Page 129 of Assistant to the Villain

“He told me that my magic was dangerous.” He stood then, startling Evie, and he walked over to the fire, stirring it with the poker. “I had spent weeks and weeks with the man; he’d built me up so high I felt like nothing could touch me. When he told me that whatever was dormant inside me could hurt people, it shattered me.”

“But your magic hadn’t awoken yet—why would King Benedict do that?” Evie asked, starting to see the tangles of the story unwinding.

“He claimed he brought me there to see if the problem could be managed before it was too late. But after observing me carefully, there was no hope. The king told me that if he allowed me to go free, I would be a danger to myself and everyone I loved.”No.Her heart broke for that defeated young man only looking to belong.

“He told me his priority had to be the rest of the kingdom and it wasn’t personal. It was for my own good.”

“What was?” Evie asked carefully.

“The Valiant Guards taking me into custody then and there.” The Villain had a steel to his voice as he turned back toward her. “I begged the king, I told him I would try to be better, but he wouldn’t listen. They took me to the cellars below and locked me in the dark. There were no windows, no torches. I was trapped with the darkness, and it was trapped with me.”

Evie was gripping her dress tightly in her hands. “How long— How long did they keep you down there?”

“A month.”

A month.A month of darkness with no hope for its end, with no way out. “It took them a month to let you out?”

“They didn’t.” His lips lifted a little. “I let myself out.”

Chapter 57

The Villain

Sage had an unfamiliar look on her face. It wasn’t pity, nor was it horror, but whatever it was, it made him feel good, which was unbelievable, considering he was reliving his worst nightmare. Trystan walked back toward her and took his seat once more on the sofa.

“You escaped?” she said incredulously. She shook her head back and forth, and the silky strands of her hair brushed against his arm, making him shiver.

“The king didn’t anticipate that his efforts to protect the public would unleash me upon them.” He smiled then, a real one, and Sage did, too. “One day, the guards grew particularly sick of me. I’d spent an embarrassing amount of time begging to be released, and I think they’d had enough.”

“What did they do to you?” she asked, hesitant, like she didn’t want to ask for more than he was willing to give. She didn’t realize everything he was already belonged to her.

Licking his dry lips, he continued. “They had a way of seeing through the darkness in the cellar. I never knew when they would next beat me. I just felt their fists against my body, the pain.”

Sage took a sharp inhale, her face open, honest. She didn’t move an inch, and yet he felt her physical presence like a deep warmth. “I hope you made them suffer.”

There was a wicked disposition melding with the kindness in her heart, and it was wildly intoxicating.

He felt his eyes widen at the crooked grin that pulled at her lips, dripping with a lovely malevolence. By the gods, she would kill him. “My magic awoke then. I felt it pulse underneath my skin, and it lit up the entire room—it healed me. I could see the door of the cell, the light coming from the guards… And I slaughtered them all.”

She bit her lip and wrung her hands together. “Good.”

“I escaped out a tunnel that led me to my first drop of light I’d seen in weeks: the sunrise,” Trystan said darkly. “I vowed then that if the king believed me a villain…that was exactly what I would become.”

He remembered staring at the colors of light as the sun rose above the hill, like it was illuminating his purpose before his eyes.

“It’s a hat you wear well,” Sage said, kindly, sadly. “But why would King Benedict wait so long to try and end you, if he really believed you to be so dangerous?”

“Who says he hasn’t?”

Evie was rocked by a sudden realization. “Oh my— The men in the dungeon. The ones you torture. There must be over three dozen at least.”

“All sent by our benevolent king to capture me or end my life. It’s a mystery why he went to all the effort to come at me through your father,” Trystan said, realizing too late how thoughtless the comment was.

Because at the mention of the man, Evie’s once-calm face went chalk white and her eyes went dark. “Whywouldhe do that?” She stood, pacing back into the kitchen, taking another large swig of wine, and he followed helplessly behind her.

“Sage, I apologize. I shouldn’t have mentioned—”

She bent over like she was struggling for breath. “Oh gods,” she choked out. “You’re trying to tell me about your trauma, and I’m hyperventilating like a selfish ass.” She held up a hand, keeping her head down. “Give me a moment. I’ll be right with you.”