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She visibly swallowed and lowered her eyes contritely. “I-I’m sorry. My nerves…”
“Don’t you ever speak to me that way again,” I continued.
“Y-yes, Alpha.”
I whirled back around and stalked the rest of the way toward the door, leaving Odette in my furious wake.
The door was lockedwhen I arrived at the apartment, and I knocked several times before Maren responded, fueling my apprehension.
“You’re sure she’s in there?” I asked Drakias, who stood in the hallway.
“She hasn’t left through the front door, Alpha.”
At that moment, the door opened, and I found myself staring at Maren’s drawn expression through a crack.
“What took you so long?” I grumbled, trying to open the door fully, but she stopped me.
“I don’t think you should come in tonight,” she breathed shakily.
Stunned, I gaped at her. “What?”
Her eyes darted toward Drakias, and she bit on her lower lip as if reconsidering her sentiment.
“Let me in, Maren. I have some bad news for you, and I don’t want to discuss it in the hallway.”
“I know,” she said flatly. “Jergin is dead. Murdered.” Her eyes trailed over my shirt and down, as if she were looking for something before sneaking back up toward my face.
Confused by her behavior, annoyance took over. “Maren, open the door, or I’m going to push my way in. This isn’t the way we have a discussion.”
Reluctantly, she stepped back, allowing me to enter, but when I closed the door and reached for her, she backed away like I was on fire.
My brow knit into a vee. “Are you upset that I’m late?” I asked dubiously. “Do you realize that the city?—”
“Did you kill him?” she interrupted. It was clear the question had been burning in her mind since she had learned about the death, and it slapped me in the face.
“What?” I demanded in disbelief.
“You threatened him. I heard you. And I know you well enough to know that you’re not one to accept slights, Nyx. Did you kill him?”
Anger spiked through me, overtaking the denial that wanted to spring to my lips initially.
How can she think that about me? I’ve been nothing but supportive of her, and she really believes I would go around murdering out of spite?
My eyes narrowed.
“Never mind,” she said quickly, turning her head away. “I don’t want to know.”
“Obviously, you do if you asked,” I snapped, remaining in the entranceway with my arms folded over my chest. “But the fact that you needed to ask…”
“You were late today and very curt when we spoke. The coincidence is a lot,” she offered weakly, sadness coloring her eyes. “I know you think you did it for me.”
Did I know her at all? Had we just been fooling ourselves into believing we saw one another?
I scoffed, refusing to tell her otherwise. If that was what she wanted to believe about me, I wasn’t going to grovel for her understanding.
“I know that as king, you sometimes have to do things that aren’t… kosher. But he wasn’t a threat, Nyx.”
“I’ve heard enough of this,” I hissed.
