Page 106 of Ruling Destiny

“What difference does it make if it’s me or someone else?” I frown. “Arthur gets what he wants. And right now, he wants the Moon. If I don’t bring it to him, someone else will.”

“My God.” Braxton runs a startled gaze over my face. “You really don’t know, do you?”

He holds the look for an agonizing beat, forcing me to fight every bodily impulse to erase my brain of all that I know and rush into his arms, in search of his warmth, his touch, his comfort, his love. But Braxton can’t be trusted, and there’s no going back to what we once had.

Or, rather, what I thought we once had.

Breaching the silence, I say, “All I know is that if I don’t bring this back to Arthur—” I hold the Moon before him. “If I decide to rebel and stop playing his game, then he’ll drop me, lose me in time. Just like he did with Anjou and Song and whoever else became too big of a burden and not worth keeping around.”

I watch as a shadow of some unnameable emotion flits across Braxton’s face. “I’m not sure that’s what happened to Anjou and Song,” he says.

“Oh, so now you claim to know, when all this time you acted like you didn’t even care?” I breathe a sigh of frustration.

“I’ve always cared, Tasha. I’m just not sure they weren’t more in control of their disappearance than you might think.”

“What are you saying?” I glare at him. “Seriously. For once, just spit it out and tell me the truth. Enough with all your evading, maneuvering, and veiled statements. Enough with all your lies. Just get to the point, already.”

“My God—is that how you see me?” He looks gutted by the news, but I merely shrug, having recently been gutted by him, too.

“Okay,” he says. “You want the truth. Here it is—sometimes, people grow tired of life at Gray Wolf, and they take their own way out.”

“By purposely getting lost in time?” I roll my eyes, but inside I can’t help but wonder if it’s the one thing he’s said that isn’t a lie.

“Are they really lost if they choose it?” He pauses as though waiting for me to respond. When I don’t, he goes on. “I’m sure you saw how Cosimo prefers to live in this timeline. So don’t you think it’s possible that Song and Anjou chose the same?”

“Cosimo is living in luxury. He has Arthur’s full support. Whereas Anjou and Song are just…gone.” I frown.

“But you don’t really know that they’re lost,” he says, leaving me to wonder why he’s being so stubborn.

Does he know something more that he’s refusing to share?

“Well, if you’re so convinced they’re not, then maybe you should come clean with the truth—at least try to redeem yourself.” I practically spit the words.

Braxton’s head jerks back as though he’d been slapped. “I wasn’t aware I was in need of redeeming,” he says, his voice nearly a whisper, his gaze tinged with deep sadness.

I shake my head, show him the Moon one last time. “I’m bringing this to Arthur,” I say, slipping the silver ball into my pocket to safeguard it from him. “If I don’t play the game, Arthur will stop helping my mom, and I can’t be responsible for that. I have no choice but to do whatever it takes to ensure she’s looked after.”

“At what price?” Braxton asks.

I stand before him, unsure what he’s getting at.

“At what sacrifice to yourself—and quite possibly the world?”

I swallow hard but keep my thoughts to myself.

“Tasha, please,” he says. “You need to rethink your plans for that Moon. Because you’re wrong about one thing, darling—you’re the only one at Gray Wolf who can bring it to him. Other than—”

“Step away from the girl.”

At the sound of his voice, Braxton and I both whirl around to find Killian storming straight toward us, eyes blazing, hands clenched into fists.

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Braxton glances nervously between me and Killian. “Tasha,” he says. “You have to believe me—you can’t trust him.”

“Maybe it’syoushe can’t trust, mate.” Killian comes to stand beside me. “Don’t you think it’s time you fessed up? Tell her what you did to me.”

Braxton works his jaw but says nothing.

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