Page 27 of The Shattered Kingdom
I cross my arms over my chest. “And why are you telling me this?”
“Because I feel inclined to be honest with you, even when that includes telling you things I shouldn’t.” Mason scowls, running his fingers through his hair.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I don’t particularly enjoy it.”
“Yes, you do. Touch me.” The words are out of my mouth before I truly register what I’m saying. “With your skin. Touch me.”
I have suspicions.
Mason gulps, shaking his head. “No. Don’t ask that of me.”
I don’t see why I shouldn’t. He’s obsessed with me, and if Lill isn’t his mate, then I want him to touch me. I want to confirm thatI’mnot his mate. If Lillislying, which I’m still doubtful of, she and Callie must have ulterior motives. Maybe those motives included me. Perhaps they came to my town and Lill befriendedme because I’m Kie and Mason’s mate.
I reach for Mason, fully intent on taking matters into my own hands, but he snatches my wrist with his gloved hand before I make contact.
“I’ll break your wrist,” he threatens.
“No, you won’t.”
Mason tightens his grip, trying to scare me. It doesn’t work, and he awkwardly releases me after a second. I attempt to touch him again, but he snatches my wrist once more. He doesn’t break it, even when I try for the third time.
“Enough!” Mason hisses. “You’re being inappropriate.”
I bark out a laugh. “I’mbeing inappropriate?” I can’t believe he’d even say that. “You’re carrying my lingerie around in your pocket.”
Mason’s left shoulder rises in a halfhearted, lazy shrug.
“Why won’t you touch me?” I ask.
Mason retreats into the bathroom doorway, putting space between us. “Because Kie’s hoarding purple, plastic tiaras, and I’m searching for places to hide your cheap, scratchy underwear.”
His admission is unspoken, but I hear it loud and clear. He thinks I could be his mate. I’m not the only one with suspicions.
I cross my arms over my chest. “If you think I’m your mate, you should touch me and prove it.”
A part of me is terrified that he might be.
“And what if you are?” Mason asks.
I don’t know.
“Are you prepared to live permanently in the faerie realm? Are you prepared to be a queen?” Mason hammers me with questions I don’t have the answer to. “Are you prepared to love us? Because that’s what would happen. Once a mate bond is triggered, it’s all-consuming. You’ll beg for me, you’ll beg for Kie, and you won’t be able to stop it.”
Kie and Mason kidnapped me, threatened to murder me, and then tried to gift me to Zaha. Begging them will never happen, mate bond or not.
Mason licks his lips and peers down at me, and I look away when his stare grows too intense.
“Why do you think Lill is lying?” I ask. “Ifthe bondwerefake, that doesn’t mean she’s responsible. Have you considered the possibility that she’s being tricked, too?”
“She didn’t return when Callie died,” Mason says. “If what she says is true, why remain hidden in the human realm? You may not like Kie and me, but we aren’t unreasonable men, nor are we malevolent leaders. We don’t punish children for the actions of adults, and she knew that.” He throws his hands in the air. “We were best friends! Lilly was my best fucking friend, and she chose death over me. Why?”
I gulp, not having a good answer. I haven’t thought of that.
“She couldn’t have known she wouldn’t be punished,” I say. “Callie probably told her she’d be killed or imprisoned for treason.”
Mason shakes his head. “That’s not it.” He sounds confident, and a tiny, minuscule piece of me believes him. “I think she knows something, and she’s scared of us finding out what it is. Maybe Callie told her something before she died, or maybe Callie is still alive. I don’t know.”
