Humiliation burst like a storm through Lukan. He strode over and grabbed Lynx's arm. "I think you've played enough. Let's go."
Lynx's flute gave an abrupt whistle as her tune came to an end. A buzz of comment rippled through the watchers. Her face hardened, and she folded her arms around her drum, pressed against her chest. "What? But . . . why?"
"Are you a prince or a low-born?" Thurban demanded. "Drag the Norin out of here. Make her obey."
Fighting for control, Lukan bent down and hissed in her ear, "Don't make me drag you out of here."
Lynx blinked and then demanded loudly so everyone could hear, "Drag me out? Why? What have I done?"
Lukan glanced over at the crowd. Everyone's eyes-including Axel's-were on him, watching him being gainsaid by a woman.
Face like granite, Axel's fists clenched and unclenched.
Lukan didn't think his cousin would dare interfere, but he had to rescue this situation. And fast.
Then it struck him. Maybe he'd been wrong all these years and regal didn't only equate to being calm and serene. Crown princes were entitled to get angry, too. It was time Lynx and Axel-and the rest of his watchers-learned that crown princes put rebellious subjects in their place.
His voice rose an octave. "Because I told you to. Now, move." He fully expected her to obey.
Lynx's eyes turned icy, and rage mounted on her face. "No one other than my king can give me orders and expect me to obey."
Her king? How dare she?
She stood and faced him, and he noticed for the first time that they were the same height.
Voice like a whip, he shot back, "There is but one supreme ruler in this empire, and he is not the Norin king. I think it's time you, and all your kind, learned some respect for the Chenayan throne. My throne." He grabbed her arm and started dragging her to the door.
Lynx dug her feet into the floor. Still, he pulled her along, making her heels screech across the marble tiles. In a blur of movement, Lynx lifted her drumstick and cracked him across the cheek.
Lukan froze. But it wasn't just the sting of maple that enraged him.
Lynx had hit him. In public. With Axel watching.
This was worse than anything his father had ever done to him. The ultimate humiliation. And it was unforgivable.
Lukan tore the drumstick from her hand, snapped it in half across his knee, and flung the pieces onto the floor. While she gasped with shock, he lunged behind her and gripped her upper arms. "You're coming with me. Now."
She lashed her foot back, clearly intending to impale him with her heel. Her shoe snagged in the hem of her dress. While she wrestled with the fabric-and then with him-Lukan dragged her from the room.
Face blazing with anger, Axel bolted forward.
Lukan preempted any intervention by shoving his cousin's chest. Before Axel recovered, Lukan propelled Lynx out the door, over to the ballroom, and out onto the veranda.
It was then he noticed her face. It was feral in its fury. Never before had he seen a woman so angry-or so seductive.
It rendered him speechless. He couldn't fight the compulsion to kiss her.
She punched him on the chin, snapping his head back.
Stunned, it took him a moment to grasp what had happened. It was his childhood all over again, except instead of his father hitting him for missing breakfast, it was a girl!
"You bitch! You'll pay for that," he half-slurred, half-stammered. With a last look at her toxic beauty, he fled into the night.
The antlers would have been the far better trophy.
Chapter 24
Axel stumbled from Lukan's unexpected shove. He found his feet, brushed past the crowds jamming the door, and stormed into the ballroom. It took him seconds to locate Lynx and Lukan on the veranda.
A savage grin slashed his face when Lynx's fist smashed into Lukan's jaw. The punch was hard enough to snap Lukan's head back. Although Lynx could take care of herself, Lukan had gotten off way too lightly for daring to harm her. Without even stopping to analyze his emotions, Axel stalked across the ballroom, cracking his knuckles.
Someone locked onto his arm.
He shook the hand off, but the person skittered behind him and gripped both his biceps.
Then, a voice spoke in his ear. "No, Axel. Beating up the crown prince is not politic, even for you."
"Stefan. You saw what he did. I won't tolerate it. Especially not with Lynx."
