It was cruel, really. To wrap a curse in such a package, one he would never refuse. One he would welcome as a gift instead of as his potential undoing.
It was my birth that was the curse; the spirit had said at my ascension. I now understood what it meant. I was a curse that could cut to the heart of the most heartless being in existence.
My attention momentarily strayed from Clause and moved beyond the room.
The web of mist outside his door tugged at my concentration as feet rushed down halls, heading in our direction.
So, it has started.
My heartbeat thumped even stronger in my chest as new nerves traveled down my spine.
Without a single twitch of a finger, I conjured. Mist surged around the room we stood in, pushing up against the doors, walls, and windows until no crevice was left. It sealed us in, just in time for the first set of fists to pound on it just outside. The mist absorbed all sound.
My focus re-centered on Clause. “How many lives have you taken since your mate’s death?”
“Plenty,” he answered, likely not even knowing the number.
“I am afraid we are at an impasse. We stand on opposite sides. Your people deserve better than you as their King.”
His silver brows furrowed before he offered me a glimmer of a hope. “Perhaps you can help me be better.”
I recognized that hope as the lie that it was. He wished to placate me for the time being.
I shook my head no. “Maybe I could have, but not anymore.”
He chortled. “You place more value on the lives of those you hardly knew compared to the friend you brought here when you first came to visit? You warmed up since then, yetnow have decided that it is impossible for us to meet each other.”
“Every life has value,” I snapped. “I miss Landin, but in part, I could perhaps try to understand your position. He drew his blade on you more than once.” My brows furrowed, and I looked to the ground for a moment in thought. “You are right. There is something that ties me to you. That is why I wanted to understand you. I also wanted to help you see you did not need to keep living the way you have been. The world can be cold but can also be beautiful and warm, yet you hid yourself away from it. You keep the cold out, yes, but also the warmth. And what kind of life is that?”My eyes watered. “Then last night happened. The lengths you will go through to hurt me is extraordinary.” My heart broke not only for Landin, for the boy, for Gorm, but also for the King standing before me. Perhaps, there could have been a different outcome. But he stole that chance when he turned me into a murderer.
Clause took a measured breath. “That is me protecting you by making you strong.”
“No. That is you trying toruinme.”
He sighed. “You don’t understand.”
Of course, if I did not see his way, it meant that I simply did not understand. For how else could I stand on the opposite side of him? This thought was condescending.
He was infuriating.
“Just like your mother didn’t understand when your father forced his ways on to her?” I snapped, not caring if it brought wrath.
Clause’s jaw twitched, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. “I never caged you.”
“Cages do not have to be physical. You wish for me to not find the warmth I need from this world. The warmth I need totruly live. You wish to force me into an icy darkness, and keep me there.”
“No.”
“Yes. You wish to smother me, to turn me into something I am not. To care for nothing or risk you brutally taking it from me. A prison wholly constructed of your actions and decisions, because I am not free to decide for myself how I wish to live or who to care for.”
“Stop.”
There was an assault on the mist surrounding the room. Several rhythmic jabs all over, such as that from a sword.Malavika. Relentlessly, she attacked, trying to break through the barrier.
I continued, a new thought spurred by her presence. “Why not bring Malavika happiness and make her your Queen, for she is the type of person you truly wish to stand at your side, not me. You think you love me, that you love your mate, but that is a lie. You wouldn’t try to change me in such ways if you truly did.”
Suddenly he lurched forward, pushing me back till the wall prevented me from moving. Hands came on either side of me, trapping me. “Stop pushing me, Ariana.” His voice was a soft snarl. A warning.
My spine remained straight as an arrow. “Or what? You’ll kill me? You’ll destroy everything I love and care for till there is nothing left of this version of me?” His gaze pinned me, but he did not answer, so I continued. “Did you stop pushing me when I asked you to? When I fell to my knees in front of you and begged you to have mercy, to show me kindness?”
