Page 94 of The Blade in the Ashes
“And you would be safer out here? In the storm? Alone?” He pointed towards the woods, brows raised in disbelief just as a blast of icy wind tore past me, leaving my cloak billowing around my thighs.
I held his gaze, searching for the slightest bit of understanding or care.
Searching for the man who had been my friend.
“Caldrius, I have to go.”
“That wasn’t part of our arrangement,wife. You belong here. You belong on that throne, ruling over this realm.”
“I’m not ruling over anyone or anything!” Scoffing, I broke our stare for the briefest of moments. “I am a prisoner here. Hyrax rules, and in his absence, everyone looks toyou.”
His eyes flickered with confusion, head leering back as if I had struck him. “And is that so wrong?”
I couldn’t tell whether he was serious or joking. His face was stoic, not betraying an ounce of the emotion underneath as he prowled closer and closer to me.
“Do this with me,” he implored, reaching out so quickly that I couldn’t stumble back fast enough to stop him from taking the fingers of my uninjured hand in his. He stroked his thumb across the metal of my marriage band. “Please. If you leave this war becomes unavoidable. If you stay, you and I can manage him. We can be the rulers we were both born to be.”
I lowered my brows in confusion as I glanced down at the place where our skin touched.
He sounded sincere.
He sounded so sincere that my heart actually sputtered, painfully. His eyes bore into mine, dark and impassioned, tracking the movement of my teeth biting down. Gently, he reached up to pull my lower lip from under my teeth with his thumb.
“Just come back inside,” he whispered, and even as Nessira screamed my name, begging me to run, I heard every word as clearly as if he had shouted them. “Please, come inside and we forget this happened and move on.”
“I’m asking you to let me go.”
The importance of this single moment echoed through my soul in a way I didn’t quite understand.
His eyes flashed. His grip tightened. “And I’m begging you to stay, Theadora. Stay here, with me. Call me your enemy if you must. Hate me if you need to. Just stay and let me continue trying to earn your forgiveness. Let me try to earn your affection.”
Not a friend.
I had never been his friend.
I didn’t know if it was because of me or because I looked likeher, but Caldrius had never looked at me as his friend. Our marriage had neverjustbeen about securing him more power. It was real to him.
That was real heartbreak flashing on his features.
An apology bubbled in my throat.
My heart ached for what I was about to do.
But I had to do it.
I leaned forward, squeezing his hand, letting him come to me with a grateful smile, just as I sent energy coursing down the muscles in my legs and slammed my knee into his groin.
Caldrius doubled over, groaning even as his rage-filled eyes fell on me. His jaw opened with a scoff of betrayal. Heart pounding, I stumbled back, desperate to stay out of his grasp as he recovered all too quickly and marched towards me.
His arm snapped out, gripping hold of me, and I twirled, light on the balls of my feet, until I was behind him and ramming my elbow into his kidney. He grunted, and I ran, making it only a few feet before his icy grasp wrapped around my splinted wrist and squeezed.
The pain, which had thankfully become numb some time ago, returned with angry vengeance, the sensation bringing instant tears to my eyes as I screamed loud enough that every guard on the castle grounds must have heard it.
“Let go of me!”
My feet skidded against the stone pavement as he yanked me back towards those ivory walls. His hands clasped down on my arms, holding them with a vice-like strength. When I looked up into his dark eyes, my breath caught at the glossy dampness I found there.
“Let go of me, Caldrius,” I pleaded in a low tone. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stay here.”
