Page 76 of A Fate so Cruel

“Why?” He clenched his jaw, unwilling to answer. Childish. He was being so childish and stupid and—

“Because I can.”

“This is ridiculous. You can’t just abandon a mission in the middle for no reason.”

“I thought your team was one of the best in Nàdair,” he challenged. “Surely you can handle a few rebel forces on your own. Or are you as incapable as you seem?”

She bared her teeth at him. “The whole reason Alec send you on this mission was to see whether you're capable of following orders if he’s going to keep—” She stopped. Her eyes widened. Lips parted.

“Care to finish that sentence?” She swallowed once.. “Keep me alive? Is that what you meant to say? To see if I’m worthy of the trouble? To see if facing Saoirse’s wrath might be preferable to dealing with me?”

Anger rose in him anew. Perhaps his other teams hadn’t been trying to kill him on a whim. “Nothing’s been an accident, has it? Every step was planned by him. My own brother.”

He scoffed. Selina’s team was different for a reason. She was different because the other attempts had failed. Alec was trying to lure him in. To play dirty in order to be rid of him. “Glad to know where he and I stand now.”

Selina cupped one of her elbows, looking for all purposes ashamed. Rion didn’t give a damn. “I wasn’t supposed to say that. I drank too much at the party.”

“He ordered you to do it, didn’t he?”

She didn’t answer at first, but her refusal to meet his gaze said enough. “He mentioned if the opportunity arose.”

Rion let a mirthless chuckle escape, then ran his hand through his hair. And he’d fallen for it. Hard. He’d learned nothing.

“So that’s what this whole thing has been about, huh? The teasing, the flirting and kissing?” He shook his head. “All bait to lure me in.” He looked at her again. “You’re quite good at it, you know. You just about had me.”

“No, Rion, I—”

“No?” He raised his brows. “Which part is wrong exactly? The teasing? The kiss?”

“I tease everyone.”

“Before or after you kill them?”

“Look, I—”

He growled again and she stepped back. “I don’t want to hear it. I’ve seen the way you act around other males.”

“Because they’re comrades.”

“And I’m a target.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

A breathless laugh. “Are you going to try and say I’m special? That it’s different with me? Yeah, try again.” He stepped away and she seemed to notice the way his sand had worked itself into a frenzy. She didn’t try to approach again. “I’m going back to Nàdair. Finish the mission or don’t, it’s not my concern anymore.”

“You can’t just go.” Her voice was so soft. Another lure.

“I suggest, for your own safety, you stay the hell out of my way.”

Chapter Ten

Half-truths. Rion was tired of listening to them. She’d been given more than an “if the opportunity arose” command. He’d seen it all over her face. But Selina hadn’t been lying when she’d said she hadn’t decided whether to kill him. Maybe the command had been more subtle.

Gods, he’d fallen for it. Fallen for her. To think that his brother, the High Lord of Brónach, had stooped so low. Rion clenched his fists. He was willing to pay someone to seduce his younger brother before killing him. And they calledhimthe abomination.

Even with the truth revealed, Rion still faced a pressing matter. There really was a rebel faction trying to overthrow the crown. She hadn’t been lying about that part. He’d do his own research. Push them back underground and hunt them one by one, even if it took a decade to finish the job.

But first, he needed to leave this city.

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