Page 99 of Destroyer

Ru couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Where was this animosity coming from? Was Fen…jealousof Lord D’Luc? And to use her connection to the artifact against her… knowing how tormented she was, and how much agony she felt.

It took everything in her not to slap him across the face.

His face paled. “I didn’t mean…”

But she wasn’t going to let this go so easily. He couldn’t profess to beentwinedwith her one minute and then turn her deepest hurt against her like a dagger the next.

“Yes,” she said, “you did. It seems you're perfectly happy to hurt me in order to get your way. I suppose you don’t care that I have a plan. You couldn’t possibly imagine that I would possess anounceof intelligence in my tiny brain. There Ru goes again, voluntarily vaporizing all her friends! What a silly girl. It’s too bad there were no brave men in her life to keep her under control.”

Fen bristled slightly. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Do I?” Ru knew her chest was heaving ridiculously in her corset, knew her cheeks were pink with anger, and the reasonable side of her knew — ofcourseshe knew — that Fen would never intentionally hurt her. But she also knew that sheen in his eyes, the fear, the knowledge of what she could do if she stepped a hair out of line with the artifact.

But hehadhurt her, and there was no stopping her now that she had been set off. “I hardly know you at all, Fen Verrill,” she spat, “if that’s even your real name.”

He stepped back slightly, off-balance as if struck.

Ru exhaled sharply and bit her lip. She hadn’t meant… not like that…

“I’m sorry,” Fen said. “You’re right to be angry. Forgive me. Tell me your plan.”

Ru crossed her arms, shivering slightly in the night air. “I was going to ask you to… to help me demonstrate what we did earlier this evening. To summon that golden light, whatever it was. For Lord D’Luc.”

Fen’s expression closed off then. Unreadable. He took another step back, and even though Ru was full to bursting with indignant anger, the increased distance between them made her blood run cold.

No, she thought,come back. Don’t close yourself to me.

“You thought to demonstrate…thatmoment. To Lord D’Luc.” Fen’s tone was flat, devoid of emotion.

“Withyou,” Ru said, her words coming out all in a rush, “only with you, with your permission, with your agreement. And not because I want to. Idon’t. But we have to show him something.”

A wind picked up and Fen’s hair and neckcloth were caught in it, whipping against his neck, his forehead. His gaze remained steady. “We don’t have to show him anything. You, Ru, don’t owe him anything.”

They glared at each other for a moment, Ru grasping for the remains of whatever affection had been between them, whether it was lust or love or something more. Was it gone now, lost forever to the night? The thought was so devastating, so unthinkable, that it nearly brought her to her knees.

“He’ll take the artifact,” she said at last, her voice small. It was her only explanation. The excuse she came back to again and again.

“Why does it matter so much to you?” Fen asked, and a vast sadness passed over his face. “A cursed black stone. What is it to you?”

“You know what it is to me. I’m… entwined with it. Just as I am to you, like you said. Or have you changed your mind about that?”

“Of course I haven’t.” His voice was so low she almost didn’t hear.

“Then why fight me on this?”

He rubbed his face and ran a hand through his hair. “I saw you with him. In the Great Hall.”

“Saw me with who?” Ru asked, impatient, cold, wishing desperately for Fen’s arms around her, pulling her close.

“Hugon D’Luc, Ru, who else?”

A knot of thorns caught in her throat, choking her. “Youarejealous.” She hadn’t meant her words to cut, but the realization slipped out of her in a rush, accusing.

“Can you blame me?” Fen said. “I see how he looks at you.”

“We were discussingscience,” she hissed, arms still crossed, squeezing herself so tightly to keep from bursting or something worse — crying. “The artifact, Fen. The reason he’s here. I had to be charming, had to be gracious.”

“So gracious that you’d happily share what you and I created together, the two of us alone, an indescribably intimate moment. You’d like to perform that for Lord D’Luc’s enjoyment. As a demonstration.”

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