Page 38 of Tangled Hearts

ORIA

Guilt churned in my gut with the defeated look Max gave me. He was the only person who had comforted me in the two hundred years I was held captive. I knew he didn’t have anywhere to go, but he didn’t have to constantly comfort me and keep me going.

“I’m sorry,” I said, stepping towards him.

Max sat there with his head down.

“No, I’m sorry.” His voice broke. “It was my job to protect you. We are in this predicament because I didn’t keep you safe. I failed you, princess.”

“Max…” My lip trembled. “You can’t carry that burden.”

Those baby blues looked up at me, full of emotion. “You were under my protection, it was my job, my duty, that I swore to the gods and goddess that I would always keep you safe.”

“Max.” I walked up to him.

Even though he was sitting on the second step, and I was standing, we were almost the same height. Memories of feeling safe with him came flooding back, but also remembering how much I wished it would just be us against the world.

Did I love him? Goddess, he would be so easy to love. My heart hurt just thinking about the possibility.

“What happened?” I cupped his face.

“You were supposed to be mine,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Your mother had always said we were so close that one day we might marry, or a bond would emerge. As kids we laughed, never taking it seriously. It wasn’t until I left for training that I realized how true their prediction was.”

“What happened?” I ran my fingers along his hair.

“Our bond surfaced, or at least mine did,” he growled. “You were training and accidentally got hurt. I remember feeling the pain, it was in my shoulder, and I got so angry that it made me shift.”

Tension radiated from him.

“They didn’t let me go see you, they locked me away for four days because I wouldn’t stop resisting. They told me if I could complete my training, I would be allowed to go home, but only if I could get a hold of myself.” He stared off into the distance.

“So, I got myself together and I worked hard so I could come home to you, but something always delayed me. By the time I went home, it had been almost a year since our bond had surfaced. It felt like I wasn’t allowed to see you. You were always busy, meetings after meetings and traveling for your duty. I sent messages asking to see you. None of them came back answered.”

I closed my eyes, desperate to remember everything.

“That’s when I decided I needed to see your parents and when I requested an audience, everything changed. I was about to go see them and then I woke up the following morning feeling empty, my memory was muddled, and I felt our bond was nonexistent,” he shuddered. “Taylin grew close to you, while I was gone and when you got sick, he heard about a flower with healing properties. He used me to help him and then in turn, used it to his advantage. That flower gave you your powers, and little did any of us know that giving you that flower sealed your fate. After Taylin saved your life, it wasn’t long until they said you were engaged.”

“What do you mean?” I wanted to sit in his lap as he continued, but a part of me was worried.

“I think Taylin knew what that flower was. He used it to save you because he wanted to marry you and take over the power you received, when you became queen. But no one was supposed to use the flower, and Laima was furious when he gave it to you. That’s why she took you.”

I didn’t know what to say or think. We were in this entire situation because they were trying to save me. I was in this mess because of Taylin, because of that stupid flower.

“This is just my theory,” he said quickly. “I just know that after you were healed, you went missing. When you did, Taylin wasn’t as distraught as a fiancée should be. I followed him out to a cabin one day. Instead of asking for backup, I followed him alone but I wasn’t as stealthy as I thought I was. That’s when Laima took me. I don’t remember what happened, all I remember is waking up and I was a cat. I spent a few weeks alone until she gave me to you.”

My mind was racing with all this information, but I was stuck on one nagging piece of it.

“Why didn’t I feel the bond? Do only male Fae experience it?”

He looked at me, searching my eyes as if he thought he could pluck the truth out of me.

“I don’t know. I tried asking you several times, but either I was dismissed, or we were being watched.” He tucked a hair behind my ear. “There were a few times you acted like your old self and there was even a time when I thought you knew I was yours.”

“Why wouldn’t I feel it? It doesn’t make sense,” I said, feeling frantic. “Who robbed me of the bond? Did Taylin do it? Why is everyone controlling my life? Why is everyone playing chess with my life?”

I pushed away from him, hating that my life was one choice taken after another. I walked away, not knowing where I was going, but I had to escape all the manipulation and the lies that I had had to suffer over the last two hundred years. Mother’s betrayal hurt, but Taylin’s hurt the most. I thought he was my friend, my savior, and I thought he cared for me. He brought me happiness to my dark world, but he contributed to the lie I lived every day.

“Sol.” Max followed me, but I couldn’t look at him. He had suffered almost as much as I had and I didn’t want him to think I was dismissing his feelings, but I was hurt.

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