A large object sailed toward him. Kardal barely had time to duck out of the way before a vase crossed the place where his head had been just the second before. He stared at Sabrina who stood by the table at the foot of the bed. Fury darkened her face and fire flashed from her eyes.
“You bastard,” she said in a tone of outrage. “How dare you?”
He quickly pulled on his trousers, then held up his hands in protest. “What’s wrong? Why are you angry? You should be happy that there is no troll prince.”
“You knew!” She pointed at him as if he’d just stolen something precious. “You knew we were engaged, but you never told me.”
Her mouth opened, then closed. “That’s why you claimed me as your slave. You wanted to know what I was like. And that’s why my father didn’t come get me. It’s not that he didn’t care that I’d been kidnapped. I hadn’t been kidnapped at all.”
“Sabrina, you are overreacting. You said you loved me and now we will be together. I told you it would be fine, and it is.”
“Like hell.” She picked up another vase, glanced at it, then set it back on the table. A fruit bowl flew at him next.
“You played with me, you bastard,” she spat. “You deliberately kept this information from me and let me feel horrible about everything. How dare you presume to decide if you want me around without consulting me?”
“Why are you angry? I will be your husband.”
“What makes you think I want anything to do with you?”
He still didn’t understand why she was so upset. “Sabrina—”
“Don’t you ‘Sabrina’ me,” she yelled. “All this time I was worried about you. I was afraid to be with you and make love with you because I thought you were going to get killed because of me. You used me and you kept the truth from me.” She crossed her arms over her chest and turned away. “I thought we were friends. I thought we mattered to each other.”
“We are friends…and lovers. Soon we will be married.”
She spun back to face him. “Don’t for one second think I’m going to marry you. I’ll never forgive you for this, Kardal. You treated me badly. You’re still doing it.”
“How?” he asked, genuinely baffled. “What have I done wrong?”
“You don’t love me.”
“You are a woman.” Love? A woman? Him? “I am the Prince of Thieves.”
“You’re a man. I have to tell you, I’m really sorry there isn’t a troll prince, because I would much rather marry him than have anything to do with you. I can’t believe I was stupid enough to let myself care about you. Well, you can be sure that I’m never going to make that mistake again and just as soon as I figure out how not to love you anymore, I’m going to do it.”
She stalked toward the door and before he could stop her, she was gone.
Sabrina ran through the halls of the palace. Adiva saw her and tried to find out what was wrong, but Sabrina couldn’t think. She couldn’t do anything but keep moving because it all hurt too much.
She ached inside, as if someone had ripped out her heart. Perhaps they had. Kardal had thought all of this was a great joke. He’d been laughing at her expense. So many things now made sense. She should have realized. Somewhere along the way, she should have known the truth.
Without realizing where she was, she found herself in front of Cala’s quarters. She walked through the arch that used to lead to the harem and knocked on the closed door of Cala’s private chamber.
“Cala,” she called as she knocked again on the door. “Cala, are you there?”
“Just a moment.”
There was a rustling sound from inside the room, then the door opened a few inches.
The normally perfectly groomed and unruffled princess wore a thin robe. Her long hair was mussed.
“Sabrina.” Cala sounded distracted. “What’s wrong, dear?” Her gaze sharpened. “Have you been crying?”
A movement in the rear of the room caught Sabrina’s attention. She saw a partially dressed King Givon pulling on his shirt. Color flared on her cheeks. She pressed one hand to her chest.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you while you were…That is, I didn’t want to bother you.”
Apparently Givon and Cala had picked up the pieces of their relationship. The information should have made Sabrina happy, but instead it was very hard not to cry.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated, and started to leave.
“Wait.” Cala glanced at Givon who nodded slightly. She drew Sabrina into the room. “Tell us what’s wrong.”