Chapter 33 #2
“Why can’t you wait?” Roiven says, reaching me at the bottom. His voice strains. “I have to find out what the Hellions are doing. Come back up. I promise...”
“No.”
He stops a foot away from me. Far too close. I press harder against the wall as Roiven’s burning gold eyes bore into me.
“I know you’re scared,” he says softly. “But…”
“Scared?” I snap. “Are you that delusional? You think I’m mad because I’m scared?”
Roiven’s jaw sets firmly.
“When I get back from Lusern... please. We still haven’t talked. Not properly. Don’t run from this.”
“There is no this. All I agreed to was a fucking shackle, so you would negotiate, which was a fucking lie. You tricked me.”
One of the doors in the yard opens. A woman pokes her head out.
“Is everything alright?” she starts to ask.
“Go back inside, Chaline,” Roiven says.
“Oh, you don’t want an audience?” My voice gets louder. “Why were you so desperate to marry me? Why did you tell me this was the only way I could come here?” I shove my living hand up between us, putting the marks in his stupid handsome face.
“Please,” Roiven says, his voice low and his eyes burning. His voice is calm, but I can feel the hot flames of his anger pulsing beneath the surface. “Keep your voice down. If you want to discuss this…”
Another face appears in one of the windows of the houses surrounding the square. I can only imagine how many people are listening from behind their doors.
“That would be convenient for you, wouldn’t it? If I shut up and went back to my room?” I shout. “I ought to spill your fucking guts on these stairs, you asshole. Get a sword and I'll challenge you.”
Roiven’s eyes dart away, taking stock of our surroundings. He grabs my left arm by the wrist, his own callused hand hot as a brand against my skin. The witch yanks me toward the stairs. I’m caught off guard enough that I take a stumbling step after him. My metal arm jerks toward the sword hilt.
Once we’re out of view of the houses, he pushes me back against the wall, crowding my body so close with his own that I can’t free my sword.
My heart jumps in panic. The bastard. I’ll bite his damned nose off if that’s what it takes. When I wrench my knee up toward his groin he twists sideways, so I catch his thigh instead.
“Yes, I bound myself to you, and only you, for life,” Roiven hisses. “You think I’m happy I had to trick you? You think I take pride in that?”
“Nobody forced your hand, asshole.” He can’t blame anybody but himself. I saw the look on the coven’s faces. They were nearly as shocked as I was.
I knee him in the groin again. This time it lands. I feel pain radiate through him, and my own knees nearly buckle as my vision goes white. Alright, that hurt him more than I thought it would. Roiven hisses. His body crushes mine for a moment as the muscles of his neck cord with tension.
“Damnit,” he growls. The pain radiating through both of us makes me smirk before I shove the connection closed yet again.
“Let. Me. Go,” I demand.
“These people,” he says, his voice still thick with pain. Roiven throws his free hand out to the side, to gesture toward the houses that no longer have a view of our argument.
“Fuck. You,” I mutter, because it doesn’t hurt to throw it in again.
Roiven shoves at me again, pressing me harder to the rock wall to get my attention. And, probably, to make sure I don’t have room to knee him again.
“They’re. All. Going. To die,” Roiven hisses. “What part about this don’t you understand? It isn’t a game.” His body is pressed so tight against mine I can feel every inch of him, hard muscle, the grip of his hand on my wrist, the sharp exhale of his breath against my cheek.
“Then you should’ve—”
“I should’ve done a lot of things,” he says. His voice is a rasp now.
Roiven finally steps back. I feel him go like a plunge into the sea, the absence of all things good.
“There was no need to make me bond.”
“There was every need.”
“Why? Just so you could shove your emotions in my head? So you could tell everyone I belonged to you?”
Roiven drags his hand over his face.
“We’ve been losing for generations. Your Empire has taken everything.
And yet you, of all people, hold the most powerful familiar bond we’ve ever known.
” He turns away, hands on his hips, like he’s trying to get a hold of himself.
“And when my people find out who you are, if they try to kill you to get the kraken to bind someone else, it won’t be enough time. Our last chance will be gone.”
I huff a laugh.
“You really thought they’d care if I was your wife?”
He turns over his shoulder to look at me, eyes sharp.
“They will, or I’ll have their blood,” Roiven growls.
“They all think I forced you, you idiot.”
His eyes drop and seem to notice my shoulder for the first time. I was barely grazed by the blade, which lost speed when it bounced off my sword. The cut’s already scabbed, but the rip in my tunic and the flecks of dried blood remain.
Roiven’s eyes darken. He turns all the way around, his gaze glued to the miniscule wound.
“Who did that?” His voice is dangerously cold.
“Two idiots. It doesn’t matter.”
His eyes drag slowly up to mine. His nostrils flare and his lips are pressed furiously tight.
“Their names, Cai,” he hisses. As if I need his help to defend myself. I roll my eyes.
“It’s already handled.”
“Their. Names.”