I rush forward and grab Galen’s collar. “What have you done?” I scream as I shake him.
He grabs my hands with an iron grip. “They’re just dead bodies.”
“Think beyond the bodies, you fool! There is a reason my father sent Sable here, away from him! He knew how deadly she was, how conniving and evil! If he killed her, his people would think he’s mad. And no man of merit would wed her! He knew it was a matter of time before she tried to grab his crown, so he sent her away so he could look for a new heir. But you just sent her back! You just handed her an empire that will tear yours down.”
His smile is deliberately slow, like the sails of a massive fleet encroaching upon a land—a kingdom about to be thrown into the passions of death and war.
“I know,” he answers.
Chapter
Thirty
Selene
Have you ever heard news that was so disturbing it made you fall into chaos? Following Everett’s passing, I did. I feel the ground stolen from under my feet again as Galen looks into my eyes. This time, I can’t fall. Titus needs me.
“I know exactly what Sable seeks,” Galen purrs, his cool breath fans over my clammy cheek as he cups it.
His admission is startling, and if I were not in such a state of shock, I’d commend him for his deception. It wasn’t just his handsome face that attracted me. I knew he was conniving, and in my sick and twisted mind, that equaled strength and shelter to me.
An honest man might love your heart, but he can’t protect it. A man like Galen, one who is always ten steps ahead, steals your heart and locks it away.
I thought that meant I’d be safe. So I gave in, kissed him, and welcomed him into my bed. I never loved him, but I gave him my heart, allowed him to wrap it in steel walls. Cold walls.I welcomed the numbness because it kept me blind, deaf, and dumb to all his affairs. To the man he truly was.
If I had a daughter, would I raise her the same way I was raised?
Like any parent who wants to see their child grow old, I suppose I’d tell her to be numb because that is better than feeling.
Galen glides his thumb along my jawline. “Sable wanted a crown and an army. Mine is spoken for, but your father’s… let’s face it, Selene,” he laughs, “without your brother, your father has no heir. It’s only a matter of time before one of his nobles kills him. So I thought, why not send Sable back to get his crown for me?”
I feel like a branch on a tree whose trunk is riddled with a fungus that is slowly slithering up it, chomping away at the bark and slowly exposing it to the treacherous winds and rains of the world. With each truth Galen speaks, more of my bark—my shields—decay.Soon, I’ll be exposed, soft and easy for him to carve into whatever trinket he wants, just as a woodcarver molds wood.
“Sable will never hand over my father’s crown, army, or lands. The fae will never be pawns under a vampire king.”
“I know,” he tugs on my bottom lip before he finally drops his hand. “They will be pawns undermypuppet.”
I blink, freeing myself from the confusion. “You think you can use Sable? You’re a bigger fool than I thought,” I sneer as I lash out and grab his jaw.He lets me touch him, but he stiffens as I lean closer. “She’s. Using. You.” I push my words into his mouth as I hover over it. “Your crown, your castle, your lands, your army! She will take it all from you.”
The corner of his eyes wrinkles.
“It’s going to be so easy.” I shove him away from me as I step back. “It’s all about the long game, isn’t that right, Galen?Sable has played you.” I exhale a grin. “She’s about to shove what you thought was your medicine down your throat, but instead of healing you, she tricked you. It’s not your own medicine. It’s poison.”
I shake my head, look him up and down. “You won’t survive this.”
Before I turn, I watch my words hit home. Every step Galen has taken is now in question, every future move uncertain.
I turn and begin to walk away. I expect Galen to grab me, to rebuke what I spoke.
He doesn’t.
No footsteps close in.
That means he’s worried, truly worried he fucked up.
Good. When he’s plotting how to take down Sable, I will be working on this mission Everett died for.
Chapter
