Chapter 49 #4
“Has he been able to watch over you?”
He recruited me for a rebel mission and I’m betraying him. That’s what she didn’t say. “He’s been able to guard my room a few times.” Holding Rix’s gaze, she said, “I need to know if you and Torin are part of the Rising.”
“No,” he repeated. “We’ve both been asked. I nearly said yes, but . . .” She felt the faintest stirring of guilt. As if he felt bad for not agreeing to join the Rising.
Amryn felt only relief. It meant everything she was doing to secure his pardon—and Torin’s—would be worth it.
There were so many things she wanted to share with her uncle—and ask him. She knew they’d have time to talk later, but there was one thing she needed to tell Rix now. “Tiras was in Zagrev.”
Her uncle stilled. Dread washed through him, followed by an icy brush of terror. “You spoke with him?”
“Yes.” A chill settled into her bones. From feeling her uncle’s emotions, or the memory of Tiras’s remoteness as he’d stared at her, she wasn’t sure. “While I was in the city a couple of weeks ago. He came to take me.” She frowned. “He said the two of you made a deal, and you reneged.”
Rix’s grip tightened, but she still felt a tremble snake through him. “Bloody Saints,” he cursed.
Wariness wrapped her lungs in a vice. “He said you promised to keep me safe if he disappeared and never came back. Is that true?”
Rix’s emotions scrambled, flashing too quickly to accurately read. “Yes,” he said.
Old hurt flared. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She’d cried for Tiras. On sleepless nights, haunted by nightmares, she’d clung to Rix and she’d asked him why Tiras had left her.
Rix had never said a word about this.
He eyed her now, looking sick. “You don’t understand. The night Tiras brought you home . . .”
She nearly stopped breathing. This was a night she and Rix had never talked about.
Not once. She’d been seven years old. Snared by Tiras’s manipulation, she’d hardly been aware of anything.
Because he’d cut off her emotions. Forced her to disengage from her own mind and body so she wouldn’t relive their mother’s murder—or the savage deaths of the knights who’d killed her.
Rix’s fingers curled into her shoulders. “Tiras had you at his mercy. You wouldn’t even look at me when I called your name. And when I tried to hold you in my arms, he stopped me.”
“Why?”
Old grief and helplessness churned inside him. “He said he needed to make sure I wasn’t the one who’d sent the knights after you.”
Her eyes widened. “But . . . our father betrayed us. Tiras knew that.”
“I think he wanted to make sure I’d had no part in it.
” Rix glanced away, but not fast enough to hide the moisture in his eyes.
“He told me what happened. That my sister was dead. That you’d almost died, too.
” A muscle in his jaw ticked. “Tiras wanted revenge. He said both of you deserved it.” Finally, he looked back at her.
“He was going to hunt down Ferrin and kill him. And he was going to take you with him.”
Shock enveloped her. “Why?”
Rix swallowed hard. “He said that, since you were forced to wear your mother’s blood, you should get to wear your father’s, too.”
Nausea swam in her gut. Now it was her turn to look away. She had no memory of any of this, but her skin was crawling. “How did you stop him?” she asked, her voice a hoarse whisper. Because even though Tiras had only been twelve years old, Rix would have been no match for his empathic nephew.
“I didn’t stop him,” Rix said grimly. “I begged him. Dropped to my knees and pleaded with him to look at you. To see what he’d done.
” Old pain raked through him. “You were standing there in a torn and bloodied nightgown. Your bare feet were shredded by the miles you’d walked, because he didn't think to get you shoes. And your eyes were so vacant . . .” He shook his head, as if that could dislodge the memory.
“I was desperate. I couldn’t lose you.” Torment filled him as he met her gaze.
“I know your mother loved him, but I swear, I would have killed him if he’d tried to take you from me. ”
They both knew he would have failed.
Amryn’s stomach knotted. “But you convinced him to let me stay with you.”
“Somehow. Some flicker of humanity must have remained in him. I managed to convince him that he couldn’t give you the care you needed.
I begged him to leave you in my care.” A flicker of guilt.
“And yes, I did tell him not to come back. I told him you would be better off without him. He was already possessive of you—I feared how that would grow if he remained in your life.”
While hurt remained, she couldn’t summon any anger at Rix. Not when she knew he was probably right.
His voice was softer than before as he said, “He told me if I failed to protect you, he would come back for you. And that he’d kill me in retribution.”
Ice filled Amryn’s veins at the reminder. But at least she understood a little better why Tiras wanted her now—he’d never wanted to let go of her in the first place. A chilling thought, all on its own.
“He must have learned about Esperance,” Rix murmured. “Heard your name listed among the Chosen. Whether he knows I escorted you there myself or not, he clearly considers our deal broken.”
“No,” she said firmly. “I’m not going to let him hurt you.”
Rix said nothing, but she knew what they were both thinking.
If Tiras decided to kill Rix, Amryn wouldn’t be able to stop him.