Ignoring his comment, she moved away to wash the rice. As she circled back, Matthias was leaning against the counter with his arms folded across his chest.
“Adalia?” he prompted.
Huffing, Adalia turned to face him. “Do you need me to repeat myself? Yes, you are the only man I have ever kissed in my entire existence in Lucius. There, are you happy?”
“Kinda,” he said, smirking.
If Adalia wasn’t using the bowl of freshly washed rice for dinner, she would have launched it straight at him. “If you’re going to act like this, you can go away. I don’t need your help.”
“I’m sorry, but how has no one ever kissed you while living here? Someone as beautiful as you should have men crawling on their knees,” Matthias voiced.
“Not all of us have the privilege of fancy lifestyles and the time to parade around our bodies for other people’s viewing. While you were lying about a palace, I was taking care of my sick mother, who passed when I was only fourteen years old. After my mother passed away, I had to take care of the home, Nik, and my father, who felt lost without her. I had to sell eggs and assume cloth mending for other Shadowkin in the village just so we could help father put food on the table.”
Adalia furiously chopped vegetables as she spoke. “We didn’t have money coming out of our ears like you would have. Father became ill when I was in my twenties, so I took care of him and by the time I got my life back, I couldn’t be bothered chasing men. That is the reason I didn’t have men crawling after me. Sure, I had a kiss here and there as a young woman, but none that held value. Now, are you going to help with dinner, or just stand there and make fun of me?” Adalia blurted.
She’d finished cutting and moved everything to a skillet to cook, then went on to the rice. Once it was set to heat on the stovetop, she turned back to Matthias, who looked to be simmering himself.
“Bold of you to presume I had any of those things either, little dove.” His tone was icy. “What I had was pain and suffering. No love or affection from anyone. I also didn’t have money like you imagine I would. It wasn’t a palace I was living in, Ada. It was my own personal hell.”
Adalia flinched. “Well, I’m sorry you had a hard life, but it doesn’t excuse that you’ve completely taken away my right to decide. I get to choose what I want. You don’t have to want me back, but you don’t get to decide you’re not worthy of me. You think you’re sparing me, but I’m hurt all the same.”
She snatched the tablecloth from the cupboard and went outside to the courtyard, hoping Matthias wouldn’t follow.
He did.
“This is why I am leaving in the morning,” he called.
Looking up from her task, she stared at him in shock. “What do you mean, you’re leaving? Why would you want to go back to that atrocity of a place, all because of a kiss? Do you really find me that distasteful?”
“That’s the issue, Ada. I don’t find you distasteful at all. The first time I kissed you in the woods was out of pure want and desire, but the second time . . . that was need. I can’t need you, though. I’m never going to be who you want me to be, who your king thinks I can be. I don’t get to have this.” He gestured towards her home.
“Says who?” Adalia threw at him. “No one is stopping you, not even the king!”
“Do you really think I would ever fit in here? My father would never allow it. Eventually he would find a way to get to me, and once he’s had his fill of turning my body into a bag of broken bones, he would find you—and I don’t even want to imagine what he would do when he did. It’s inevitable,” he replied with venom.
Adalia winced.
“There’s more, Ada . . . something I haven’t told you yet. And as soon as I do, you’ll want to dispose of me yourself,” Matthias said, hesitantly.
“Try me,” Adalia replied coldly.
Sighing, Matthias took a small step towards her, his wings drooping in defeat. “I am the reason those Thorns shot at you the other day.”
“We’ve established this. I know you’re not safe as you like to put it but . . .”
“That’s not what I mean. The day I gave you back your freedom, it cost something in return.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Is everything okay out here?” Nikolas’s voice rang through the courtyard.
Adalia startled. She hadn’t realised he’d arrived. “Yes, it’s fine.”
Nikolas casually stepped outside, never taking his eyes from Matthias. “It sure doesn’t sound like it’s fine.”
Matthias stood up straight. “It’s not fine. And it’s never going to be if I stay here—and if you remain in the king’s army.”
Tension throbbed through the courtyard as the three glanced between one another.
