I looked up at him. The anger was gone, replaced with pity. “I
should have expected nothing less from your soft human heart,” he added.
He was the one who chose to attack his High Lord. I had nothing to do with that.
If I was being honest with myself, I was more heartbroken that Titus didn’t care about me. I had thought… I don’t know what I’d thought.
I was stupid.
Aurelius continued stroking my hair until he heard Rexius heave again. He released me.
“I’ll get him to his rooms and cleaned up,” he said. “Get some rest, Delilah. You’re leaving in the morning for the Kingdom of Terrain.”
I scoffed. “I’m not leaving with that psychopath. Yousawwhat he did to his sister—can you imagine what he would do to me?”
But would Titus do that to me? Or had he done it to protect me? Or was it just an excuse to kill the sister he hated? Once again, the High Lord left me with more questions than answers.
He was so cruel to me at the party. I didn’t know what to believe.
It was true—I was scared of Titus. And although Aurelius generally felt like the safer option, I was starting to question that, too.
But if I had to choose between an upset Aurelius and a homicidal Titus, the choice was a no-brainer.
Aurelius revealed nothing as he studied me blankly. HisFae facelocked tightly into place.
I changed tactics, playing into his emotions. I brushed my fingertips delicately on his forearm.
“Can I go with you instead?”
His unreadable expression broke into a kind smile—but there was a hint of something else there. Something almost possessive.
K. ROSÉ
“There’s nothing I want more than to have you by my side,” he said. “But I just attempted to attack the High Lord—in the open, with witnesses. I need him to leave Embris for a while so I can sort this out and do major damage control.”
“So you want me to babysit the serial killer out of town so you can clean up your mess?” I asked, indignation sharp in my tone.
He sighed, slightly irritated. “It’s unlikely he’ll harm you, because without you he won’t be able to obtain the God Dragon. But me…” His voice tightened. “I’m not sure he even knows I tried to attack him. But everyone saw it. When the shock wears off, he’ll find out. And he will come for me. Do you understand?”
I hadn’t thought about what the nobles and council might say— what they might do to him after what they had witnessed.
This was a disaster. A complete mess. And somehow, I’d found myself right in the middle of it—between two of the most powerful, domineering males in the entire kingdom.
I needed to stop pretending I had a choice. Like I had a say in what I did or where I went. I needed to stop believing they might care about me—because deep down, I knew these males possessed unfathomable power and could force me to do anything they wanted.
If I was going to survive this realm and make it home unscathed, I needed to be smart. Let them underestimate me.
That’s how I managed to escape. I almost got away because they didn’t think I was capable.
So, I agreed to Aurelius’s plan.
But I was going to play the part of the subservient human, cowering beneath their dominance, so they never saw the truth.
Because the truth was… that version of me died when I got here.
And the new version? They won’t see coming.
CHAPTER 22
