Page 98 of The Rose in the Shadows

I jumped at the sound of shattering glass. Rankor had thrown his drink across the room. For a moment, we all sat frozen as we watched the amber liquid streak down the walls.

“This isn’t her fault, Iris,” he warned, voice low and irritated, as if it wasn’t the first time he’d had to remind her of that fact.

“And what if I think it is?” She yelled. “We know nothing about her, Rankor! She just showed up, creating absolute chaos, and we were dumb enough to accept her into our lives. We don’t know where she comes from or how she got here. We don’t even know her real name!”

“I don’t need to know any of that,” he spit back, turning so suddenly that I flinched. “Who people are is based on more than their name. ”

Iris laughed darkly, leaning back in her seat, and I felt her gaze drift over the Mark on my chest.

“Is it based on more than their blood line too? Because that’s the other thing that changed this year. The House of Hyrax returned. Praise Gods.”

Her voice dripped in sarcasm and I sunk heavily into the cushions of the armchair I had seated myself in. I couldn’teven defend myself against her. Maybe part of me felt like I deserved her hatred. No one else would speak to me this way. No one would dare disrespect me this way because I was a future Council member.

And wasn’t that Iris’ entire point?

The entire kingdom had trusted me enough to give me the power and respect that I hadn’t earned. And look what had happened as a result.

“It didn’t even surprise me to watch you kill all those people in the ballroom. Maybe deep down I’d already realized you are nothing more than the evil child of an evil God.”

“I didn’t want this, Iris,” I whispered, surprised by how empty and frail my own voice sounded.

“Oh, we all know that! You didn’twantthese rooms, the gowns, your place on the Council. But you took it all, didn’t you? You accepted our friendship, let people wait on you, and danced at all the parties while proclaiming everything you thought was wrong with our customs. You denied our way of life until the moment Clay fell in love with you and then you used it all as a crutch to escape having to face him.”

Iris’ face flushed as she stood in a rush. Kent followed her lead, standing between us as if he was prepared to have to stop her from hurting me. Would Iris really go that far? Would I blame her if she did?

“And what did we get for embracing you? We all lost Camilla, and I lost Lorelai. I lost the love of my life because ofyou.So you know what Thea, I’m tired of feeling bad for you. I’m tired of pitying you for being locked away in these rooms. Now, I hope you never come out. I hope the Dragon keeps you locked in here for the rest of your pitiful life and when you go to sleep at night, I hope you rest easy knowing that you’re a future Council member whose citizens have died for her. A sacrifice that probably wasn’t worth it.”

Her words slapped against my skin, hurting more than any physical blow ever could. I flinched against them and bit down on my lip forcefully as the lump in my throat grew so large that my eyes misted. I would not cry. I would not allow myself to cry in front of her.

“Do you mean that?” I whispered.

I don’t know what I expected to see from her. Perhaps some softness, some sign that my friend-mybestfriend-still cared for me despite her grief.

“Are you going to convince me I shouldn’t?”

I remained silent. Even I knew when I was on the precipice of a battle I would lose. And it was clear from the set of her clenched jaw and furrowed brow that she meant every word she had said to me.

We stared at each other until she scoffed at my lack of response and barreled out of the room with the kind of speed only a faerie could master. Kent threw his head back and breathed deeply, as if trying to muster the resolve to go after her.

“I’m sorry, Thea,” he muttered. “What she said wasn’t fair, but I need to make sure she’s okay.”

Kent’s departure didn’t surprise me. He was always willing to play the mediator. He was always the one who went after Camilla after she stormed away from me. Apparently, Iris had taken on the role of my enemy now, too. So he followed after her now.

I sat frozen as the door slammed behind them and the crash of it echoed throughout the room. My chest heaved, and I threw my face into my hands as a vicious sob escaped. The salty tears I tried to hold back managed to escape and rolled down my face in heated streaks.

“She didn’t mean that.” Rankor sighed, coming to sit beside me and rub a hand over my back in a comforting gesture. “She’s just grieving.”

“She’s right."

Rankor began to protest, and I held up a hand to stop him. I didn’t need him to tell me she was wrong, and she didn’t mean those words. I needed the space to finally havemychance to give voice to the regrets that had been plaguing my mind for the past week.

“None of this would have happened if I never showed up on that bridge. I just appeared dealing out death and destruction and you all welcomed me into a life I didn’t deserve. The people who showed me kindness are now dead or brokenhearted. I was so indecisive about joining the Council that I became careless with Clay’s feelings. I was so focused on the battle being my fault that I wasn’t fast enough to save Lorelai. All I have been doing since leaving the infirmary is causing harm to people. I’ve been so desperate to prove House Hyrax can be good that maybe I was just refusing to admit how evil the blood that flows through me is.”

Rankor stood as I spoke, sighing heavily as he paced the expanse of the room in front of me. His fingers twitched before clenching and unclenching at his sides. The sound of a loud crack as he rolled his neck was all that filled the silence between us as the words finished rushing out of me.

Finally, he sat once more, resting his elbows on his knees and crossing his fingers together tightly. The past week hadn’t been easy for him, either. Now far too overgrown, his hair had been haphazardly tied back at the nape of his neck and his shoulders sagged from exhaustion. It looked like it had been several days since he’d had a good night’s sleep or committed to shaving.

“Now you listen to me,” he commanded, his tone leaving no room for protest. “I have spent my entire life around nobility - Council members and their family who expect the world to be handed to them on a silver platter. They treat everyone aroundthem as less than. And I’ve gathered that I don’t need to lecture you on the extent of the Dragon’s cruelty?”

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