“We don’t need it. Trust me. Things are different now.I’mdifferent now,” I say, pointing at my chest. “Things don’t have to be the way they were in Highbell.” I tilt my chin up. “And I don’t want them to be.”
He stands so still, and he’s looking at me like he’s never seen me before, and maybe I’m looking at him like that too.
Midas blinks at me for another moment before he runs a frustrated hand down his face. He starts pacing the small dressing room, shoes scuffing over the purple rug on the floor.
“I’m trying to be patient with you right now, considering what you’ve been through, but you’re making this very difficult,” he says before turning back to me. “You’ve never behaved this way before.”
I bristle from his chastisement, but he’s right. I haven’t, not with him.
Two months ago, I would’ve backed down immediately. I would’ve never pushed him in the first place. But I’m changed now, and the worries, the dangers—we can work through those together.
But the thought of being shoved back in a cage, especially one so small…
Osrik’s words blare in my ears.
I’ll never get how you fucking stand it.
Right now, in this moment, I realize.
I can’t.
Chapter 38
AUREN
My traitorous eyes flick overto the cage.
I take in its thick, menacing iron, its six curled pieces looped around the top to add decorative flair, before I look back at Midas.
“I know you’re in a rush, and I don’t want to make you late, so I’ll stay in your rooms while you go to the meeting, and then we’ll talk after.”
He pins me with a fiery glare. “I don’t know what the hell is going on with you, but you’re not in charge, Auren. I’m your king, remember? You will do as I say.”
My heart pounds with the command, and I know I’ve lost any hope of rekindling old Midas. King Midas is firmly in place.
He jabs a finger to point in the direction of the cage. “I’m not going anywhere until you’re in that cage, safe and secure, where no one can get to you. Do you want to get taken again? Do youwantto be vulnerable?”
“Of course not.”
He’s agitated, cheeks reddened, eyes lit with that temper I tried to subdue. I’ve failed miserably in keeping him calm and open to what I have to say.
“Did you betray me?” he asks suddenly.
His question makes me pause. “What?”
“You heard me,” he says flatly. “Did. You. Betray. Me?” Every word is a sentence, each one bitten off.
My mouth drops open, mind whirling. “What... How could you—of course I didn’t betray you!”
“Did you let any of those filthy pirates touch you? Did you let Fourth’s army touch you?”
“Let?”My question stretches like a string ready to snap.
I know he can hear the hurt in my voice, because I hear it too. That hurt is stitched from my words to my face, woven through my features.
“Fine,” Midas replies, but his voice is still hard, still cruel, the voice of a king who expects to be followed. “But if you didn’t betray me, then prove it. Get into the cage.”
I feel tears prick the backs of my eyes, and my shoulders stiffen. He’s not going to listen. Even though I’m right here, standing in front of him, trying to tell him, he won’t listen.
