Pricilla gasped. Amaris didn’t care if he was her boss. He wasn’t getting away with acting like a jerk.
“Let’s go.” He grasped Amaris’s arm and urged her toward the tower.
Pricilla shuffled away, darting behind the nearest bookcase.
“What was that?”
“You’re to remain in the tower, not parade around, doing as you please,” he answered.
“I wasn’t,” she shouted. “Sephardi was there. I haven’t eaten a solid meal in days. Do you want me to starve?”
He didn’t bother to answer, only allowing a short burst of breath through his nostrils like he was a beast snarling at her.
“Do you have any idea how to be a normal human being?”
He released her arm, catapulting her several steps ahead of him. “Keep going.”
Amaris stormed through the arched threshold of the stairs and stomped like she would when Gran would send her to bed without dinner for back-talking. She threw open the door, the boom echoing through the cramped space. Theodoric appeared through the darkness and took Sephardi’s spot by the fire.
“You never even thanked me.”
“What in the realm do I have you to thank for?” he asked.
If he hadn’t had a knife and sword within reach, Amaris would’ve sent a fist flying into that smug and perfect jawline.
“I don’t know,” she began, sarcasm lacing each syllable, “maybe because I saved your life. I could’ve died in that river!”
His shoulders tensed. “How did you?”
“How? Nothank you for saving me and not leaving me to drownor an apology for taking me fucking prisoner?”
Amaris’s chest tightened as the coursing of her blood flooded her veins and the speed of her breaths grew erratic. She was losing her shit. She could only take so much before she finally snapped and began spouting off. It’s why her and Derek fought almost every night. She couldn’t drop it, no matter how hard she clung to her mask—she had to fight back.
“You’re a prisoner here because you haven’t been forthcoming with information. There wasn’t a village for miles, and you haven’t once revealed who you were running from.”
Amaris’s cheeks flushed, feeling trapped. She couldn’t go to the gym, cry her frustration away with Viv, or pick up an extra shift at work. “It’s none of your business.”
“It is my business. We found you—”
“Oh my God, give it up already. We’ve heard this a million times!” She waved wildly. “You found me when I was lost and trying to get away but stumbled on that poor man.”
“Get away from whom? Your husband?”
Amaris froze. “I don’t have a husband.”
“Then why do you wear a wedding ring?”
She twisted the band of metal. “It’s an engagement ring. I’m not married yet.”
“You’re betrothed then?”
“Yes, but why do you care? It’s not like he can help me. You idiots can’t put two and two together. You couldn’t figure out how I ended up in the middle of the woods, so the only logical explanation you had was I’m a murderer!” His jaw tightened, but she continued her rant. “It’s all you want to see. You don’t have answers for what you found, so your tiny-ass brain did all it could and connected two completely different situations.”
“Why are you enraged? If your betrothed is truly missing you, wouldn’t he be looking for you? Or are you lying and you know you’re trapped now?”
“You’re a bastard, you know that? He’s searching for me and won’t be happy when he finds out what you’ve done.”
“What will he think of what you’ve done? I wouldn’t take too kindly to my betrothed running away. Do you think he’ll even come for you now?”
