“Serena.” Zadyn packs so much sympathy into those three syllables, it forces me to look up at him. Then to Jace.
His entire face falls. “You didn’t.”
“What was I supposed to do?” I whisper.
“Anything but that!” Jace explodes, slamming his palm into the ground so hard I flinch. “I should have murdered that bastard when I had the chance.”
“You weren’t there.”
I keep my voice steady when all I want to do is fucking cry. I feel shitty enough as it is—I don’t need the looks they’re giving me on top of it.
“You don’t know what it was like, what I watched him do to Kai.”
“I don’t care what he did to Kai—how could you?”
My cheeks sting at the accusation, the pure revulsion in his tone.
“Jace,” Zadyn repeats, but Jace ignores him, leaping to his feet.
“You aremine,” he snarls.
I laugh. “You sound just like him.”
“Like Kylian?”
“Yes.”
“Funny. Except you seemed pretty into the idea of fucking me the night you bonded the dragon, and it didn’t take any coercion on my part.”
A deadly silence creeps over the tent as my eyes narrow, and I’m almost certain whatever Jace sees in them makes his hand twitch toward his sword.
“How dare you,” I seethe. “How dare you even think that after everything. I am not yours, and I never was. What’syoursis back at the castle you abandoned, probably worried and devastated that her betrothed is off chasing after someone else.”
He crosses the tent to stand over me.
“Don’t minimize this. I came here for you. Because I couldn’t live with myself if I stayed behind and you…Didn’t you know I would come for you? I came here consequences be damned, only to find you’d whore yourself out at the first sign of trouble.”
Zadyn is up in an instant, his hand wrapped around Jace’s throat, fangs bared and ready to do some serious damage.
“Let him go,” I command, my voice cold as ice. Zadyn slowly releases his hold, staying planted between us. I keep my voice low as I address Jace.
“Don’t you dare judge me. I did what I had to do to keep his attention off of Kai. I did what I had to do to keep my friendalive. To keep you and the rest of the people I love safe from being used against me. You have no idea what he would have done to you and Zadyn and Mar if he had gotten his hands on you, you idiot. I did what was necessary. And I will not be ashamed of that. Don’t youdarecall me a whore. Don’t youdarejudge me.”
And with that, I storm out of the tent.
I stand barefootin the water, the tide kissing my ankles as the night breeze plays with my hair.
My toes are bordering on numb, but I don’t flinch at the cold. I need to feel something.
Footsteps sound from behind me. I don’t turn. I already know it’s Zadyn from his scent.
Staring out at the gentle waves, I reach around my neck and unclasp the heavy ruby choker. Something in my chest eases as it falls into my hands.
I can breathe again.
I suck down a greedy lungful of air, feeling over the smooth skin of my neck. The rubies glitter beneath the moonlight as I turn them over in my fingers.
I hurl the choker as far as I can into the distance where it lands with the quietest splash and sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
