leave her.” “I’ll stay with her. She’ll be here when you get back.”

“I want a life with you, Alessandra, one without the shadows between us.

For Kallias, it is one he has waited a whole year for. And for me, I feel as though I’ve waited my whole life.

Waiting. Not waiting. One lover. A hundred lovers. There should be no judgment either way. A woman is not defined by what she does or doesn’t do in the bedroom.

“I’m not a trollop,” I announce to the empty room. “I’m a sexually empowered woman, and there is nothing wrong with that.”

You will attend, yes? Or are you too busy playing nursemaid to your wrinkled husband?