He’sresponsible for this.
“What have you done?” I cry, lurching from my prone position on the floor toward him, but only managing a few steps before pitching unsteadily. “Tell me you didn’t do this to me, please. Tell me you didn’t collar me like an animal.” The sobs wrench out of me, the blow of his betrayal too much to bear. “Itrustedyou!”
His mouth tightens. “This is only a means to an end, Suraya. I have to make my authority clear, or the houses will run roughshod over us.”
“There is no us, there’s only you.” My bitter words are barely audible as I sink to the floor.
“Don’t say that. All of this, everything I’m doing, is forus.”
He swallows, his throat bobbing and those beautiful, treacherous eyes glistening with emotion that makes me sick. The cold, dead stare from earlier is gone. But which is the real version of him? I can’t tell anymore.
“I don’t believe you,” I whisper.
He crouches down beside me. A part of me screams for me to get up and run, to lash out and immobilize him, tofightfor my life, but another part is too heartsick to care. “I won’t allow you to put yourself in danger,” he says. “It’s only for a short while, you’ll see. I’ll take you to Coban myself when things settle down. I promise.”
“You’re a liar,” I say. “And I will never forgive you for this.”
“Then that’s a chance I’ll have to take,” he says quietly. “My duty is to my people first. To Oryndhr. The oaths of a king come before anything else.”
“And what about your promises to me?” I ask, risking a glance at him. “To never hurt me or lie to me again.”
“I’m not lying,” he replies, his words calm, as if I’m somehow the irrational one. “That’s why I’m being honest with you about what needs to be done.”
I exhale a shuddery breath. “Putting me in irons?”
“Suraya—”
“Don’t,” I tell him. “I don’t need your platitudes or creative omissions. We could have done this together instead of you shutting me out at every turn.”
“You’re common born, Suraya, from a remote village,” he says in a cool, imperious tone that shouldn’t hurt as much as it does. “How could you even understand court politics? Or how easily my enemies can snatch you and use you against me. The nobles still don’t trust me. Even now, after everything, Antares is plotting to dethrone me.” He clenches his jaw.
“Common born doesn’t mean lacking in common sense,” I reply. “You want me to blindly obey, is that it? Defer to your better judgment?”
His expression is unyielding. “In the matter of your welfare and the realm’s safety, yes. I am the king.”
“So you keep saying.”
Sands, I didn’t think my heart could crack any further, but the hits keep coming. Soon the pulverized organ in my chest will be nothing but dust. I lift an arm, watching the lamplight glint off the jadu hammered into the metal. I glance over at Aran, who has remained silent where he stands on the far side of the bedroom. It’s clear now he was the magi to engineer these cuffs—he’s the only one who could have.
“How did you do it?” I ask. “Control the Starkeeper magic?”
“My blood,” Roshan answers.
I blink. That doesn’t make sense. His blood has no magic—my simurgh would have known if any dormant power of his had awakened. Then the truth hits me like a kick to the face. Traces ofmymagic are in his veins, and somehow, he’s using that against me. The sheer audacity has me vibrating with rage.
“You bastard!” I snarl, flying up at him, my fists pounding into his chest. “How could you?”
I want to carve his heart out of his body, the way mine has been. Nearly mindless with fury, I lunge for the dagger in his belt and swing wildly in his direction. My magic might be bound, but I have no intention of going down without a fight. Not like this.
The king dodges my strike and unsheathes his sword. I attack again with a violent thrust. This time he parries, avoiding my blow and catching my steel with the edge of his own blade. We’ve sparred like this a thousand times, though never with intent to harm. At the sound of clashing metal, his guards immediately appear, and he holds up a hand.
“Get the fuck out. You, too, Aran.” Roshan doesn’t look at them. He stares at me over his blade.
The guards retreat slowly, Aran last to depart with a reluctant glance.
“You don’t want to do this, Sura,” Roshan says when the room is empty.
I smile viciously. “Oh, but I really do. I want to make youbleed.”
