Page 17 of The Crown's Awakening
That answer only made me more uneasy. “But that’s why Avaneer and his men were there,” he went on. “His father had him stationed near the Baron’s woods to assist with it for a time. He failed, of course. He tends to ruin whatever he touches.” He paused. “And he is not fond of…the elements. Nature and the like.”
His voice shifted slightly, not softer, but edged with something closer to disdain. “The wagon you were on…” He exhaled. “He would have fed on your soul.”
A chill moved through me, deeper than the cold had earlier. I took a breath, steadying myself. “How were you able to find me every time I was in danger?”
“The night Avaneer attacked Tellys was chance,” he said. “I already knew you were going there.”
He gave a small shrug. “After that, I used your mother’s pendant.”
The realization hit immediately. “That’s why you were so insistent on me giving it to you.”
“Yes.”
My grip dug into the blanket, though this time it had nothing to do with weakness. Everything fell into place all at once. None of it had ever been for me. Not once. “So you never cared about my well-being at all,” I said, my voice quieter now but far more controlled. “You just needed me to come to Alarna so the bond could happen.”
I held his eyes. “So that the Threns can win the war.”
He laughed, cold and certain. “Precisely.”
"Is Alarna really safe?" I asked. "Or was that another lie?"
He smiled, as though the answer amused him. “It’s safe if I’m there to protect you.”
I clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palms.
“I’ll be there,” he continued. “So no harm will?—”
My power lashed out. It struck him before he could finish, lifting him off his feet and throwing him across the room hard enough that the impact echoed against the walls. The movement shocked even me, the force of it sharper than I expected, cleaner, more immediate.
He hadn’t been ready for it.
At first, neither of us moved.
Then he stood. Slowly. “I could not keep you safe in Veynar,” he said, his voice lower now, stripped of whatever ease had been there before. “And complete the other part of my mission quietly. It was… inconvenient.”
“It was easier to let others finish it and bring you myself,” he continued.
Something in my chest tightened. “And get me away from Colsar.”
He smiled. “Yes. Your precious Colsar was always going to present a barrier. I expected it to be more difficult than it was, but my brothers made my work easy. He abandoned you, and his brother starved you.”
“He didn’t abandon me,” I said quietly.
Something in him changed. The air around him turned colder, tighter, like something had narrowed behind his eyes. “Colsar Rathmor has always been selfish,” he said. “Cruel.” There was no humor in it now. “And unfortunately powerful enough to make it matter.”
I said nothing.
"He has always treated women as disposable, and burying himself in a golden cunt has not changed that.” He let out a low laugh. “You are naïve to think you would ever matter to him, Asharin.”
He stepped closer. “But I can tell you this,” he said, his voice quieter now, more controlled. “None of this is my fault. He left you. He placed you in the hands of a brother who was more than willing to let you be broken.”
The words pressed in on me, heavy and suffocating.
He smiled again. “You will raise that child alone,” he said. “If it even lives.” He laughed. “In either scenario, he is to blame.”
“You should know, Teorin,” I said quietly. “They call you the bastard of Rathmor for a reason, do they not? It is a good thing you were raised among savages, because had you lived in Veynar you would’ve spent your life licking my husband’s boots.”
Teorin clenched his fists, his eyes flashing red in a way that startles me. His voice is calm. “You do not know what you are talking about.”
