“Why is it that you’re always pacing?” Sam asks with a chuckle as she takes a seat on the foot of the bed.
“Why is it that you’re always barging into my room?” I shoot her a glare and continue my steps.
“What is your problem?” She sighs, her gaze darting between me and Jarek. “Are you upset about the meeting?”
“No.” I sigh. “It was fine.” I collapse into one of the chairs near the fireplace. “I just can’t stop thinking about him. About what he did to her. About Loxley.”
Jarek joins Sam on the bed and the two of them pass a glance between each other. “Me too,” she says. “We’ve all lost so much, the thought of starting over is unbearable.”
Starting over.
“When Roman is off the throne, Valebridge will change. There won’t be any need for secret villages in the woods.”
Sam huffs loud enough to draw my attention. Her brows are furrowed and nostrils flared. “Loxley was more than a hidden place in the woods, Sorin. I thought you knew better than that. Maybe our people won’t want to live in Valebridge.” She throws her hands in the air, a deep blush creeping over her cheeks with her rising anger. “Maybe what they want is exactly what they already had.” Jarek moves his hand to grasp hers but she pulls it away.
“Maybe they won’t get a say,” I grumble and immediately regret my words.
Sam scoffs, rising from the bed. “So that’s how it will be? You’re on the throne and suddenly you forget where you came from?”
“Sam…” Jarek starts but with a swift look from Sam, he tightens his lips.
“Except I didn’t come from Loxley.” My voice raises along with my temper, and before I realize what I’m doing, I’m out of my chair and in front of Sam.
“You’re right,” she whispers, the crease between her brows now gone, a look of hurt replacing it. “Youdidn’t.” She brushes by me, bumping my shoulder as she goes.
My chest caves in on itself, knuckles whitening at my sides.
“That was uncalled for,” Jarek says once Sam is out of the room.
I spin on my heels and he’s already there. Behind me. Arms crossed and rage brewing.
“You’re angry.” He shakes his head. “You have every right to be angry, Sorin, we all do. But you don’t get to take it out on your sister. She’s been through enough.”
Taking a step backward, I pull my fingers through my hair. Of course I shouldn’t snap at Sam, she’s done nothing. She has lost everything, just as I have. “I…” I shut my eyes.
And if the people of Loxley choose to rebuild, why would I stop them? But the rational part of my brain stopped working the moment Elora fell into my arms, and now all I’m left with is this pent up anger, this betrayal from a man who was my best friend. The loss of myhome.
“I feel as if I’m going to explode,” I admit, meeting Jarek’s gaze again. “How could he…” I refocus my gaze to the ground. My hands shake at my sides. Sharp pains thread through my chest where my heart has been cracked open.
My mind, a carousel of images I can’t shake.
Galen at the ball.
Roman in the hallway.
Elora’s bruises.
The scars around her wrists and the ink along her neck.
The ink shestillrefuses to tell me about.
“He betrayed all of us,” Jarek says softly, the frustration he had with me already diminishing. “All of that anger… All of that rage…needs to be let go.” He takes a step closer, his massive frame casting a shadow over me. “Hit me.”
“What?” Stepping back, I scoff up at him. “Don’t be absurd.” Though, the idea of hitting something feels rather tempting.
“I’m not.” Jarek shrugs. “You need to release those emotions, Sor, or they’ll eat you alive.” He pushes my chest, not strong enough that I budge but not light enough that it doesn’t send some primal fighting instinct straight to my brain. “Now come on, I can take it. Hit me.”
“I won’t,” I grumble, attempting to push past him. But before I make it far, his hand wraps tightly around my arm, shoving me back against the wall.
