Page 84 of Apprentice to the Villain

“You won’t see me ever again,” she said coldly. “I will forget about you. I will move on and be happy, and you will be here. Rotting, weak, and alone, with only your valiant honor to keep you warm.” She shook her head. He looked so small, this man who had once been a mountain in her eyes. “I hope it was worth it.”

Blood from the tip of her dagger dripped onto her boot. The cell gate creaked as she pulled it back open, almost gone, almost away from him, almost escaping the torment. But his next words halted her, cooled her ire into something new—an almost unrecognizable feeling, like she was watching an atrocity be committed upon her open heart with no means to stop it.

She’d only dropped her guard for a moment, but it was too late.

“If you’d like answers to what the king and I did to your mother’s magic…” Her father paused, like a fist slowly pulling back for a great blow.

Her eyes were wide, unguarded, and Griffin Sage looked as though he couldn’t wait to say, with a sickening grin: “Perhaps you should ask your brother.”

Chapter 50

The Villain

Trystan stood waiting outside the cellar door for twenty minutes.

Gods knew why. There were plenty of other things he could be doing: managing mercenary requests, torturing the new workers with something truly cruel—like an icebreaker activity. But instead, he paced nervously, waiting for the cellar door to reopen.

That kiss had rattled his brain loose.

He’d tried to forget it—the way one tried to dodge a brick flying at one’s face. Inevitable, painful, and impossible to truly escape.

He needed a distraction. A disruption. He needed…

Kingsley!The frog entered his line of vision, shortly followed by Gideon Sage, who looked mussed and sweaty as he dove after the frog, only to fall hard on his stomach. The amphibian landed at Trystan’s feet, looking up at him with satisfied golden eyes.

“What are you playing at, Kingsley?” Trystan untucked his arms and crouched, waiting patiently as the frog jotted down a word with his free foot, then held up the sign the animal had been keeping who knew where.

Fetch.

Trystan snorted, and Gideon glared as he stood, pointing an accusatory finger at Kingsley. “Real nice, you deranged turtle.”

Trystan looked at Sage’s brother blankly before lifting an eyebrow. “He’s a frog.”

A patch of sunshine dipped in through the stained-glass window, shining right over Kingsley and his tiny crown. Gideon clicked his tongue. “Are you always this literal, Maverine?”

Trystan frowned and looked at Gideon as he said, “Yes.”

Gideon chuckled. “I see why she likes you.”

Trystan sniffed and began inspecting one of the water-hose installations that Sage had put in months prior for safety. To ensure that it was in working order, certainlynotto hide the red tinging the tops of his cheeks.

He didn’t need anyone—particularly not Sage’s brother, a man who’d worked for his enemy—to become aware of the…attachment Trystan had formed to his assistant. Once someone else was made aware of a feeling, it became real, inescapable. Chasing you down like a monster on the hunt.

Like Scatter Day but far less entertaining.

“Sage likes everyone,” Trystan muttered.

Gideon rubbed the back of his neck, still grinning. “Evie doesn’t likeeveryone.”

He opened his mouth to argue, but Gideon barreled on. “When we were children, she was always agreeing, always doing what she was told. Going above and beyond to ensure both of our parents were always pleased. It never seemed right to me, but they were more critical of her, I think. Expected more.”

After shaking his head and coughing lightly into his hand, Gideon continued, a glassy sheen in his green eyes. “She always hated making a fuss, to the point of her own discomfort. One of the neighbors made her a shawl once that was so itchy she developed a rash, but she refused to take it off because ‘it was a gift.’” Sage’s brother rolled his eyes like this story was endearing and not pinching the daylights out of Trystan’s tiny, unused heart.

“But don’t misunderstand,” Gideon said. “Agreeableness doesn’t always mean true affection, especially for Evie. She’skept her heart guarded all these years.”

Trystan looked at his feet. “I don’t believe you know her well enough anymore to make such an assessment.”

“Maybe not,” Gideon said, “but I can see she’s not afraid to disagree with you, to argue with you, to say how she really feels. She trusts you not to turn on her.”