Chapter 41
X andros takes me back to my room, his grip on my arm firm.
Javier is already waiting for us, sitting in the armchair by the crackling fire.
A small smile tugs at my lips when I notice Javier’s presence, but it quickly fades as Xandros glares at me, his eyes filled with suspicion and a hint of possessiveness.
“Did you find anything?” Xandros asks, his voice cutting through the tension in the room. Javier gets up from the armchair, a book in his hand.
Xandros points a finger between Javier and me, his voice laced with accusation. “Is there something going on between you two?” His demand hangs in the air, and Javier shakes his head, disbelief etched on his face.
“You can’t be serious?” Javier mutters under his breath, clearly taken aback by Xandros’s accusation.
“I’m very serious!” Xandros growls, his gaze shifting from Javier to me.
I instinctively take a step back, my heart pounding in my chest. Xandros grabs my arm, his grip tight and possessive as he jerks me back toward him.
“Xandros! Let her go, be angry at me, not her. She has done nothing wrong,” Javier intervenes, his voice filled with a mix of concern and frustration.
Xandros growls, reluctantly letting me go, and I fight the urge to check my arm, his claws having pierced through the thin fabric into my arm.
Javier moves toward the door, his body tense with the need to defuse the situation.
Xandros growls in response, and reluctantly follows him, leaving me alone in the room.
As they step outside into the hall, I can’t resist the temptation to eavesdrop on their conversation.
I press my ear against the wooden door, straining to catch their words.
A thud resonates through the door, making me gasp. “Do you like her?” Xandros demands, his voice heavy with accusation.
“We are friends, it’s not like she has many in this place because you don’t allow it! Now get off me, you should know me better than that,” Javier retorts, his voice laced with frustration.
“I’m going insane, she is driving me insane. This bond is!” Xandros rambles.
“You’re not insane, you’re just jealous because she gives you the cold shoulder,” Javier tells him.
“Of course I’m jealous, she’d rather fuck my wife than me!” Xandros booms, his words hitting me like a dagger to the heart. Silence falls and I wait, listening intently.
“She’d rather what?” Javier blurts out, his disbelief evident in his voice.
“Never mind, I’ll tell you later, or maybe she will since you’re her ‘friend’,” Xandros replies, a bitter edge tainting his words. Javier sighs heavily, the weight of the situation seems to be getting to him. “Just tell me what you found,” Xandros finally asks.
“This. Found it in the library,” Javier replies.
“What does it say? I don’t have time to read an entire book,” Xandros snaps, his impatience seeping through his words. Javier takes a deep breath before responding while I hold mine, also wanting to know the answer.
“It says the only way she can resist your command after you’ve marked her is if the bond is breaking,” Javier explains. My brows furrow, taking in his words. I didn’t know that was possible, Toby never told me a bond could break on its own.
Xandros scoffs at the words, his disbelief evident and rippling through the bond. I can feel his curiosity and worry at Javier’s words.
“Impossible, you can’t break a fated mate bond,” he retorts.
“Actually, you can. If you kill it,” Javier states, his words hanging heavy in the air, confusing me even more.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re a king, Xandros. Your aura, your command, is stronger than anyone else’s.
She now holds a part of it. Your constant rejection of her is tarnishing your bond, weakening it.
It is possible to break a bond. Witches have done it.
And you are doing it by rejecting her,” Javier explains, his words resonating with a deep sense of truth.
My bond pangs painfully at his words. I shove it aside, trying my best to ignore it.
“I haven’t rejected her,” Xandros argues.
“Maybe not in so many words, but in your actions. Her bond is protecting itself, so it doesn’t kill her. It’s rejecting you.”
“Excuse me?” Xandros sounds outraged at the thought of me rejecting him. And it makes me worry if that will be another thing I am punished for, my unruly bond.
“When a bond is broken, it can attach itself to someone else. You’re a Lycan King.
You can’t go on without your mate. She was human before being infected and changed, therefore she can.
You need her to stop from going crazy, yet you’re the one driving her crazy, so her bond is protecting her by rejecting you,” Javier explains, his words echoing in the air, carrying with them a sense of revelation and consequence.
Well, serves him right, maybe there is a way out of the bond after all; he will cast me aside once he is done breaking me.
