AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I clenched my jaw. “Am I supposed to apologize for almost being raped?”
He readjusted his crown, the wrinkles on his forehead deepening as he frowned. “No, but they will come for you, Seraphina. They will blame you. There are many who want my brother on the throne, or the monarchy abolished altogether. They have made their traitorous thoughts known.”
My mom looked from me to him. “Those people—they were loyal to Hamza?”
“Many, yes. I’ve had men in my personal guard keeping watch on them for years, tallying names.”
Worry etched into her sharp features. “If they come for Olivia, I will kill them.”
His fist clenched. “No. I will fix this. You will stay out of this.” He paused. “Both of you.”
“Wait,” I shouted after him, but the door was already swinging open, and he was gone. “Don’t let him hurt Draven. He had nothing to do with Hamza’s death.”
“He won’t,” she reassured, but I didn’t believe her. “Also…” She hesitated on the edge of words. “You don’t need to wear the trailic anymore.”
I let out a strangled laugh and pushed past her. “I shouldn’t have been forced to wear it in the first place.”
She lowered her head. “I know.”
“But that’s not the reason he tried to hurt me. He would have done it, regardless; he was just looking for an excuse.” I thought back to when I touched him. I felt no depth of emotion that usually came with a person.
Instead, there was a void, a lack of anything of substance. As I peered into his eyes, I realized then he would have done anything to feel anything. Only extremes brought people like him to a high.
I balled my fists, lifting my chin. “He didn’t get to do anything to me in the end, because I burned him to the ground. I stopped him. We’re all the better for his being dead. As for who did it, I only hope I find out who, so I can thank them.”
“Honey.” She sighed. “This isn’t you. I know he hurt you, but you’re not vengeful.”
I ripped my fingers away as she tried to hold my hand. “Perhaps you don’t know me as well as you think you do,” I snapped. “I’m going to find Draven and make sure he’s okay. I won’t have Sargon blame him for this. Then I’m going to bed. I expect you to be gone when I return.”
Her gaze darted around me, her eyelashes fluttering as she held back tears. The emotion was gone before I could feel anything from seeing it. Replaced by a calm composure. “Be careful. If you need me, call the guards.”
“I won’t need you,” I said, my voice as cold as her own. “Goodnight.”
She paused by my side, sighed, then left the room. Once she was gone, I lifted my hands in front of my face. The magic pulsed under my skin, and I wasn’t ready to let go of it. Not yet.
Perhaps never.
***
A soft knock sounded on the door as I climbed into bed, pulling the sheets up and over my chest. The windows filled with inky black, only the silhouettes of mountains breaking up the darkness. Draven walked in, his hand on the hilt of his sword as if a dead Hamza might still somehow be here, and a threat to me.
“Settle down, soldier,” I teased to break the ice. “Come.” I patted the spot on the bed next to me. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“Same. We must’ve kept missing each other,” he said, his tone strained. “I heard Hamza’s been killed.”
“You’re correct. In fact, you were a suspect for a minute.”
He sat on the bed, sending a pillow bouncing to the ground. “I wish I had been the one to do it.”
I squeezed his hand, feeling his fingers link between mine. “I know. He didn’t get to do anything, though.”
He shook his head. “Don’t make this smaller than it is.”
“I’m not.” I examined his calloused fingers. His hand enveloped mine as he tightened his grip. “My father’s angry that he was killed.”
“I couldn’t give a fuck about what their king thinks.”
I smiled. “Try to pretend to. I don’t want you to get yourself killed.”
