Chapter 10 #2
I was truly reaching my wits’ end.
Perhaps this might truly break me, shattering me like glass.
“Who’s–” I licked my lips, struggling to speak past the frenzied giggles. “–who’s the lucky guy?”
“Me.”
I laughed harder.
My entire body shook and ached, as it tried to relieve some of the tension threatening to split me from the inside out.
“Do you need a healer?” he asked. This time, I could clearly detect the concern in his words.
Yes, yes, The Huntress was losing her mind.
“I think–” I sucked in breath after breath, trying to calm myself. My jagged bottle was still aimed at him. “–I think I need a crone from the Shuddering Isles, because I’m clearly cursed. Or dead, and paying for my sins.”
“Perhaps we should continue this another–”
“No.” That lone word slashed through the echoes of laughter. “Tell me everything.”
Knowledge was always power.
I needed to know how much trouble I was in to find a way to claw myself out of it. Even if he was lying, the truth hid in what he tried the hardest to bury.
“Ask nicely,” his rumble filled the room.
I looked at him as if he was out of his mind. “Excuse me?”
“You don’t give orders here.”
A few beats of disbelieving silence passed.
“I’m going to burn that pride straight out of you,” I said, voice as low as his.
“I’m sure you will try.”
The silence stretched between us, pricking my curiosity.
I needed to know.
My survival instinct was stronger than my pride. At least for now.
“ Please ,” I hissed, letting the word linger.
He only nodded. No gloating, no smirk, no emotion.
“Our sources say Silas is telling everyone that you ran away. And that he took the crown to protect your Clan during these hard times,” the Commander went on, voice cold and methodical.
Filtering the truth beyond the lies was difficult. With my father dead and me gone, Silas could have been placed on the throne as a temporary precaution.
But nobody could drag my name through the mud like that in the Protectorate when I was the one rushing through the maze to protect them all, while nobody saw his slimy self during the massacre.The quickest way to ruin a Protectorate reputation was to hint that someone wanted to save their own skin instead of their Clan.
To protect is to endure had been the Vegheara creed since Dria Vegheara’s time.
If the Commander told the truth, though, then Silas truly wanted to ruin me.
This plan seemed too complex for his negligent self, though.
But if he’d planned this.
No .
My Clan respected my sacrifices too much to believe such mistruths, if Silas truly spread them. They had to.
“The ones who could have defied him are either dead or missing,” he went on.
For the first time, I wobbled on the spot.
“I can return to Aquila and set things right,” I said stubbornly.
Lie or truth, that was the only option.
“Aquila is locked down. Nobody goes in or out without Silas knowing,” he said.
“Except your spies.”
“Our spies don’t need to penetrate Aquila to find secrets,” he said.
A smirk pulled the corner of his lip.
I saw red.
This man had taken me, was telling ridiculous lies about my Clan to my face, and now he had the gall to smirk at me?
“You think this is funny?” I asked in a deadly whisper. “You think my life falling apart, my Clan being destroyed from the inside out, my relatives and friends dying, is funny ?”
The smirk fell from his face as fast as it appeared. “No, I–”
I didn’t listen.
All the anger which had been simmering since before he’d entered this blasted room exploded to the surface.
I swung the bottle at his face with the dregs of energy I had.
I knew I couldn’t touch him.
I didn’t care.
He instantly raised his arm.
Not to block me, no.
He flicked his hand like he had at the wedding and my entire body seized.
One moment I was propelling myself toward him.
The next, I was frozen mid-swing, my entire body out of my control.
The panic I’d been trying so very hard to suffocate rushed forward.
I couldn’t move.
My limbs locked, my neck paralyzed, my fingers white on the bottle but unmoving.
Every part of me belonged to him now.
“Don’t,” he said simply, sounding annoyed. No. Angry. He was angry. “After the past few days, I am in no mood to deflect your weak attempts at maiming me.”
“I am not weak ,” I gritted out.
So he hadn’t taken away my speech.
Small comfort when I couldn’t even blink.
“Right now, you are. You were shaking where you stood and not because you fear me. The sooner you accept that, the quicker you can start resting and recuperating.”
First Daughters couldn’t afford to rest–especially not in enemy territory.
“I should have killed you back in the maze,” I said.
“You could have tried.” He cocked his head to the side, examining me. “Mercy isn’t always the right answer.”
“You miserable bastard–”
“You’re not in Aquila anymore, princess. I’m free to tell you the truth and you have to face it.” Shadows crowded his gaze, making it even more ferocious. Then he blinked and sighed and his eyes sparked true blue again. “Promise you won’t attack me again and I’ll let you go.”
I pursed my lips.
He rolled his eyes. At me. “And she’s concerned with my pride,” he mumbled.
But he didn't let me go.
He was also right, the blue-eyed bastard. In this state, with no powers, I didn’t stand a chance against him in hand-to-hand combat.
I hadn’t chosen the bow as my preferred weapon because I was too adept at throwing fists.
But I would have rather scorched myself in the fireplace than admit it out loud. Especially to him.
The word burned as it crawled up my throat and hissed through my clenched teeth. “ Promise .”
Instantly, I regained control of my body.
With my momentum halted by his frightening power, I stumbled forward.
His arm twitched as if he wanted to steady me, but I righted my legs before I embarrassed myself even more and took three shaky steps back, putting as much distance between us.
As if that could protect me in any way when he froze bodies with a flick of his fingers.
I threw my hair over my shoulder and stood up tall, trying to regain some semblance of dignity, while he kept watching .
“I will not stand for this,” I declared.
I was in my enemy’s territory and promised for an arranged marriage.
I was one sharp breath away from fainting.
I couldn’t access my power to help.
But I knew, without a doubt, I truly would not take this lying down.
He nodded. “I imagined you wouldn’t.”
“I’m not marrying you.”
“I don’t care.” He took a menacing step forward. “Take it up with the Clan Council, we’ve already tried. I have enough problems without knotting my life to yours.”
“I wasn’t the one who stole you and stuck you in a coffin.”
His eyes sparked once more. Regret? Contempt? The Commander was too hard to read and that unnerved me in a way he had no business doing right now.
“I did,” he said simply, even as his gaze fell for the briefest moment, landing on the floor right under my feet. “And now I’m forced to live with it. Now you can do whatever you want and live with that.”
I narrowed my gaze. “What game are you playing?”
His eyes jumped back to me. “Refuse the marriage, face the Council’s wrath, go back to Aquila. Whatever that feared mind of yours desires. You are no prisoner. At least not yet.”
With that, he turned on his heels, leaving me filled with questions and craving answers.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He only stopped when he yanked the door open, looking over his shoulder at me.
“I’ve seen lies like Silas’ before. Your people don’t know you’re alive.
Judging by the way your Clan has changed in a matter of days, I’d say you won’t be welcomed home with open arms, but shoved in a dungeon deep enough so nobody can hear you scream. ”
A stuttered breath was the only reply I could give.
I wanted to argue, I did.
But if Silas truly was on the throne–
“You are an impressive woman, but even you can’t escape my land unscathed. If you want to try, be my guest. You’re free to do what you want, I cannot protect the unwilling. But I will not help you rush to the grave waiting for you back home.”
With that, he closed the door, and left me alone with the doubts I had to face.
What if I truly wasn’t the Protectorate’s First Daughter anymore?