Page 123 of Labyrinthine
“Was this about me, Darian? Or about making sure my father doesn’t get his magic back?”
“Both. I could not let your father keep power for himself. I know that’s what would happen if no one claimed you. And if you choose a man from Starsfall, then the magic returns. The crown will drink it. I meant to keep that from him. But you are not a tactic. Not to me. You matter.”
It is what men do not say that tells the truth. I hear it now. This was always the shape of the Reaping this year: choose Darian or choose Mallen and call one mine, while my father plans for every eventuality and tries to rig the board.
“Are you still coming with me to Larksbind?”
“I thought I would.” My voice is low. “On the road, before the messenger. I told myself I’d disappear and become something new. I wanted to believe I could leave my life behind. And if it didn’t work, I’d walk away.”
“And now that you know?”
My fingers curl near the fire.
“I don’t know what I’m doing. But I know I can’t pretend anymore.”
He steps forward. “You think it changes things.”
“I know it does.”
The words hang in the air, weighty and absolute. I watch him, waiting to see if he’ll challenge them. Twist them. Wrap them in velvet and feed them back to me in prettier language.
But all he does is breathe—shallow, sharp—and step forward.
He walks toward me slowly, like he’s approaching a cornered bird. “He’s coming with a whole army at his back. He’s not coming for love. He’s coming for blood.”
“No,” I say quietly. “He’s coming because I lied when I said I was finished. He believes I’m still worth saving.”
I let the fire fill the silence, tension crackling like a wire pulled too tight. His gaze pins me. The question’s coming—I already know it.
“You want to return to him?”
The question is quiet. Dangerous.
I turn toward him. “Yes.”
For a moment, neither of us speaks.
“You think you can survive him?” he asks.
“I already did.”
“You saw it. What he was. What he’s capable of. That darkness in the labyrinth—it wasn’t just the labyrinth.”
“I know.”
“Then why go back?”
I meet his gaze. “Because I love him.”
His mouth tightens. “You don’t owe him anything.”
“I know.”
“You think that makes it love?”
I don’t answer. I let him hear the silence.
“I can give you safety,” he says. “A future. I’ll make you happy. You’ll want for nothing. All you have to do is come with me and this will end. I’ll give you everything you ever wanted, Azhara. Please.”
