He stopped. “Let’s rest for a few minutes.”
I sank onto a fallen log while he stayed standing.
“Kairos?”
His head swiveled toward me.
“What happened at the palace…I need to know how bad it is.” I exhaled shakily. “When I broke the binding rune, it destabilized the other runes connected to it. The ones on the walls, ceiling…I felt them all unraveling. It was like pulling one thread made the whole tapestry fall apart.”
Kairos sighed, sitting beside me. “You did what you had to do.”
“I killed people.”
“Vaeris killed them.”
I wanted to believe that, but I’d caused the collapse.
“The other realms…what happens now?”
“Soren will call it an act of war. Even if Vaeris provoked it, I’m the one who brought you there.”
“So he’ll retaliate.”
“He’ll have to. Politically, he can’t let it stand.” Kairos rubbed his face. “Thalir has the strongest navy in the world. If Taressa sides with Soren, then we’re surrounded.”
“Your people will blame me.”
“Some will. Most will condemn me for bringing you.”
“I’m…so sorry. You didn’t have a choice, but I’ve made everything so much harder for you.”
“I’m relieved,” he whispered.
That knocked the air from my lungs.
I stared at him. “What?”
“I didn’t understand why you wanted to see him so badly. I thought—I thought you were tolerating me because you had to.”
My chest ached.
“But he marked you,” he said in a low growl. “I’ll never forgive him for that. But at least now I know.”
“Know what?”
His dark gaze swept over me. “That you were never his. You’re mine.”
We sat in silence, the lump in my throat too big to swallow. The way he said it sounded non-negotiable, and my thoughts were a crazy mixture of longing and fear. But a barely controlled fury still simmered inside him. I could feel it, somehow.
“Don’t risk your life just to free me from the bargain.”
He huffed. “You’ve freed me twice. Both times you nearly died.”
“That’s different. I had to.”
“Exactly. So don’t ask me not to do the same.”
My stomach clenched. “We could avoid him. If he never gets close enough, the deal can’t be enforced.”