“So what happens if it breaks?” Xandros asks.
“It doesn’t say, just that you’ll both live.
No one knows in what state you’ll be in when it does.
Eventually, though, your ability to heal her and command her will stop, and her ability to shift will stop.
She’ll pretty much return to being human, only with immortality,” Javier reveals, his voice filled with a mix of caution and concern.
“Well, I guess I do have time to read this stupid book then,” Xandros says dismissively. “Are you doing anything tonight?”
“Watching Sienna’s door, like always,” Javier replies.
“No, I need you to do something else. I want you to go into the city and monitor Vin. I would like to know who he’s going to meet,” Xandros commands, his voice carrying an air of command.
‘Very well,” Javier tells him.
As the door handle twists, I quickly move away from the door and take my place in front of the fire, trying to appear like I wasn’t eavesdropping.
Xandros enters the room, clutching the book in his hands and moves to the armchair.
He says nothing and I reach for the TV remote.
I spend the day watching TV, trying to distract myself from the weight of Xandros’s presence.
Hours pass, and boredom seeps in as I keep a watchful eye on the alarm clock resting on the bedside table.
I steal glances at it, my mind filled with thoughts of Toby.
The anticipation of hearing his voice gnaws at me.
“Why do you keep staring at the alarm clock? Do you have somewhere else to be?” Xandros’s voice cuts through the silence, his eyes trained on me.
I feel a surge of panic rise within me as I try to come up with a plausible explanation.
“No, I… I was just... wondering about the time,” I stammer, my voice betraying my unease.
Xandros places his book down, his gaze fixated on me.
The intensity of his stare makes me shrink under his scrutiny.
I can feel his suspicion and possessiveness weighing heavily upon me, suffocating me.
The room feels smaller, the air thick with tension as I wait for him to speak.
“You were wondering about the time?” he asks, his eyes narrow slightly.
“Yes, I’m just bored, okay?” I mutter under my breath, my fingers fumbling with the remote as I change the TV channel.
Xandros chucks the book onto the coffee table with a frustrated sigh.
“Come here,” he tells me. He clenches his jaw, the tension in the room palpable.
“Please,” he adds, his voice softer this time.
I chew on my bottom lip, my eyes darting between him and the TV screen.
Reluctantly, I get up from my spot on the floor and move closer to him.
He reaches out, his strong hands pulling me onto his lap, enveloping me in his warmth.
I sit awkwardly on his lap, wanting to hop off him.
When I try to move his arms wrap around me, holding me tighter.
“What do you want to do then?” he asks. My heart pounds in my chest as I battle the conflicting emotions swirling within me.
Call Toby , I think bitterly, the desire to reach out to him consuming my thoughts.
“Surely there is something you want to do?”
“What is there to do? Besides playing maid, all I do is rot in this room,” I retort, unable to suppress the anger that simmers just below the surface. The weight of my words hang heavy in the air, yet he doesn’t acknowledge my bitter tone.
“Come on then, let’s go for a run,” Xandros suggests, tapping my thigh gently.
He gets up from the couch and moves toward the walk-in closet, and I follow him to see him grab a bag and some warm clothes for both of us.
When he emerges, he nods toward the door, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes.
“Come on, do you want to shift or not?” he asks, his voice tinged with anticipation.
“You’ll let me shift?” I ask, confusion clouding me.
He holds out his hand to me. I hesitate, and when I don’t move to take his, Xandros reaches down and clasps my hand firmly, his touch sending sparks up my arm and lacing my skin with goosebumps.
I follow him, letting him lead me through the castle toward the back gardens.
We step outside, the cool breeze sweeping across my skin.
The scent of earth and nature fills my senses, grounding me in this moment.
Xandros guides me toward the dense forest that surrounds the castle, and for a fleeting moment, panic surges through me.
Is this a trick? Is he leading me to the dungeons to punish me for what happened with Carina?
My steps falter, my body tensing, and my feet stop.
Xandros also stops, glancing back at me and tugging on my hand.
I step back, jerking my hand from his grasp.
“Sienna?” Xandros’s voice breaks through my racing thoughts, and I shake my head, trying to back away. He sighs, a mix of exasperation.