Brother?Well, here goes the only chance of finding any answers to save Tilly. If Dryden is her brother, I am screwed.
“Dryden?” I dare to ask, even though I know it’s him.
“So you have met him?”
I gently hit my head against the trunk before pushing away. “I have, yes.”
“I know how he is with the ways of the written rules of the Realms, so has he hurt you?” Her worried brows pull together, and her eyes soften.
My head slightly shakes. “No, he hasn’t.”
Her hands lift to her lips. “Good. I am glad to hear this.” She sighs. “He has a good heart, but he has been trained to never show the good, so I apologize if he ever gives you a reason to kill him.”
I choke on air, trying to find words to say, but I’m startled. Her calm presence is much different than his and I cannot believe she just apologized to me if I must kill him. If it ever comes down to that.
“Let's hope that never happens.” I force my lips to tug into a smile, trying to be as sincere as I can be, but all I want to do is find Florian, find Koen, and run like hell to the archives.
“Lykia?” A man's voice whispers from behind me, but I don’t have to look, I know that voice.Koen.
My stomach tightens as I notice her eyes glint with weariness as she places her hand over her chest. Koen walks around the tree, clearing his throat once he sees me, letting his hand rub against his forehead with a troubled edge. He avoids looking my way.
“Koen,” her voice aches. “Where have you been?”
My eyes flicker anxiously between the two of them, my chest constricting with an unfamiliar, almost suffocating sensation.What the hell is this feeling?A knot forms in my stomach, twisting and coiling like a damn snake ready to strike, leaving me with a nauseating sense that I might vomit at any moment. But I swallow it down, forcing it further inside me, and let my fingers dig into my palms as I watch the two of them crave each other with their eyes.
I want out of here. I need away from this.
I cannot be here to witness whatever love reunion this is. It's burning a hole through my heart, and I cannot stop it. No matter how much I want it to stop.I don’t want to feel this.If there is any curse in these Realms to never desire, to never want these men here, I would beg the Gods to curse me with it. Koen is not mine. He will never be mine, I will make sure of that. Maybe I am foolish, reckless, for allowing him to make me feel things I have never felt before. No matter how the way his eyes linger on me makes my insides feel, down in the bottom pit of my stomach. Burning.Aching.I have to stay on the true mission of my arrival here,Tilly.
“I was thrown into the games.” He scratches his brow, glancing my way for a mere second, and my stomach clenches.
Stop looking at me! I scream inside. I beg you to stop looking at me.
“I meant before that!” She strides forward. The tail of her dress gets caught in a branch, and she yanks it out without hesitation. “Where the hell have you been?”
“I can go—” I turn to slide out from their heated conversation.
“Absolutely not.” Koen interrupts me, halting me with his hand. His palm rests against my stomach, and my eyes glance up towards him. His eyes darken, staring at me with such intensity I forget how to breathe.I’m suffocating.The way he is looking at me now reminds me of the way Florian has looked at me. I need him to stop. I need them both to stop.
They are digging a grave for me… I can feel it.
“You know her?” Lykia's voice is laced with sadness as she asks this question and I begin to wonder, what the hell are they to each other?
“Yes. She is helping me.” He moves his hand away from my stomach, crossing his arms to face her way. “We are leaving to the archives, and you know I need to go.”
“Koen…” She drops to a low whisper, glancing around the forest trees to make sure no one is listening. “She will kill you, and you know that. I won’t be able to help this time.”
“I have to,” he growls, taking a step back away from her.
“Let me go with you.” Lykia reaches out to touch his arm, but he pulls back. I glance away, rubbing my lips together to avoid this uncomfortable position I have found myself in.
“Serene is coming with me, and we’ll be fine.”
“Oh, so now I am tossed aside for some…” Her eyes fall to my boots, glaring up at my body as her nostrils flare with a rage that I can feel burning inside her from where I stand. “Traitor to the Queen? A nobody?”
She did not just call me that.
I take a fierce stride towards her, my skin prickling with a rage that is impossible to hide by my nostrils flaring. “What did youjust say?” I hiss, my voice dropping to a deep growl as my brows pull tightly in.
