Tumaas sets her down and pulls her into a crushing embrace, pressing her face against his bare, sweaty chest.
If not for the iron cuffs, I’d have incinerated him already.
It’s probably a good idea Tairna insisted on them.
He cradles her face, and they murmur to each other like lost fucking lovers. Has he harbored feelings for Mayah all these years? Even while she was with the captain?
When he kisses her forehead, every muscle in my body goes taut. It’s an effort not to storm over and tear her from his arms.
Tairna’s concerned gaze flicks between me and Mayah, likely wondering what kind of husband I am, livid at his wife’s reunion with her best friends.
Sura pulls Mayah from her brother’s grasp, and I find myself begrudgingly grateful—until she says, “Tumaas, you better find somewhere else to sleep. Mayah’s going to take your bed.” She laces her arm with Mayah’s and drags her away.
A protest dies on my tongue before it even crystallizes.
Not mine. Not mine. Not mine.
She’s not mine.
And I don’t want her to be.
“Sura,” Tairna calls, dark gaze fixed on me. “That’s very kind of you. But surely Mayah would prefer accommodations with herhusband.”
Mayah freezes. They turn around. Two sets of blue eyes regard me—one with cold contempt, the other with wariness.
I wait for Mayah’s refusal.
It never comes.
“Right. I guess that’s fine.” Sura glares at me, though I barely notice. Mayah commands my attention with her wide, uncertain eyes. “There’s an open bedroom on our floor that should work.”
Why didn’t she refuse?
Chapter Fifty-Eight
SneeringSurathankfullyleavesus alone in a small bedroom, down the hallway from the one she shares with her brother. I search the room and attached washroom, then lock the door before wedging a chair against it.
Mayah watches me quietly, her back pressed against a wall.
All the thoughts I’d held at bay rush in like a violent tidal wave.
My mother is alive. Shewillinglyleft me alone. So many times I’d felt her absence, as keenly as any blade.
The first time I killed a man. A woman.
After the first battle I’d won.
When Lev died.
I clench my teeth. On my wedding day. I wish she’d been there, even now, even after my sham of a marriage fell apart.
She could’ve found a way to contact me—maybe not when I was fifteen, but why not when I was older? She could’ve let me know she was all right. Instead, she’s led a fucking Rebellion against me. How many of her men staged attacks, knowing I’d be amongst the soldiers?
And now? She only wants Mayah. I just happened to be there.
My feet wear a path into the threadbare rug, hand tugging at my hair. With a heavy sigh, I slump onto the small sofa, cradling my head in my hands.
Soft footsteps echo in the quiet room as Mayah approaches. She sits beside me, leaving an arm’s length between us.
