Page 80 of Sins of His Wrath

The corner of his mouth curled. "I didn't."

A realization struck her and she sobered. "Wait. When you held me captive, you said my people caused all this devastation." She gestured to the ruins around them. "But everything you've described was caused by your family—the Sy Dynasty's abuse of magic." Her voice hardened. "You accused us of destroying your civilization when it was your own ancestors."

The muscle in Akoro's jaw ticked, his expression darkening. "I'm getting to that part. Your people became involved in phase four."

"Phase four?" Naya's eyes narrowed. "You kidnapped me and tortured me on the basis of this, Akoro, and all along your people were to blame."

“I never said there was no blame on anyone else,” Akoro thundered. “But your people are responsible for the worst of it.”

Thenniraesnorted, shifting its weight. Akoro ran a hand along its flank.

Naya opened her mouth to argue, but something in his expression stopped her—a strange look she hadn’t seen on him before.

"I’ll show you," he said, a growl in his voice. "Then maybe you'll understand, maybe you won’t. It doesn’t matter if you agree. You’re here to solve magic aren’t you?"

He gathered the waterskin and feed bowl, his movements sharp with barely contained tension.

Naya’s mind raced. Everything she'd learned and this bitter accusation hung between them. As Akoro helped her mount thenniraeonce more, she couldn't help wondering how much worse it could get—what more could anyone from her land have done—and what would phase four would reveal the true source of Akoro's feud with the Lox Empire.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

That night, Naya tossed and turned, unable to sleep. She tried thinking about Akoro’s scent, being in his bed, again, sink into the memories of his bed but she was too annoyed with him. She needed to know how someone from her land was responsible for his people's destruction, when it was his family who caused much of their own destruction.

Unfortunately, Akoro refused to answer any more questions. They rode back to the palace just as it was getting dark. She hadn't seen him since.

Naya tossed in her bed, twisting the sheets around her legs as she stared up at the ceiling. Sleep refused to come and her simmering anger wouldn't subside.

The Sy Dynasty—Akoro's family—had caused this. They had destroyed their own civilization with their greed and arrogance. They had unleashed the wild magic that ravaged his land, not her people or anyone from her land. Akoro blamed the Lox Empire for his world's devastation, using it to justify kidnapping her, torturing her, threatening her people with invasion.

Worse, nothing he'd shown her today had actually deepened her understanding of magic. Nothing that would help her find the Solution.

A realization settled like a cold weight in her stomach. He was distracting her. She had three days left, and he was leading her through history lessons instead of showing her what she truly needed to know.

Frustrated, Naya sat up and pushed the covers away. Perhaps some drills would exhaust her enough to sleep. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and froze.

A shadow moved in the corner of the room.

Naya's breath caught in her throat, her hand flying to her mouth to stifle a scream. Akoro sat a few feet from her bed, his massive form barely visible in the darkness, his mood palpable—like a storm gathering.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, her voice a harsh whisper in the dark.

The silence stretched between them, heavy and taut. Finally he spoke, his voice a low rumble. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

Naya stared at him, incredulous. "That's not an answer."

"Neither is yours."

She exhaled sharply, pushing her hair back from her face. "I can't sleep."

He shifted, the moonlight catching the hard angles of his face. His scent—spiced earth and something distinctly, dangerously male—was already heavy in the room, but she hadn’t noticed it in her anger. She inhaled deeply, annoyed she was taking comfort in him, even when she was furious with him.

"You're not having nightmares anymore," he said, the observation both statement and question.

Naya said nothing.

"Even when I first took you, you woke screaming every night," he said, "Not anymore."

“You’ve only just noticed that?” Naya snapped. “I was in your bed for over a week.”

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