Page 22 of King of Ruin

His expression revealed nothing, but the muscle along his jaw tightened almost imperceptibly as his dark gaze settled on Elise once more. He had expected fear. Perhaps tears. Maybe anger over being tricked.

He hadn't expected unwavering loyalty.

She hadn't even spared a thought for the consequences of taking the blame for a murder before offering to sacrifice herself in his place.

The realization sat heavily in his chest, stirring an unfamiliar irritation he couldn't quite explain.

It was reckless.

Completely irrational.

And yet, for reasons he refused to examine too closely, it unsettled him far more than it should have.

His gaze lingered on Elise for a brief moment before shifting away, his jaw tightening almost imperceptibly. There wasn't the slightest hint of relief on his face, only a displeasure that seemed directed at everyone in the room.

Elise, however, hadn't yet pieced everything together.

Her eyes moved quietly between the men, searching their faces before finally settling on Xavier again.

Before she could ask a question, Cassian stepped forward.

One hand slipped casually into the pocket of his trousers while the other adjusted the cuff of his tailored jacket. The faint smile on his face carried the effortless confidence that rarely left him, though there was a trace of apology beneath it.

"Sorry Elise. It was a joke."

Understanding slowly dawned on Elise.

She stood there for a moment before finally letting out the breath she'd been unconsciously holding since the phone call. The tightness in her shoulders eased, and the panic that had clouded her eyes gradually disappeared, replaced by quiet relief.

For several long seconds, she said nothing. She had truly believed Xavier had hurt someone. She had truly believed he might lose everything.

Cassian watched the realization settle across her face before the smile on his own gradually faded.

"I'll admit..." he said evenly, "...we may have taken the joke a little further than intended."

Elias let out a quiet chuckle, swirling the whiskey in his glass.

"I told you she'd come."

"You said she'd hesitate," Maverick corrected lazily, leaning one shoulder against the wall. A satisfied smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as his eyes shifted toward Xavier. "She didn't even stop to think."

Elise lowered her eyes, smoothing an invisible crease from the sleeve of her robe before looking back at them.

The anger they might have expected never came.

Only disappointment lingered in her eyes.

"You frightened me." Her voice remained as gentle as ever, but the sincerity behind those three words carried far more weight than if she had raised her voice. "I really thought something had happened."

For the past half an hour, she'd believed Xavier's entire life was about to fall apart, and only now did she realize how much fear she had been carrying. A quiet breath escaped her lips as the pressure in her chest finally began to ease, replaced by overwhelming gratitude that none of it had been real.

She had lost too many people already.

Her birth parents had abandoned her before she was old enough to remember their faces, leaving her on the side of a road as though her existence had never mattered. Even after Kevin and Grace had given her a family and a place she could finally call home, that fear had never truly disappeared. Somewhere deep inside her, there was still a frightened little girl who believed people always left in the end.

That was why, when she had heard Xavier was in trouble, she hadn't stopped to think.

He was the man her parents had entrusted to her. The man they hoped she would spend the rest of her life with. Whatever happened between them in the future, she couldn't bear the thought of watching another person disappear from her life.