Lina lifted the necklace and put it on. A knot tightened in Bri’s throat as her eyes dipped from the emerald down Lina’s chest. Her fingers curled, craving to touch Lina again.

“Consider it an early wedding present from my mother,” Neelo said with a grin that told everyone their mother had no idea this necklace had gone missing.

Bri choked on her wine, covering it with a cough. Wedding. For a blissful moment, she’d forgotten that Lina was engaged to Tem. It felt so odd, so wrong, that Lina would marry him that Bri must have shoved the thought away entirely.

“Thank you,” Lina said, touching the emerald, and Bri’s heart sank further. Not the slightest bit of hesitation in Lina’s thanks.

A bowl of roasted almonds appeared before her, offered from Carys. She took a handful with a scowl, trying to hide her disappointment. What had she wanted Lina to say? That she’d canceled her engagement? For what? Bri would be leaving as soon as the assassins were under her thumb and a crown was on Lina’s head.

She’d make her own way and find her own crown. Still, the thought made her stomach sour. She knew it was unfair that she didn’t want anyone else to have Lina, but she couldn’t deny the jealousy that roiled in her gut.

With a sigh, she refilled her glass. Lina’s hand drifted under the table to her knee, the feeling electrifying every nerve in her body. Her fingers pressed in—a reminder of her plan to exact her revenge—and Bri’s heart stuttered.

Gods burn her.

Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The door creaked open and Lina peered through the crack. “Guarding my door?”

Bri leaned against the far wall, the drinks still buzzing through her veins. She hadn’t been guarding the door, merely pausing, pondering. Her feet had found their way to Lina’s room almost instinctively, as if wherever the Princess slept was where Bri should sleep too. She didn’t want to admit that it was the growing flame between them that gave her pause, so instead she simply said, “Yes.”

“No one knows we’re here. Besides, the dogs would alert us to anyone coming up the hill,” Lina said, opening the door and revealing her silk nightdress.

Bri’s heart leapt into her throat as her eyes dropped to the plunging neckline.

“Do you want to come in?” Lina’s lips twisted into a wicked grin.

“More than I want air in my lungs,” Bri growled, shoving off from the wall and prowling through the open door.

The moment she breached the threshold, Lina shoved her back against the slamming door, her belly and breasts pressing Bri against the hard wood. Lifting on her tiptoes, Lina brushed a hot kiss to Bri’s lips, her tongue licking against the seam of Bri’s mouth as her hands skimmed up Bri’s sides.