Page 85 of The Rose in the Shadows

“Clay, wait,” I demanded.

His expression was so hard I might have mistaken it for cruelty if I didn’t know better. “For what, Miss Moore? What exactly should I be waiting for?”

I sputtered, unsure what I could even say to explain the conflict that was raging within me. “I don’t know, I just-”

“No, you don’t know. You don’t know a damn thing,” he fired out, exasperated. “You don’t have the slightest idea how to perform your duty. A duty that one moment you rebel against and the next you use as anexcuse.”

“It wasn’t an excuse, Clay.”

“That wasn’t really the point, Thea.”

Anger rushed over me, and I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. I allowed the rage to overtake my senses because anger was easier to feel than the sadness that was bubbling underneath the surface. I knew what point he was prepared to make; I didn’t want to listen to it. But that’s the thing about people like Clay. They say the things you don’t want to hear, especially when they think those are the things youneedto hear.

“You don’t know what you want,Thea. You never have. But somehow, you now have it in your head that you’ve accepted all this. And you know what, if thatiswhat you want, then fine.

If you’ve decided you want to be a proper councilwoman, then do that. But you don’t get to keep pulling me around while you struggle to maintain your chosen path. So, now the choice is out of your hands. Just do your job, Miss Moore. That’s all I need from you.”

Unable to help myself, I met his fire with my own. “And is that all you want from me?”

Clay pulled back, removing his arm from my grasp. He looked towards Dimitri sharply, issuing a final silent command. This conversation was over.

“It is now,” he declared.

I sensed Dimitri’s presence before I felt his gentle touch on my shoulder. Clay left instantly, storming towards the castle without a second glance back at me. I shivered involuntarily as I watched him go. As the stable hands approached me from behind, I was dimly aware of them preparing to take Netta back to her stable. At some point, two other guards joined Dimitri, and they all walked me back to my suites. He tried to make small talk as we went, a sign that I must be wearing my emotions visibly. After all, Dimitri wasn’t likely to break protocol and talk colloquially with me unless he felt he needed to. Ultimately though, I only muttered one-syllabic words back at him.

I had nothing to say when I could still feel the echo of that overwhelming power in the Hyrax Archives rushing over me like a memory that refused to fade.

When we finally reached my rooms, I was ready to collapse into my bed and never come out. I walked through the door quickly, not even bothering to say goodbye to the guards who had walked with me.

“Lady Moore?” Dimitri called, standing hesitantly at my door.

“Yes?”

He sighed heavily. “I must let you know that we’ve just received word from Prince Vail. He has a message for you.”

My already injured heart dropped once more.

“He wants you to know that he has reevaluated your security,” Dimitri continued. “Until they have neutralized the threat against you, he has ordered that you stay within your rooms under guard.”

I could only nod my understanding as Dimitri turned and shut the door after him. He might as well have locked me in. I was a prisoner once more.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Tell me again, girl,” Hansel snapped at me, drawing my attention back to the room.

My thoughts had been a million miles away all day, and the Royal Tutor had grown tired of reminding me to focus on my studies. But paying attention to anything other than the memories of Clay’s body on mine and the heartache of seeing him walk away from me seemed utterly impossible.

“I’m sorry, where were we?” I sighed, running a hand over my face. Gods, I was tired. Sleep had been hard to find of late.

“Where did Zion get his dragon?” Hansel barked.

My tutor was rarely in a good mood and never failed to remind me that most of his pupils were half my age and twice as knowledgeable. Our mythology lessons often felt rushed as he tried to get me to memorize as much information as possible ahead of my impending trials. Try as he might, though, he couldn’t inspire the curiosity and passion in me that he found in his younger students. But then, his younger students didn’t havehalf the responsibilities or stressors I did, so could he really hold that against me?

I pinched the bridge of my nose, annoyed at having to repeat the story. “After Zion and Hyrax joined forces with the other High Gods, they overthrew their father Crolun. Zion took power over the Upperworld and Hyrax took the Underworld. Shortly after the First War of the Gods, when Hyrax tried to claim rule of the Mortal Realm, a group of lesser Gods, known as Triad, rebelled against them. Zion gathered allies by freeing his aunt Ciclopia, who Crolun had imprisoned, and allowed Hyrax to return to the Upperworld. Together, she, Zion, and Hyrax all banished Triad to the Underworld.”

“Get to the point.”

I bit my lip in frustration. “Ciclopia, otherwise known as the mother of beasts, took a hair each from Zion and Hyrax and from them she created a dragon for Zion and a three-headed hound for Hyrax.”

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