He goes preternaturally still. “That sounds like a threat, Starkeeper. Either you’re with me or against me.” With the ease of a born warrior, he points the tip of his weapon to me and disarms me in a single move, the dagger flying out of my grip. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
My stupid eyes sting again, even as my magic roils like a trapped hurricane in a bottle. Gods, how did we get here? How did I becomethis? Caught in a snare I’d waltzed into with my eyes wide open. He’dpromisednever to use me... and he’d broken that promise.
“Too fucking late.” Unable to look at him and unable to stomach the heartache, I move toward my bed. “If you don’t undo this,” I say brokenly, “this will be the end of us.”
“It’s for the greater good,” he says. “I need you, and I need you alive and whole. If you have to hate me for protecting you and keeping you safe from yourself, then that shall be a cost I’ll gladly bear.”
“You’re not protecting me, you’re protecting yourself!” I turn and cry, feeling every last remaining hope inside of me dissipate all at once. “You gave me your vow, Roshan.”
“And I’ll keep it, when my kingdom is at peace.”
A pervasive sense of dread creeps over me at the finality in his tone. Nothing I say will change his mind. How many months—or evenyears—will I be like this? A weapon at his mercy. His to control, his to wield, in his desire for peace? Or worse,hisversion of peace, with its constantly shifting end?
“Power will destroy you,” I say, the words emerging before I can curb them. “It will eat away at anything that makes you the man you used to be and turn you into a monster. Just like Javed.”
“I’m nothing like him.”
“Aren’t you? The Roshan I knew—the man Iloved—never would have done this,” I say. “He never would have tricked or caged me.”
We stare at each other, the rift between us widening with each strained breath. For a moment, a sliver of the old Roshan is there as his eyes gloss over with something like agony, but that glimmer of humanity is quickly eclipsed by that deadened stare I’ve come to hate.
He doesn’t respond immediately. Instead, he turns and walks to the threshold. “When you’ve sufficiently calmed and understand what’s at stake, the guards will release you.”
I bare my teeth at him like a wounded animal. “Didn’t you hear what I said? We’re fucking finished!”
“You’re overwrought and need time to think things through. We can speak later when you’re not so upset.” He pauses, but I can barely get past his utter dismissal, my mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. My inability to speak must seem like some kind of passive acceptance, because he gives me a tight-lipped nod. “Whatever you may think, Suraya, you’re not my prisoner.”
“Then let me go,”I bite out.
The king slams his hand against the doorjamb, a darkly possessive rage transforming his features. The expression on his face is bone-chilling, spectral flames exploding in his eyes. He looks like a monster from the void before he strides away, the door crashing shut. I hear the lock turning in the keyhole, the click deafening in the silence.
“Fuck!” I scream, and smash my forearms into the nearest wall. I curse as the stinging ache reverberates through my bones and then burst into unhinged laughter as I sink to my haunches and stare at the bracers. There’s not even a dent in the metal.
“Vena?” I call out desperately. “Vena, are you there? I need you. Please, I need your help.”
But there’s no answer.
I am alone.
Chapter Seven
THENIGHTKING
My soul-fated has summoned me again.
Or at least her fear and pain have, and my ashes-cursed shadows did not relent until they’d convinced me to dreamwalk across time and realms. In truth, I feared their clamor would have triggered the curse, so I had reluctantly acquiesced.
Besides, there’s no harm in giving in because my presence is not real to her. She has no idea who I am or who we are to each other, and I intend to keep it that way. In her mind, these are innocuous dreams where she seeks comfort in a world of her own making. If I can break this bond, I will not hesitate, but for now our souls and fates are tethered.
My shadows burst from me in agitation when we enter her dream space as if they can tell immediately that something is wrong. This isn’t her home in the desert... or even her quarters in the palace. It’s somewhere new. A brewing storm with violent branches of lightning splits the blackened sky overhead, illuminating a cliffside and a churning sea.
This tiny corner of her mind is shrouded in gloom, the very air seething and pulsing with a viscous anger. Unlike the last few times I’ve comforted her in dreams, the landscape of this night terror is bleak and barren, desolate of all life and all color. It’s so unlike her that for a second I feel a pang of worry. My darkness writhes.
Calm,I tell my shadows.
We find our tiny mate sitting on the edge of a rocky outcropping, her knees pulled up to her chest, dark hair whipping in the wind. The ocean in front of us is foaming and wild, massive waves crashing into rock with destructive fury.
“You’re here,” she whispers bleakly as my shadows flock to her, rubbing carefully over her cold skin to warm her. She gathers them close as if they’re hers to command, and I fight my rueful smile. In another lifetime, they would be—she’s the other half of my soul, after all, born to command the night sky. Tightening my jaw, I steel myself, battening down my careening emotions before they spiral out of my control.
