Page 86 of Tangled Fates

“I always worried about you,” he replied.

“If you did, then you wouldn’t have used me! You and Mother played me. You kept me under your thumb so you could make sure I stayed here and you both got to benefit from that!” I was out of breath from yelling. “I fucking trusted you and you used me.”

“Ria, I had no choice,” he yelled. “I’m…”

Tay looked like he was going to be sick, or he was in agony.

“Taylin,” I said, removing myself from Soren's embrace.

“Blondie,” Soren protested.

“It’s fine,” I whispered, walking to Tay, kneeling in front of him.

Tay’s blue eyes had unshed tears in them. I had never seen him so vulnerable before; the urge to wrap my arms around him and comfort him was unbearable.

“I’m sorry and I know you’re going to hate me,” he whispered.

“I already do, you played me for a fool,” I said.

“I’m indebted to Laima,” he said, taking a shaky breath in. “She saved our ship a hundred years ago and in return she asked for a hundred years of servitude. At the time I thought, what’s the worst she could make me do, until you were almost taken from her, and we saved you. Goddess, you were beautiful.”

Ryder growled.

“At first, I kept my distance from you because you were so afraid of everything. Any little noise made you flinch. It was worse when you were around my men. So, I would personally go up to get the vials myself, in hopes that you would get comfortable around me. When you stopped flinching, we would exchange pleasantries and that’s when Laima caught onto my feelings.”

I clenched my jaw to keep from crying.

“She told me to get close to you, making herself scarce when I would come to the tower. She knew you were getting bored. It’s why she let you have those gifts,” he said, looking like he was in a memory.

“So, she bought me those gifts?”

“No, Ria, that was all me.” He snapped his gaze towards me. “All my feelings were true, but Laima used them to threaten me if I didn’t keep you entertained in the tower. If I didn’t, she would make sure my men and I paid dearly.”

Anger burned through me as I listened to him.

“When you propositioned me, I said no, because I didn’t want your first time to be with someone like me,” he said, looking away from me. “When you insisted, I wanted you to be sure. Once you settled down, I thought that would be the last time we talked about it, but you weren’t the only one who insisted I sleep with you. Laima said it would keep you in line and if I could make you fall in love with me, the better. She expected me to make you my mate.”

“Stop,” I snapped, when I couldn’t listen anymore.

My vision became blurry, my anger was at its boiling point. She had fabricated a life for me so I would be fine with being trapped for the rest of my life. I was her prisoner, but she wanted to make it seem like it was my idea. She influenced my fear, kept me from the outside world, isolating me so I felt alone and vulnerable.

And he helped her.

“Fuck you, Tay,” I snarled, as my tears spilled on to my cheeks.

I could finally see him. His head was hanging down.

“I put off making you my mate, saying I wasn’t going to force you,” he said, looking up with tears streaming down his cheeks. “I wanted you to choose me, Ria.”

I would have chosen him if he had asked. I had liked Tay enough that I would have spent the rest of my life with him, but I never entertained the idea. Who would want to be shackled to a woman who could never see the world? He was also a pirate who longed for the water when he was on shore for too long. What kind of life would we have had?

“It’s why I came back for you. Laima is preoccupied with a coven of witches, and this might be our only chance to get you away.” He wiped the tears from his eyes. “Let me save you. I owe that to you and at the end of the day, I just want you to be happy, Ria.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” one of the guys mumbled.

A loud hissed alerted me that Loki was nearby, he hissed again before launching himself at Tay. No moved as he tried to attack Tay but he batted him away. I quickly grabbed Loki before Tay hurt him.

“I don’t know if we can trust him,” Gray said. “He might be lying just to get you out of here and Catzilla doesn’t trust him.”

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