I lead Carter back in the direction of the palace, but he stops as soon as we’re away from William.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking you to the palace physician—I already told you. I—”

“No, I mean with him.” He shakes his head. “I thought you’d had enough of the dictatorial jealous freaks when we were back at Harvard.”

“I…” I can’t argue with him. Carter had been one of my few friends in those days, and James had done all he could to drive a wedge between us. Something about men being unable to be friends with women or some such thing. But Carter had been a true friend. He supported me when James wouldn’t—when I most needed it.

He shakes his head again. “What were you thinking? You didn’t even invite me to the wedding—”

“The wedding was small. And it was in Montovia. It was only family…” My heart twists in my chest at my words. He should have been invited, but after seeing how William has responded to my even having friends, I can’t say I’m sorry he wasn’t. “I didn’t want it to be a spectacle.”

“Yeah, I can see that. I remember you telling me how you never wanted a big royal wedding.” He pauses, tilting his head. “It still doesn’t answer my original question, though. What are you doing with him?”

I sigh. “I thought I already explained that to you. He and my father came up with an arrangement to settle the dispute over the Amhurst Valley. I—”

“You cannot be serious. I know you, Justine. I know how you feel about your family.”

“Maybe you don’t know how I feel about my country. I didn’t want a war—”

“Do you really believe your father would have allowed a war to start? Or that some arranged marriage would stop it if a war was going to start? Hasn’t that dispute between your countries been going on for decades?”

My cheeks start to burn. “Yes. Almost a century—”

“So…” He pauses, his eyes widening as though he wants me to draw whatever conclusion it is he’s come up with. “So was there suddenly some reason there was going to be a war? Were the people revolting or something?”

“No.” My face feels like it’s caught fire. “I… That is to say that William…”

“Oh. Right.” He shakes his head slowly. “You got played.”

“I did not get played. I…I found myself—how do you say it?—between a rock and a hard place.”

“It doesn’t really sound like it, though. You could have told the guy to fuck off—called your father’s bluff—”

“The truth is, my father agreed that I could go to Yale—or anywhere I wanted—if I would stay married for three months.”

“Huh.” He frowns. “It still sounds like you got the short end of the stick, having to be married to a guy who flies off the handle like that.” He rubs at his jaw.

But I don’t respond to the comment. “We should have your face looked at. Make sure nothing’s broken—”

“You of all people know how many times I’ve been in brawls. I did have a pretty good one with Professor Camden after all that shit he put you through.”

I nod my head slowly, the pain of that time returning to me like a knife to my gut. “You certainly did not have to defend my honor.”

“Someone did.” He frowns. “Justine, I swear to God, if William hurts you—”

“He’s not going to hurt me. Not like that. And not like James did, either.”

He only stares at me, still slowly turning his head back and forth.

“I’ll never allow anyone to do that to me again.”

“It wasn’t like you allowed Professor Camden to hurt you, either. I mean, the guy just up and left—”

I hold up my hand, stopping him. “Please. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I know. You never did. But you’re going to have to at some point.”

“No. I’m not.”

“This William guy… He’s just like the professor. Handsome. Powerful. And he took away your choices.” He lifts a brow. “This is just like what happened before.”

“It isn’t. It isn’t at all.” The pain in my gut twists around on itself. “It isn’t the same at all.”

“Maybe you just need to step away from the situation to see for yourself.” He places a hand on my shoulder. “Justine, we’ve been close since we met. I think of you like one of my sisters. You need to hear this.”

“I—”

“You have to get away from William before he hurts you. Before he does something that causes you to hate him for the rest of your life.”

“He wouldn’t—”

“You said that about Professor Camden, too. And I sat by and watched that drama unfold like a soap opera. I’m not going to stand by and watch this unfold the same way.”

He’s right, of course. Not that William is anything like James—something tells me he would never do to me what James did—but he is acting more than a little controlling.

“Step away—just for a little while. See if you can see the same thing as everyone else when you separate yourself from the situation a little bit.”

“I can’t just leave—”

“Why not?” He finally drops his hand from my shoulder. “The conference can run itself. You’ve made sure of that—you’ve already done all the work, and it will go on just fine with or without you. And Professor Camden ran out of there like a little girl…” He shakes his head, chuckling. “You were way too good for that asshole.” He frowns. “Just like you’re way too good for this current asshole.”

I let out a long breath. “It isn’t that simple. I have responsibilities—”

“Let your brother handle them. Especially since the brotherly thing to do in this situation is to get you the hell away from that man. And after what happened at Harvard…” He shakes his head again. “Reginald owes you that much.”

I glance over my shoulder, almost hoping William is heading back in this direction—that he’s decided to follow me and make some sort of claim on me again. But he hasn’t. And perhaps Carter is right—maybe I can clear my head if I leave Rosvalia for a little while. Maybe it will help me gain some perspective over the situation at hand.

“I was planning on taking the train to Berlin tomorrow to visit Emily. As long as I’m in Europe, I figured I might as well make the most of it.” He grins. “You should join me. Her gallery is opening in a few days—”

“I know. It’s why she couldn’t come to the conference.” The three of us had been close at one time, but Emily had left school early to follow her passions while Carter and I had stayed to finish our degrees. “But I don’t know. She didn’t invite me—”

He shrugs. “Well, she invited me and plus one. There’s no reason you can’t be my plus one, is there?”

All the reasons I shouldn’t go run through my head. I should stay and help clean up the water damage to the conference center. I should see that the conference goes as planned. I should try to figure out what’s going on with my father.

I should try to work things out with William.

But something else comes over me—some need to taste a bit of the freedom I’d enjoyed so much in America. And Carter had been the one to help me learn to savor that, even though we’d never had anything more than a brother-sister relationship.

“Okay. I’ll go.” I nod. “When do we leave?”

He grins. “Why don’t we just throw caution to the wind and leave now? We’ll get on the train and figure everything else out when we get there.”

I nod. “Sounds good to me.” I throw one more glance over my shoulder, but William isn’t there. And I’m not certain if I’m more relieved or terrified. But the one thing I am certain of is that Carter is right.

I need some perspective, even if it means the end of my marriage.