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The first voice to ring through my mind link since we had all mated.
“Don’t worry,”I said to all four of them.“I know not to trust him. But he’s not going to give us any solid information if he thinks you guys are all listening in on the conversation. At least get back inside the house.”
All of the guys, especially Calder, wanted to pick a fight with me about this. But I wasn’t having any of it because I needed to get this information from Jaroth and I couldn’t have them stop me. We didn’t know the slightest about my father’s plans—or Jaroth’splans either.
Even if Jaroth was about to lie to me, at least we might be able to uncover something about him. I wasn’t sure what that’d be, but I was hoping it’d be something useful because my guys didn’t trust him. And right now, I didn’t either.
Once they finally agreed, I shut the French doors behind them and blew out a deep breath, brows furrowed. “Sorry about them. They’re suffocating sometimes,” I said, making sure my marks were covered by my hair. “Too suffocating. They all want to mark me.”
“Don’t let them,” Jaroth said, looking around nervously. “I don’t have time to explain what’s going on, but I promised that I’d help you escape your father, so you’d owe me a favor, right, Sina?”
“Yes,” I said, crossing my arms. “You did say that, but you didn’t help me escape.”
“Who do you think switched your father’s nightly tea with yours?”
My eyes widened, my stomach tightening. I knew it had been too easy.
“But you … acted like you were surprised to see me in Durnbone the night I escaped.”
“I didn’t think you’d come back here,” he said, finally looking toward me. “I thought you’d be smarter than to come back to your home, where your father would definitely find you. I thought you’d meet me at our spot.”
“At our spot?!” I asked, becoming angry. “Why would I go back there? You cheated on me. I couldn’t trust you.”
“Well, you’re going to have to trust me now,” Jaroth said. “You owe me a favor.”
I knew Jaroth too well. He had something up his sleeve, something big. When Jaroth was nice to someone, he buttered them up with sultry words and promises of an easy life, and then he dived in and demanded something for his efforts.
He had tried that once before after he cheated, thought that he deserved for me to take him back because he had spent so much time with me and convinced my father to let him whisk me away. The damn audacity he had sometimes.
Now, I knew why he had done all that.
Not because he loved me. Not because he cared about me. Not because he had any ounce of goodness in his heart.
All Jaroth cared about was himself.
“What is it?”
“I can’t tell you. Not right now.” He glanced around again. “Look. I have to go. I’ll be back to retrieve you and give you the life you deserve,princess.No more living out here in the woods, worrying about war.”
“What are you promising me? What are you going to do?”
He took my hands and stared me right in the eye. “You’re special, Sina. But you have to stay here for a couple more days. Don’t leave. Act like you still want those overly possessive assholes. Give them the time of their lives. Then”—he handed me the liquid my father used to slip into my drinks—“poison them with this on the third night. I’ll be here for you.”
“You want me to poison my mates?” I asked, sensing they were listening to every word.
My mind link went wild with growls from the guys. And I bet they were holding Calder or Thayer back right now so they wouldn’t burst through the back door and rip this man’s head clean off his body.
“Yes,” he said and stepped back into the woods.
“Yeah, okay,” I said as Jaroth disappeared through the forest. I tucked some hair behind my ear, revealing the marks on my neck that he hadn’t seen. “I’ll stay here, where it’s safe. With my mates, who’d do anything to protect me.”
But I didn’t know if their protection would be enough for the beast inside me.
72
the queen
thayer
