Page 28 of The Throne Seeker
She tried a different approach.
She lifted her gaze to the dancing flames of a nearby torch. “You know, when I watched you go through your succession trials, I remember being so worried for you. You were only eighteen, going up against three fully grown men, and I thought there was no way you could manage it… But against all odds, you won.” Her gaze returned to him. She crept closer to his cell, her voice growing stronger. “Youwon, and not just by the skin of your teeth. Every obstacle thrown at you, you not only beat but excelled at. Your men followed you into the heart of the bog without question. You outsmarted a Sphinx. You climbed to the top of a mountain with bloodied hands and three arrows embedded in your back. I remember scolding myself for ever underestimating you. I promised myself I would never do it again… but now, I don’t see that man anymore.”
She waited.
No response.
She dug deeper. “Do you remember when you saved my life at the river? When you sprinted for miles, carrying me?”
No response. Not a sigh, a scoff, a glare. Nothing.
She ground her teeth in frustration. Her questions became rhetorical. “After all that… I suppose I’m just wondering. What happened? What didIdo? I don’t understand what I could have possibly done to make you hate me so much.”
She stood there for what seemed like ages, hoping he’d say something, anything. After a long moment, she realized she was misguided in expecting any answers. She was wasting her time.
She went to leave.
“I hurt you,” he uttered at last, his voice so low it was almost unrecognizable.
She turned back. He was not only speaking but standing, moving across the cell, clutching the bars of the door with his bruised knuckles as he finally looked at her. “Ihurtyou,” he repeated. “Do you even get that? Are you really that stupid?”
A flash of anger flared within her. “I was there. I know what you did.” She lifted her chin and exposed her bandage. His eyes flickered to it as they hardened. “But it doesn’t help the guilt of knowing I sparked this.”
He hit the bars, and she jumped as the reverberation echoed. “Dammit, Rose!”
The sudden commotion alerted the guards down the hallway, but she raised her hand to signal it was all right.
Xavier gripped the bars tighter, his voice unforgiving as he said, “You don’t get to feel guilty for my decisions.Iown them.”He glared at her with disgust—with her or himself, she didn’t know.
Their eye contact was severed when an angry voice echoed through the dungeons.
“Open the door!” Tristan’s voice echoed.
She swerved towards the iron doors while Xavier muttered a curse under his breath.
Within moments, Tristan was at her side.
“What the hell are you doing down here?” Without waiting for an answer, he took her arm, trying to drag her from the cell.
“Tristan, stop.” She tried to yank her arm away from him, but he didn’t move. Not an inch.
“Yes, please,” Xavier drawled. “Keep going, and you’ll end up in a cell just like me.”
In a flash, Tristan’s fists pounded on the barred door, while his other hand shot through the bars, gripping Xavier by the neck.
“Tristan!” she yelled.
“You are dead to me,” Tristan spat with a vile sneer. “If I ever see you anywherenear her again, I swear, brother or not, I will break you.” He released him, shoving Xavier backward.
She didn’t get another word in before Tristan grabbed her hand, forcing her away. She didn’t resist this time.
They didn’t speak as he led her through the corridors. He didn’t let go of her hand until they were outside on the main patio. She would’ve stopped to admire the geraniums lining the railings if she wasn’t so preoccupied.
She readied herself for his disapproval. “Tristan?—”
“You asked for him to bepardoned?” He rounded on her, his boiling anger steaming out of his ears. He ran his hands through his hair, tugging at it. “What the hell, Rose? What part ofhe hurt youdo you not understand?! Whatpossiblereason could you give me that makes sense!”
“Tristan, that’s not who I grew up with.” She pointed back toward the door. “What the hell happened to him?”
