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I didn’t stick around to hear him out. Instead, I spread my arms wide and fell back, off the roof. The moment of falling allowed me to move in-between. My back immediately hit the mattress back at my shitty little apartment. There, I stared up at the blank ceiling while my heart thundered a rage-fueled beat.
Beneath that rage was pure fear.
I’d never wanted to stand up to him. My life’s goal here in the mortal realm had been to avoid Arven at all costs. That’s what drove me to betray Cerridwen. That’s what kept me moving over and over.
Rolling onto my side, I reached for my stuffed cat and pulled it close to my chest. “This job isn’t worth it.”
Arven
Delphine was like a feral cat.No matter what I promised her, she hissed and ran away. I didn’t know what would lure her back. Clearly, I’d chosen the wrong food. My assumption that she’d want to preserve her feminine figure with a salad had been horribly misplaced. Anyone who moved like that needed protein and fat to keep their body running smoothly.
I wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
However, I wasn’t sure if learning her favorite foods would be enough.
You took that from us.
What had I taken? Delphine had been referring to her court when she spoke. It was like she blamed me for the fall of the Eveningwind court. While I didn’t blame her anger at my inability to be there when it’d fallen, I was not the one who ordered the assault on her home. Those were two very different things, and I didn’t like being accused of the second.
I paused and glanced back at Delphine’s mark. Locke Balefire was gone, and the crates had been taken into the warehouse. I couldn’t help but feel as though I’d walked into a sticky spider’s web…No, I’d been led into one.
But by who?
The way Delphine had attempted to put her knife to my throat made me wonder if it could have been her, but the sheer surprise on her face when I’d found her at the bar told me that it couldn’t have been her.
This reeked of manipulation in ways that I couldn’t quite understand yet. There were loose ends that needed to be connected before I could come to any sort of conclusion. However, that was not my priority as of right now.
At the other side of the roof, I sniffed the air and caught the trail of Delphine’s magical movement. I followed suit and stepped off the rooftop. The moment of weightlessness that followed allowed me to cast off everything and remember exactly what I’d come here for.
There were things that I had to make right. Delphine deserved a lap of luxury after all she’d been through, and I would lead her to it one way or another. Feral cats could not trust others until that trustworthiness had been proven. I would be there for her to show her that she could rely on me for all things, even if it took forever.
My throne was in good hands, and my reputation kept many away from our kingdom. If word got out that I was away, I could simply step back and show my face for a short while. I would have to take that into consideration when earning Delphine’s trust. Perhaps a jaunt back to the elven realms would remind her of all that she was missing by staying here.
Then my foot touched linoleum and the room around me came into focus. The place was cramped with two people inside. It became even more cramped when Delphine launched herself at me.
I caught the feral woman by her forearms. Each hand had a weapon pointed at my face. I stared up at her and waited for her to admit defeat. I had her trapped in my grasp. There was no way she could—Delphine put a boot to my chest and kicked off. The maneuver surprised me, and I lost my grip on her.
She flipped back through the air and landed in a three-point crouch. Another weapon appeared in her free hand. The sound of a bolt whistled in the air. I had just enough time to duck out of the way before it embedded itself in the wall behind me.
“Get out of my home!” Delphine shouted with frustration.
“Home?” I asked, incredulously. “This is not a home. It’s an oversized animal cage, at best. At worst, it’s a hovel.”
Her eyes widened and her jaw slackened. I realized that I’d pushed her boundaries too far in that moment. I didn’t understand what was wrong with what I’d said, though. It was the truth. She’d grown up in a sprawling castle with skylights open to the stars. This closed-in little box barely had one window.
“This is the life that I made for myself without anyone’s help,” Delphine growled. “I will not have your pampered, privileged ass trample all over it.”
“Priveleged?” I couldn’t contain my outrage.
I stormed across the room and closed the distance between us until Delphine’s back was pressed against the wall. Nonetheless, she stared up at me defiantly, her jaw clenched tight while I seethed with rage.
“There has not been a moment of my life upon taking the crown that has been privileged. I have soiled my hands with blood and dust. There has not been a breath I’ve taken that hasn’t smelled of iron and rot. There are reasons that I am known as the Golden Beast.”
The corner of her mouth turned downward. “I know firsthand. Because of you, I know what an elven body smells like as it burns. Because of you, I know that there will be days when I cannot eat, when I will have no roof over my head, when I cannot sleep because terrors creep in and steal my peace.”
Her words hit me in the gut. The breath rushed out of my lungs. I’d compared her to a feral cat before, but I never quite realized how accurate the comparison had been. I rocked back on my heels and glared down at the defiant woman.
It was very obvious that neither of us knew each other anymore—perhaps not ever, since our engagement had been cut short by tragedy.
