“Casimir…” My brows lower as I scour my mind for the reason why that sounds so familiar. “Casimir…Bainbridge?”
“Yes, that's my name.”
Then it hits me.
I jolt backwards out of his arms, stumbling over my dress. “You!” I gasp.
Dread fills me. I knew it. I was in denial for so long, refusing to believe what was right in front of me. What I thought was a clever ploy ended up as the truth, and now I’vekissedthe Warlord. Itheon is likely laughing at the irony of my anguish, Seluna, too. And if I could, I would let the castle walls swallow me whole to avoid the mortification I feel.
He gives me a bewildered look. “I what?”
“The book.” My breaths turn ragged. This corset feels all too tight, too constricting, too stifling as it cages my lungs.
“What about it?”
“You wrote it.”
“I know, that's why I gave it to you,” Wrath—no, Casimir replies. “I thought you understood immediately. Isn’t that why you stormed out of the library?”
“Is this all some game to you, Wrath—Casimir, whatever your damned name is?” I slowly back away, my dress weighing me down like an anchor.
“Raelys, we’ve been quoting the lines back and forth to one another for weeks. It was so blatantly obvious, I thought you knew the entire time.” Genuine confusion flickers across his features. “I wasn’t trying to trick you. It's?—”
“I live my life based on those words.” My hands tremble at my sides as I come to terms with this newfound discovery.
“I know you do,” he says gently. “You and I are two sides of the same coin, Raelys, bound to one another by our oath. Your soul’s desire for power and vengeance is a mirror to mine. And you have no idea how beautiful, how bold, howspellbindingyou are to me.”
My heart skips a beat.
“Don’t play the games of war with you,” I repeat in disbelief. “Is that what you meant? Because you’re the warlord? That I couldn’t possibly win against you?”
His gaze darkens. “Yes.”
My mind is trapped in an endless cycle of doubt as I agonize over every interaction I’ve had with the King. Each lingering look and fleeting touch replay in my mind over and over. How could I not have seen it sooner?
You are everything I desire.
I would rather burn Dratheria to the ground than give her back.
She is mine.
Wrath’s words echo in my mind, taking on new meanings each time I recall them. He has taken root in every part of my mind. It is maddening how my thoughts twist around him like a tunnel with no exit, trapping me inside.
“Raelys.”
“I have to go?—”
Casimir steps in my path, stopping me from leaving. “Wait.” His eyes fill with something I’ve never seen—anguish. “I know you. You are a viper waiting to strike in the shadows. There is a part of you that reads that book every damned day because it’s what youaspireto be,” Casimir says ardently. “You can release that darkness, Raelys. It is not a flaw. It is your strength.”
“You only need me to break the curse,” I challenge, my whole world spinning.
“No.” Casimir shakes his head. “The curse can go on for an eternity for all I care. I will wage this war until my very last breath before I live in a world withoutyouin it.”
His words steal the air from my lungs. I’ve never been desired like that, so completely that it terrifies me. I can’t trust it. He’s the Warlord, and I’m nothing more than a piece on his gameboard.
“I must go.” I head for the door.
This time, he doesn’t stop me.
