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"Well, maybe you're not the oneIwant?"

Fear makes my voice harsh.

Keir stares at me.

"You barely know me," I whisper. "I'm not kind. I'm not.... I'm nothonest. I can't be trusted. Not with your heart."

It's the closest I can get to warning him.

He smiles a little dangerously. "Yes and no. I will wait, Merisel. But you should know—I mean to have you, no matter how long I must wait. No matter how much you doubt me."

This is a nightmare.

He's like the mirror, offering me my greatest temptation, even as I feel the jaws of the trap closing around me.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, retreating toward the door. "I cannot be what you want me to be."

"Then I will wait."

The words follow me through the door as I slam it and press my back to it. This needs to end. Now. Tonight.

Before it's too late.

* * *

Soraya archesa brow the second she sees me. "You look like something the Cauldron just spat out."

I collapse back onto my bed with a groan. I feel like it too. Between the attack and Keir's sudden decision, I feel like I've been gut punched. "Try Calliope. Bitch was our crazy killer. Tried to bury me in a wall."

"Tried?"

"Keir cut off her head." I shudder. "And then he pulled me out of the wall. You're lucky you still have a sister."

Maybe it would have been for the best if he left me in there.

What am I going to do?

He flat-out stated his intentions to make me his wife.

Hisprincess.

I was so out of sorts, I didn't even think of the fucking relic once. This is all turning to shit. The sooner we're out of here the better, but the second I think it, I know I'm in no hurry to pull off the job.

Because the second I do, I betray him.

My mouth tastes like ash.

Soraya kneels on the end of the bed and tugs at my right boot. "You shouldn't have trusted her."

"I didn't." It was a lesson learned from her all those years ago. My voice softens, "It doesn't mean I didn't like her."

"You didn't get a chance to steal the relic from the prince?"

"Don't. Not tonight. I'm tired and my head hurts." I sit up on the bed as she discards my boots behind her. Then she's helping with my gown, dragging the bloody remnants of it over my head. "The last thing I was thinking about was stealing the charm from around Keir's neck."

Soraya rubs my shoulders, and I can't stop them from softening. "Keir, is it?"

I shove her in the gut. "Is there anything to drink? My mouth tastes like a horse's ass."