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Arlo lunges.

I catch him by the throat again and drive him back against the wall, harder this time, but still not enough to break anything. His hands claw at my wrist, but there is nothing he can do.

“He tried to send her back to the flesh markets when your mother threatened to tell his wife,” I say, holding him there while his rage burns uselessly against my hand. “Your mother kept her alive by staying silent, which explains why he didn’t send them off when he realized he would need to provide for a sick child.”

I release him, and he drops to one knee, choking, one hand on the wall to keep himself upright.

“I said you were lying,” he rasps.

“Then go home,” I say. “Ask your mother, but it’s all here.” I toss the papers in his face, and they land on the floor around him.

He looks up at me with hatred so raw it almost resembles grief.

“You have no place here,” I tell him. “Not in this kingdom, not in this castle, and not beside Alessia.”

His mouth twists. “You believe she belongs with you?”

“No,” I say. “She belongs to herself.”

He laughs bitterly. “That’s rich coming from you.”

I look down at him. “I am not the one asking her to be the girl I loved because I cannot survive the woman she has become.”

For a moment, the only sound is the fire, then I turn toward the door.

“You have a choice,” I say.

He does not answer me, yet I hear him picking up the papers off the floor.

“You can leave with your debts paid, your family freed, and whatever remains of your dignity intact, or you can stay close enough that one day my patience thins, she hurts because of what I do to you, and you die knowing you made yourself the wound she has to carry.”

His voice follows me, rough and full of hate. “You really are a monster.”

I stop with my hand on the door and look back at him. “Yes,” I say. “And if you aren’t careful, you will learn how big a monster I can be.”

“And if she chooses to come back with me?”

“You seriously believe she would go back to nothing just to be with you?” I ask, turning to face him.

“She will because she loves me.”

I laugh. This stupid boy has no clue how bonds work. He still believes he can compete with one. “If that’s what she decides, I’ll let her go.” I chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”

“You’re a fool if you believe you can come between a bond, but I’m willing to let you try.”

With that, I open the door, and Eagan is exactly where I left him, standing in the hall with a face that says he wishes he had heard less.

“You enjoyed that,” he says quietly as I step out. Eagan glances toward the room.

“That was quite cruel, my king.”

I continue down the corridor. “No,” I say. “I told him the truth. It’s not my fault his mother lied to him.”

Eagan falls into step beside me, his silence heavier than any accusation. “Will you let him leave if he accepts?”

I look ahead, toward the far end of the hall to the stairs.