Page 90 of Keeping Sarah

I gasped at those hurtful words. “What?”

“You’ve got a throne and you’ve been running this awful city and you’re addicted to Rex!” he all but roared. “I don’t even know who you are anymore!”

A stabbing pain ripped up my insides, and I could barely breathe. He meant every awful word. He didn’t trust me anymore. I was in a state of shock and words burbled from me, “I have no idea who you are anymore, either, Jac.”

His voice tightened. “What are you saying?”

Tears tumbled down my cheeks again. “You’re jealous of Rex, aren’t you?”

He growled and clung to the bars, giving them a mighty shake. “I am not jealous of Rex, I am worried aboutyou!” he yelled.

“Right.” I jutted out my chin. “You’re so worried that you thought you had to knock me out forthe second time, I might add, all so I can go back to being your scared little consort, right? Someone you can control—"

He shook his head incredulously. “Sarah, you’re not hearing me—"

“That sounds like a good idea, because I amdonelistening to you.” I stomped back to the stairs, my heart shattering while he shouted my name.

When I returned to the bedroom, Rex was dressed for the day, looking very dapper. He saw the despair on my face and immediately said, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” I wiped away the last remnants of tears from my cheeks. “You didn’t do this.”

“You look very upset.”

I gulped and tried once again to figure everything out. Jac said Rex threatened me with a bone knife to my throat. Rex said Jac tried to poison me. The evidence leaned toward Rex’s side, but I didn’t want to trust him. I needed more time to make sense of everything. With Jac not trusting me to take the drug myself—for the second time—I was hurt. No, not hurt. I wasangryhe didn’t trust me to do what I needed to do.

“The visit…it didn’t go well,” I told Rex, who looked on with sympathy. “Can we just…can we pretend this didn’t happen? I want to work today.”

He half-smirked. “There you go again. Ignoring your problems and focusing on work.”

I almost smiled at his teasing. “Work is preferable, please.”

He inclined his head. “Of course, Sarah. Anything for you.”

I sighed and prepared for the day. Once I was showered and dressed, we combined once more.

“I’d like to work from the throne room today, if you don’t mind,” I told Rex as we finished breakfast.

“There aren’t any fights for hours. How come?”

I shrugged. “The city feels restless, and I think it’s important for us to show our faces there. People seem to respond to us better when we work there, instead of holing up here or at the municipal building. I think it gives them a modicum of comfort when we’re present.”

He nodded in my mind. “The throne room it is.”

Once we were in the throne room, I felt better about things. He’d let me decorate it to my tastes and the fresh flowers always brightened my mood.

“Has Justice said anything about this room yet?” I asked Rex curiously.

“Came in the morning messages while you were…indisposedwith Jac. Justice is interested in seeing the throne roomwe created in his honorand would like to schedule a visit.”

I frowned as I looked around. “The message we sent him didn’t say anything about creating this room inhishonor.”

He chuckled. “No, it did not. It’s his way of reasserting dominance over his arena—pretending we did this for him.”

My smile returned. “I think that means we ruffled his feathers.”

“Oh, I would say so,” Rex agreed. “Justice Bateen does not leave Orhon without a big reason to do so.”

“Let’s get on with our day,” I said, needing the distraction. “We can schedule Justice for next week. Nothing to say we can’t make him wait, right?”

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