Page 185 of The Blade in the Ashes
He had sworn he was my friend.
He hadlovedme.
I knew that. I did. He loved me.
Not Isidore. Me. Even if I hadn’t fallen for him in that same soul-defining way I had for Clay, I had seen it in his eyes. I had felt it in his touch. I had noticed it in the ways he had defended me or tried to protect me from Hyrax.
I knew what love looked like, and I knew Caldrius had felt that way about me for a long time.
Or at least... I thought he had.
Clearly, I had been wrong.
He had shown me who he was right from the very start, and I had been a fool to believe any different.
“You’ll understand soon,” he assured me, and I could hear the smile in his voice as if threatening my life was a pleasant surprise that I would be grateful for later.
“Why don’t you explain it to me now?” I moved to slam my foot down against his ankle, but he just laughed and shifted out of my reach, wrenching my arm to further arch my back against him.
“Tsk, tsk,” he chided. “I prefer to keep that kind of fun in the bedroom, darling.”
I hissed through my teeth, trying to jam my elbow towards him. How could I possibly have been so stupid as to continue trusting him?
“I’ll kill you.”
“Give it time,” he suggested, as darkness began seeping from the ground in front of us. “I believe that this ends with us together, Thea. That’s the only way this can end.”
“There is no us, Caldrius! There never has been.”
“Really?” I felt the stubble along his jaw graze against my cheek. “The steel on your wrists says otherwise,wife.”
I seethed through my anger as the darkness around us began twisting and curling. “That steel breaks when one of us dies.”
“I suppose you’re right about that.” He laughed, breath tickling my neck. “Now do be a good girl and be quiet for now. The main event of the evening is about to begin.”
The shadows among the ash began to rise, slithering unnaturally until tendrils of darkness twisted into something firmer, something with a clearly defined shape. Legs. Arms.
Hyrax.
He wore no armor, still in the dark, simple clothes he favored instead. Though he seemed more polished than when I had last seen him, with a clean-shaven face and neatly combed hair. It took a moment to glance quickly between the two of us and try to figure out what he was seeing.
His face was a picture of confusion that soon morphed into unrestrained rage, but as he lurched toward us, Caldrius pulled me back, the blade pressing even tighter against my skin, and I hated myself for giving him the satisfaction of my wincing against it.
“What are you doing?” Hyrax roared, his eyes going slightly black as shadows climbed around him, floating through his fingers and hair. “Let her go!”
“So nice of you to join us, Hyrax. I was worried you wouldn’t get my message in time.”
My father’s upper lip curled back, a puff of shadow flashing in his hand before an onyx broadsword replaced it. “You said my daughter was in danger.”
Caldrius stepped back further, dragging me with him, and my bare feet scraped against the rock and debris. I cried out against the sensation, and Caldrius ignored the sound.
“She is,” he said simply, glancing at me.
Hyrax glanced wildly at me, fear breaking through his rage for the briefest of moments. “Do not hurt her! Please.”
“What do you even get from this?” I hissed, shifting my weight between each of my feet to ease some of the pain from where the skin had torn off.
Caldrius always had a motive. He always had a plan. He did nothing unless he got something he wanted out of it.
