Page 74 of Dark Reign

Julian didn’t speak right away, and in the time it took him to gather his thoughts, my gaze shifted to Silas. It didn’t surprise me to find him already staring, guilt oozing from his pores.

What we’d done, it was meant to be an innocent gesture. We only hoped to enhance Julian’s time at the gala. However, with the strange turn of events, it had twisted into so much more and the hand we played in it was beginning to wear on Silas. The look on his face told me as much.

Perhaps, it was beginning to get to me as well.

“You don’t understand,” Julian stated. “I took things too far.”

“Is she dead?” Roman asked. His tone was unmistakably flat, unfeeling.

Julian’s gaze lifted to meet his, and the pieces were beginning to fall into place.

“No,” Julian clarified. “She’s … alive and well, actually.”

“Then what happened?” Silas asked. He’d made it no secret that he, himself, was intrigued by the girl, so his tone didn’t surprise me.

“Dr. Driskel was right,” Julian began. “Corina had one of her episodes today. Apparently, she can sense them before they strike. First chance she got, she took off,” he admitted.

His face fell, and there was no mistaking the hint of embarrassment that came with it.

“Elle and I went after her, but … I hesitated,” he added. “In those few seconds that I allowed myself to care who’d see me chasing after her, and who’d send word to my father that she’d gotten away, she managed to put quite a bit of distance between us. By the time I found her in an alley, she was on the ground, covered in blood,” he explained, using his hands to gesture when his emotions started running high again.

I watched him, the wild stare in his eyes. He hadn’t been able to hide his allure toward her from the beginning, and I still found it peculiar that, when gifted the ability of true sight, he chose her.

A human girl.

That wild inkling behind his eyes suddenly turned into something else.

“If I hadn’t done something, she would have died,” he explained.

“And maybe that’s exactly what should have happened,” Roman interjected, “because if you did what Ithinkyou did …”

Anger brewed within him as he, too, began to understand.

Taking those words to heart, shame washed over Julian. “I don’t disagree with you,” he replied quietly. “It just … it wasn’t so black and white.”

A pristine crystal vase—chosen with care by the palace decorator—soared across the room when Roman heaved it.

“Are you insane?” he roared, his eyes narrowing into slits while he moved closer to Julian.

It was instinct for me to move between them despite not believing things would actually get physical. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry. Better to prevent either from doing something they couldn’t take back.

“You’re willing to just … throw everything away for some girl?” Was the next question Roman asked. “Your title? Your reputation? Your life?”

“Okay, ease up,” I urged, placing both hands on Roman’s shoulders when he stepped closer. The warning went ignored as he continued berating Julian.

“The no-turn law has been in place since before any of us were ever thought of,” he panted. “But you deemed it wise to go against it to save … what … aliar? An imposter? Because that’s exactly what she is,” he asserted. “We don’t know where she came from, or what her objective was the night of the gala. And yet, you’ve just traded her life for yours.” A slow, sarcastic clap echoed through the room as Roman applauded Julian’s actions. “Well done, friend.”

“All right. That’s enough.” This time, he let me push him back, his heavy frame dropping down into a nearby chair.

“No, let him be,” Julian insisted. “He’s right. Everything he stated—about me, about her—is the absolute truth.” He paused and lowered his gaze. “And I don’t have an excuse for any of it.”

Even without turning to Silas, I felt his stare burning a hole through me, silently acknowledging that we were, technically, to blame for all this. An invisible entity crept through the room and I identified it immediately—the sensation of tensions mounting.

“I’m considering the possibility of turning myself in. Maybe the magistrates will have mercy on me if I admit to my transgression as opposed to being found out,” Julian reasoned. “I’ll take a month, give or take, to decide how to proceed, and then—”

“It was me.”

Julian and Roman’s gazes shifted to Silas when he spoke. Mine lowered to the floor.

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