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“Come.” I took hold of her wrist again and pulled her up a curved staircase to the upper levels. “I’ll show you to your room.”
“My room?”
I didn’t think I needed to repeat myself.
“Wait.” She tugged against me. “Silas, what room?”
“Yours, as I said.” I balked and took the stairs two at a time. “I do not recall you being so dense, Little Rose.”
A huff followed. She tried to shirk off my grip. I was stronger.
“I’m not dense, you bleeding sod. You’ve said no more than ten words to me, and—”
“Then you haven’t been listening,” I interjected. “I have spoken many words to you, for many turns.”
“In the shadows. Like a coward.”
A sharp bite of anger throttled me from behind. In the next moment I had her back pinned to the wall, her heaving chest against mine.
“A coward?” My teeth ground together. “Which of us has denied the call to their fated path over and over again? Which of us chooses to unsee the signs of truth?”
This close, I couldn’t keep back, and dragged my nose alongside her throat. The soft fabric over the hard shell of my mask slid across her skin. She stiffened and closed her eyes, chin lifted.
“You’ve ignored the call, Little Rose. Forgotten truths. You’ll soon remember it all now that you are here. I’ll keep you safe from whatever is to come. He won’t find you.” I did my best to give her a reassuring smile, but no doubt it was more a sneer than anything.
I tugged on her hand again, taking us up the stairs. The palace was a labyrinth of levels and chambers, and strategically warded against the srác. I’d tended to each eave, each corridor, for the whole of this dreary existence.
Songs of protection, of misdirection, lived in this palace.
She’d be safe here. The Norns might have plans to destroy our world, but they would not touch her again. I’d already survived enough heartbreak when it came to this bleeding woman. I wouldn’t do it again.
“You can’t keep me prisoner,” she whispered. “There are people I love out there. Who love me. I won’t hide away in here.”
In her eyes was a collision of unease, frustration, and a slow burning flame under it all. The power from which she hid, her strength, her words. A pull she wanted to avoid. I didn’t understand it. In the past, she’d taken hold of her fate without questioning. As though she trusted the whisper more than she did in this moment.
Why did she resist me now? How could she ignore thisragingfire in the soul?
“There’s no use resisting, Little Rose, our bloody games have come to an end at last. There’s no going back.”
“You cannot force me to do anything.” Her mouth set in a firm line.
This was all wrong. The king promised me our bond was fierce and powerful. If it was so, how could she shove it aside and degrade it in such a way? What the hells was the point of all this anguish?
One hand trembled as I curled a fist at my side. With my other hand, I opened one of the numerous chamber doors. “Yours.”
I shoved against Calista’s shoulder, urging her inside.
“Wait, no.” She grabbed onto the wooden frame. “You take me, and there are kings and queens who will bring war to your gates.”
“They are already in war. No backward glances. This—” I jabbed a finger toward my face, “is what you see now.”
It shouldn’t have ached so fiercely, but when she flinched, it was a knife to the chest. “You can’t trap me. You can’t, Silas.Please. I beg of you.”
She needed to sleep. Then she’d be more clearheaded. I began to close the door, but she slammed her boot between the door and the jamb.
“No! There is something coming. I saw it in the water. He’s returning.”
I froze. “You’re certain you sawhim?”
