Page 26 of The Flame

He seriously didn’t.

The food was ready. Roman plated the steaks and grabbed the salad bowl. I brought cutlery and two glasses of water to the table.

“I know you’re mad at me, but I’m your wife,” I said as we took our seats. “I love you. I have a right to worry about you.”

“I’m not mad at you.” He didn’t look at me as he said that. He plied salad onto his plate and picked up his knife and fork.

Roman didn’t lie. Not to me. Not that I was aware of. But he did have a track record of keeping quiet instead of telling me the truth.

We ate in silence until I couldn’t take it anymore. “Okay, you’re not mad at me. So what are you?”

He looked at me and chewed.

Tears stung behind my eyes. The cracks in my heart were showing. Was this so much worse than him being mad? Did he hate me? Had he decided he couldn’t ever forgive me?

“Roman.” My voice choked.

“I don’t know, Georga.” He put his cutlery down and rested back in the chair. “What should I be? You tell me.”

“I’ve told you everything.” I’d barely touched my steak, but I wasn’t hungry anymore. I pushed my plate aside and gulped down some water. “No more lies. No more secrets. But I can’t tell you what to feel, Roman.”

“That’s the thing,” he said, his stone-cold gaze pinned on me. “Have you told me everything?”

I stared at him, a sinkhole opening up in the bottom of my stomach. What now? Ihadtold him everything, hadn’t I?

He ran a hand through his hair. “Why did you marry me? Was it because I was a warden?”

“What?”

“You accepted my offer to advance your status in the Sisterhood.” He stated that as fact, but then he added, “Is thatwhat they expected of their members? To accept any offers that would benefit them?”

My mouth went dry.

“You said they were determined to use your marriage. They used you and you used me.” His jaw squared. He was biting down on his back teeth. “You used our marriage, and you weren’t opposed to any of it. That’s what you said.”

“You used our marriage as well,” I said weakly. “You needed to appear to be conforming to Capra society. You only offered for me because you thought Daniel was also offering, and you knew I’d accept him. You didn’t want to marry me, but if you’d walked away, it would’ve hurt your prospects of rising to High Warden.”

His high ambitions weren’t for himself. They were in Amelia’s name, so he could be in a position of power to prevent other young girls from being traded to the Barons and the wilds.

But I’d done what I’d done for the Sisterhood.

Both our causes were just.

“I never betrayed you.” His voice was so damn cold, it sent a chill over my skin. “I never took anything from you. I never used you, and certainly not in any way that could damage you or those you love.”

He was so arrogant and self-righteous and judgmental…and he was right, of course. Maybe that’s what stung the most.

“I didn’t want to marry anyone, Georga, but the moment we exchanged vows, I did honor this marriage. I protected you to the best of my ability. I tried to give you whatever happiness this world would allow. I did not enter this marriage with ruthless intentions.”

I wanted to blurt out that I hadn’t, either. But that wasn’t the whole truth.

“I’ll ask you one last time.” His warning was palpable. This was my final chance. “Why did you accept my offer?”

I’d already lost him.

I felt it in my bones.

I dropped my hands onto my lap beneath the table. I didn’t want him to see my fingers tremble. “I knew you were a young man with bright prospects and a prominent future. My mother assured me of that. I knew a warden’s wife would be a coup for the Sisterhood. I knew they’d take full advantage of our marriage.”

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