“Right,” he practically barks out as he passes me, and I would scowl if it weren’t for the fact that I’m just trying to keep myself upright with every step I take. The front foyer comes into view, daylight now giving sight to details that were previously hidden in the shadows, and I follow Xander as he turns left, knowing the front door is behind me but avoiding the urge to look over my shoulder. The sun plays off of the gold that covers his back, the ends of his hair brushing against the top of it. His skin color is a little darker than Nox’s, more rich in its olive pigment. I can’t begin to guess his height, but I imagine it is somewhat close to Nox’s as well. In fact, the more I study the bulkiness of Xander’s frame, the more I find physical similarities between the two.
“The kitchens are right up here. Should you find yourself hungry outside of meal hours, there will always be someone on staff there to help you,” Xander informs me, his voice monotone like he’s given a hundred tours of this place and is nowboredof it. Arched corridors line either side of us, a few of the aforementioned maids and servants popping in and out of them. Their eyes grow wide as they meet mine, and I can’t tell if it’s shock or something more that lines their faces, but they don’t linger long enough for me to decipher it.
Straight ahead, double doors loom tall, reaching the dark gray stone ceiling above. The kingdom’s sigil is brandished ingold on the front of both, thathorrificroaring lion inescapable. In my glaring at the doors, I don’t see the small rumple in the rug ahead of me and trip on it. I recover quickly, but catching my balance sends a sharp bite of pain flaring down my leg. I stop short, gasping for air as I breathe through it.
“Are you okay?” Xander asks, drawing my eyes towards his. Despite the question, his face remains unbothered, as if he’s speaking not to a person but the wall. Pushing the pain as far down as I can, I swallow and right myself, heat flaring up my neck and to my cheeks. His jaw works, the only sign of his annoyance at me ignoring him, before he turns and continues past the doors and to the left, down a new corridor. There, he stops abruptly and turns to face me. “Do you think he will come for you?”
My gaze snaps to his, and my voice echoes in the hall when I sharply ask, “Excuse me?”
Xander brings his finger to his lips, taking a step towards me that I counter with one backwards, my nostrils flaring at the ache that pulses over me. “Flynn or Nox. Whatever name you call him. Will he come for you?”
I shake my head, ignoring the little bit of concern that I swear leaks past his otherwise stony façade in favor of the voice in my head that screams it’s a trap. Had I notjusttold myself that naivety was something I couldn’t afford anymore? Rolling my shoulders back, I lift my chin, anger clashing with something grittier—something that’s sat inside of me for a long, long while, that I hadn’t realized was there until now.
“I remember, you know,” I start, dropping my voice low. Xander’s brows furrow as he watches me. “I remember you being there forallof it. The way your eyes met mine as the king hit me. How you held Alexi’s hair in your grasp as he was killed. I—” I draw in a deep breath, Xander mirroring it as his hands curltightly at his sides. “I remember the way you socruellyreturned me to that tower when I tried to escape.I remember.”
His expression settles into the same one as the day Alexi died, and it takeseverythingin me not to scream my frustration over it. He didn’tcare. He never had, and I won’t let myself lose anything else to someone likehim.
“What is going on here?” King Dolian’s voice pierces the tension between Xander and I as he strides out from beneath an arched doorway, one hand slid into his pocket. He comes to stand next to Xander, but his eyes spear mine before they roam down my body.
“Your Majesty, I was escorting Lady Rhea to you.”
The king tilts his head, chestnut-brown hair staying in place as he does. “Were you? Because it almost looks like the two of you were talking with each other.” Unease slides down my spine, locking my body in place as I glare at my uncle.
Xander says nothing, instead clasping his hands behind himself as he rolls his shoulders back. “My allegiance is always to you, Your Majesty. If you question it, ask the lady herself.”
The ire that raged for the guard burns brighter, but I know better than to look away from King Dolian. He closes the distance between us in two easy strides, the scent of him washing over me with my next breath. Cedar and something sickly sweet. I’m forced to arch my neck, my head tilting back as I dig my nails into my palm. I let every ounce of that anger for Xander and myhatredof him seep to the surface of my green eyes, my breaths so choppy that my chest heaves with each one.
“Tell me what you two were talking about.” Magic infiltrates every corner of my mind, pushing the words to my mouth before I can even think around them.
“I told him that I remember him,” I say, pain flaring up my temples at how tightly my jaw is clenched. “He helped you kill Alexi.”
King Doliansmirks.“Ah, yes. The lowly guard who sought to take what ismine.”
I reach for my magic, invisible fingers stretching towards that ancient cold. That deadly power within me. I haveneverwanted to use it as badly as I do now. But just like when I had tried to escape from this place, I’m met with resistance. Something cutting me off from my magic in a way that I can’t see. So instead, I reach for my anger. “I amnotyours! And Alexi was one hundred times the man you—”
His hand snaps out to grip my upper arm before he pulls me towards him, the front of my body crashing into his. My ears ring as I cry out in pain, my chest tightening with the air trapped in my lungs. I expect him to berate me, to wield his words as viciously as he does his hands on my body. Instead, he leans in close enough for the short bristles of his beard to scrape against my cheek, his breath hot on my ear. “My, my, Rhea. The fire in you is so much brighter than I ever realized. But flames need to be tended to or they grow too big. They turn from beacons of light to bearers of destruction. I can see that being around the mage prince has left you flaring too brightly, made you too reckless. It’s not something we can’t rectify before the wedding, however.”
My heart momentarily drops to my stomach, terror attempting to take root before I grip it tightly. I force a laugh up my throat, the sound jarring and unnatural. It causes the king to pull back to look at me, his brows dropping low over his eyes. “You actually think there is a scenario where we get married, don’t you?” I ask, my confidence bolstered by the way his cheeks start to pinken. “You really think he won’t rescue me? That he won’t come? That he won’t destroy everyone who stands in his way with hardly a second thought?” I relish in the way King Dolian’s eyes search mine, and I hope he can see the rage that binds my words as truth.
He exhales roughly, leaning back as he looks down his nose at me, his hands smoothing out his navy and gold vest. “Commander, ensure Rhea has something to eat before bringing her to the throne room. I want to show her something there.”
“I’m not hun—”
“Youwilleat,” he snaps, and I startle at his voice. The magic of his command or the ring orwhateverit is that binds me to him washes over me, and I know I do not have a choice in this. Then he takes a step to the left and walks past me, leaving Xander to stare at me. But my gaze is on the man who was hidden by King Dolian’s frame. Simonglares,his lips in a flat line while his arms are folded over his chest. It feels like minutes pass, but eventually Xander jerks his head towards Simon. I only make it a step before the older man speaks.
“You take advantage of the king’s affection for you. Of his generosity.”
My lip peels back over my teeth as I prepare to bark something back because howdarehe suggest that I’m doing anything of the sort, but Xander steps in front of me and blocks my view.
“I’m sure you are needed elsewhere, Simon,” he says, and I don’t think I’m imagining the wrath in his tenor.
“I’m needed wherever the king tells me to be,” he retorts but moves away from the door as I pass. Though I feel his gaze on my back like the scraping of nails.
Only when I’m sure he’s actually gone, the space outside the doorway empty, do I risk asking Xander, “Who was that?”
Xander looks momentarily stunned that I’ve not only engaged in conversation but initiated it, but he quickly hides his surprise under his icy mask. “Simon. The king’s head advisor.” His dark eyes snap to mine from where he stands near the door. “And one of the worst men in the king’s employ. Including the king himself.”
Chapter Twelve: Rhea
