It’s exactly how Absinthe was behaving earlier, the pattern making anxiety spiral in the pits of my stomach.
We weren’t supposed to split up today, but Draven called us in for the emergency meeting regarding The Legion’s demand letter, while Tempest met with the lupion leaders. I expected the meeting to be hard on her, but not like this. I’ve never seen her this frazzled.
“How was your meeting?” she asks, though she looks like she’s staring through a fog, her mind clearly preoccupied.
“It was something,” I answer, not sure where to begin.It was good except for the fact that The Legion is demanding Luc get married and produce an heir and also Baelor might be a serial rapist, but we can talk about that another time.“Yours?”
“Um.” She’s nervous, more than I’ve ever seen her, and it’s starting to frighten me. There’s a charged sort of energy to the room, and Tempest looks like she might combust at any notice.
“Princess, what the fuck is going on?”
“My father wants me to kill you,” she says, and shock movesthrough my body in waves. Gradual at first, but eventually it threatens to drown me.
I furrow my brows and shrug. “Okay, well, did you tell him to fuck off?”
I don’t know why Cain Lupine would want me dead, or if Tempest is even serious, and the entire thing throws me off balance. We did kill his nephew, sure, but that was two years ago. Why would it matter now? Is it because I’m the felion representative? I thought he wanted peace and understood this is for the betterment of both our species.
She shakes her head. “No, Yasmeena. I told him I’d do it.”
I literally do not know how to respond. Is she warning me? Surely Tempest doesn’t actually want me to die, right? Sowhyis she telling me? I’m struggling to wrap my head around this.
Doesshe want to kill me? Tempest doesn’t clarify whether she wants to do it, or how she plans to proceed, and I find myself thinking of the thousands of possibilities, before I remember that we were never supposed to be friends. This was never supposed to be anything more than a political arrangement.
“So, do it.”
“What?” She looks at me, light eyes gleaming with pain and confusion, but I don’t stutter.
“If you told your Alpha you’d kill me, just do it,” I say, trying to make this easier on her. If she has to kill me, then she should try. With how my heart is feeling fractured into a million tiny pieces, I might even let her.
She rubs her face with her palms. “I can’t. I won’t.
“Tempest.”
Tears glisten in her eyes, but they do not fall. “It was a covert operation. I was sent here to kill Draven. The treaty was never going to happen.”
Until her confession, I was still standing on solid ground, but suddenly… it’s gone. The floor has disappeared, my sanity taken alongside it. I want her to laugh and tell me this is some kind of sick and twisted joke—a prank, but the laughter never comes.
My body reacts before my mind has the time to catch up. My stomach hollows, my heart racing. I’m nauseous and my head threatens to split. I feel like I’m fucking dying. I kind of thought this is where the conversation was heading, but I had hope that I was jumping to conclusions.
Now, everything looks murky, and I can’t see the bottom.
I can’t see how this will end.
“Why? Why do all that work if the treaty was never going to happen? Why did you even fucking bother to pretend to care?” Rage seeps into every word, and I hope they hurt.
“I didn’t know. I mean, I knew I was supposed to kill Draven, but I thought the treaty was real. Honest to the goddess, I didn’t know everything else until today,” she confesses.
“Why should I believe that when everything you’ve said has been a lie?”
“It wasn’t all a lie.” She kneels on the floor between my legs. “I promise you. I meant every touch, every kiss. I agreed to this initially, but that was before I knew any of you.”
There’s a pathetic honesty to her voice and features. I try to fight it, but I know in my soul she’s telling the truth.
“I was never going to kill you, Yasmeena.Never.And I hate…” Her voice trails off as she clears her throat.
“Me? Do you still hate me?” I ask. “Do you hate me like I hate you right now?”
She kisses the inside of my ankle. “I hate that you invade my every thought.” Her mouth travels up my leg until she kisses the inside of my knee. “I hate that I would choose you over my pack.” Tempest continues until she reaches the inside of my inner thigh. “I hate that I would trade my own life if it meant you surviving.”