His words did nothing to loosen Stefan's hold. He could have broken free, but that would mean flinging Stefan aside, not something he wanted to do to his best friend. He noticed his coward of a cousin heading away from Lynx toward the stairs leading to the gardens.
Running away, as he always does.
That left Lynx alone on the veranda.
"I don't want to hurt you, Stef, so I suggest you let me go," Axel hissed.
Stefan tightened his hold. "I'm aware of what she means to you." His smooth, calming voice came from behind a snow leopard mask. "I saw it on the train, long before you did. But the risk is too great-for her and for you. Princess Lynx of Norin is Lukan's betrothed. Not yours. Until that changes, you had better get a lock on that charming Avanov temper."
Axel sucked in a deep breath. Stefan was right about his temper. The last thing he wanted was to be like his brutal uncle. "What are you saying?"
"Exactly what Lukan saw tonight," Stefan whispered. "You are in love with Lynx."
"No!" Axel grimaced at the spike in his voice. Whispering, he added, "You know what this is about. Treven. And I don't cope well with men beating up on women." He pulled away, but Stefan tightened his hold on his arms. There was only one way out of this mess. He relaxed his back and shoulders.
"Better," Stefan said, easing his grip but not releasing him. "Come, let's get you a drink."
Axel shook his head. "Alcohol won't do me any favors." He allowed Stefan to lead him to the far wall of the ballroom, away from the crowds. It dismayed him to catch heads turning away as he passed; he had made a scene, something he hated doing. Worse, the crowd was already tittering about Lukan and Lynx's display. His family was in top form tonight.
As it happened, the spot Stefan chose offered him a perfect view of the veranda. Mentally bracing himself, he looked over at Lynx. She paced across the flagstones, her beautiful face crimson with distress. Axel's fists clenched again because she looked like she wanted to cry.
That was something he never thought he would see.
A flush of heat surged through him. All he wanted was to go to her, to tell her everything would work out. But that would only make things worse for her and dig a deeper hole for himself. While his motives were pure, he was using her to get to Treven.
Am I that different from Lukan?
Why wouldn't his father just ease up on the unwanted protection? Axel wasn't a fool, and he didn't have a death wish. If anyone could survive Treven long enough to sort the mess out, it was him. Everyone in battle command knew that, too-except his father. If it hadn't been for Felix, he would never have used his relationship with Lynx as blackmail leverage.
Axel clenched his jaw and then whispered to Stefan, "Forget beating up Lukan. I'll horse whip myself if Operation Treven backfires and Lynx gets hurt."
Stefan pulled off his mask, dropped it onto the floor, and faced him. Not that it made much difference. His friend's face rarely betrayed emotion for the cameras to capture.
Voice little above a whisper, Stefan said, "Axel, you can deny all you want that you are in love with Lynx, but I know the truth."
Axel grimaced, waving his hand as if brushing away the comment.
Stefan ignored him. "But, regardless of your . . . non-feelings for her, we both understand the risks you're taking to persuade your paranoid father to do what's right in Treven. And yes, she" -he gestured to the veranda- "may end up hating you if it all goes wrong. But it has to be done. Someone with brains needs to clean up that mess before any more unnecessary deaths occur. Both ours and theirs. If risking your . . . friendship with Lynx is the price you pay to save thousands, then you must pay it."
Axel opened his mouth to retort that it was easy for Stefan to say that when he wasn't the one making the sacrifice, but he stopped himself. The comment would be churlish. Stefan felt things more deeply than any other high-born Axel knew. Typical of him to consider the enemy's losses as well as their own. Few, including himself, ever considered them. Axel's tense muscles relaxed even more.
That didn't stop his emotions roiling as he watched Lynx pounding her fists against the balustrade. He had to berate himself, lest he change his mind and go to her. In the end, he muttered, "It's some sacrifice, given that I've never felt this way about any woman."
Stefan snorted, an I-told-you-so kind of sound. Then, he added, "That ruby you wear comes with a price. Leadership requires sacrifice."