Page 14 of Fate and Flame
My father and Inok are going to want a full report of everything after dinner. I can make them wait.
I shook my head slightly.There’s no need to rush, Fen. We have our whole lives to love each other. Handle whatever you need. I’m not going anywhere.
“Is there cake?” Greeve asked, completely unaware of our mental conversation.
“Of course. Just for you, my dear.” Loti crossed the kitchen, lifted a massive white cake from another counter, and set it in front of him. Tolero cleared his throat and Loti shrugged.“He’s always been my favorite.” She reached up to pinch Greeve’s cheeks.
He beamed. I’d never seen that smile from him before.
“I’ll just be over here wallowing in self-pity if anyone needs me.” Kai stuck his lip out and lowered his chin, pinning Loti with a full pout. I guessed he’d stolen many hearts with that look.
“If you weren’t such a pain in my behind, Kaitalen, I’d bake for you too.”
“Oh, Loti. We all know I’m secretly your favorite and you have lemon tarts stashed away somewhere for me.”
She giggled.“Here, you big baby.” She opened a cupboard, pulled out another tray, and the whole room erupted. Even I couldn’t help myself. Kai, with his handsome boyish features, was hard not to love, especially when he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her in for a hug while she swatted at him until he let her go.
“Welcome home, my dear,” Tolero said, leaning toward me.
Chapter Four
Temir
“Nadra?” My voice crept through my throat like a knife. “What are you doing here?”
The dripping water in the otherwise silent prison was maddening. There was no answer. Would be no answer, because, in my own delirium, pain, and sorrow, I’d only imagined she came for me when no one else would.
But then the silence was broken with a gentle whisper. “You saved my mother.”
I coughed, and the familiar pain of my wounds, of this wretched life, of her voice, ripped through me.
Her voice trembled. “Are you okay?”
The spots grew bigger in my vision and I had to force myself back to clarity. “I’ve been better.”
“What can I do to help you?”
“Go away.” I never wished I could turn away from someone so bad—from my own shame or my ire, I wasn’t sure, but she couldn’t be trusted. It didn’t mean the bond wasn’t there somewhere, buried within me, but when I closed my eyes and saw her lying beneath the king, it was all I could do to keep myself from heaving.
“I can’t.” Her voice faded away as a rustling in the corner of my cell replaced it.
I didn’t even bother asking why I couldn’t see her. I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. She couldn’t use that against me.
The heavy cell door slammed shut, waking me. A hunched sentry dropped a tray to the floor and walked out. I thought she’d leave with them when they brought food, but she didn’t.
“Do you need a drink?”
Tears stung my eyes as I laid disgraced on the dank floor and tried to ignore her. Maybe that’s what Autus wanted. To show me that even my mate wouldn’t really want me. I was just a joke to all of them.
“Please let me help you.” Her voice was full of so much sorrow, it blended with my own, drowning us both until we could have swam away in it.
“If you’re down here to prove some point or to report to him, save yourself the trouble. He’s already won, Nadra. I’ve given up.” I tried to drag the heavy air into my lungs after such a long-winded sentence, but fluid compressed them. To say those words out loud crushed the small bit of strength I had left, and my eyes fell shut again.
“Why would you think I was down here for the king when you saw what he did to me?”
I didn’t bother answering. I willed myself back to sleep until I felt water splashing my face.
“Maybe you gave up, Temir, but I didn’t. You need to drink.”
