Page 177 of Kissed By the Gods
“Not like this!” Ryot snaps, his eyes jerk to the king and there’s an apology on his face, in his eyes. Ryot turns back to me, shifting me a little to put himself between me and the king. “Through a tribunal! Through a system of justice. Not as a vigilante,” Ryot finishes.
I snort. “Oh yes. Because Faraengard has been so fucking just to Selencians for the past 900 years.”
Ryot winces, but he still shifts me even further back. I go to draw my other dagger, but Ryot grabs my hand, stopping me.
“Not like this,” Ryot says again, firmly.
“Yes,” King Agis drawls out in a familiar, achingly familiar, voice. “Let’s do wait for the tribunal.”
The king’s eyes—dark as the ocean glinting with ice—finally land on me and stay there, and the air leaves my lungs in a whoosh. His eyes are so like Elowen’s. So like …
My hand tenses within Ryot’s grasp. I’m missing something.
I have been this whole time.
I tear my gaze from King Agis to Ryot.
“Why?” I manage, through dry, parched lips.
“It’s the right?—”
“No!” I rip my hand from his, staggering a step back. “You tell me why.”
He goes unnaturally still. His dark blue eyes find mine, and the apology in them guts me. But it’s not enough. It will never be enough. Not after this.
“Who are you?” I demand.
Silence.
The king sighs and clasps a casual hand on Ryot’s shoulder. Ryot winces, flinching from the familiar touch. “Come on, son. Tell the girl.” The king turns back to me, a smile ghosting on his lips. An amused smile that looks exactly like Ryot’s.
I’ve beenused. Lied to.
“King Agis is—” Ryot begins haltingly. “He’s my father, Leina.”
I take a step back. Another and another until my back hits the wall of the tunnel.
Really, it’s so obvious. I’m a complete idiot. The eyes. That smile. His voice. Ryot’s familiarity with Rissa and Elowen—hissisters.
“But I didn’t know,” Ryot rushes out, following me as if he can fix it. “I haven’t been in line for the throne since I came of age and presented as an Altor. I didn’t know about the Collection until Amarune. I didn’t know of the conditions in Selencia, not until I went to investigate, to find your brothers. I?—”
I didn’t know my heart could shatter like this. It’s not like when you mourn someone who’s died. Betrayal is a different kind of grief. My chest tightens, my stomach knots and churns, a sick, twisting mass of rage and disbelief.
The words rattle in my skull, over and over, but the more I try to make sense of it, the worse it feels. My hands curl into fists without me realizing it. Heat rises, flooding my face.
I want to scream, to demand answers, to tear the world apart—but I’m frozen. Pinned to this awful moment, unable to move forward or back.
“Now, now,” King Agis interrupts, and my eyes swivel back to his. There’s a buzzing in my ears. I forgot he was even here. How could I forget the king is here? My hand slides back, finding my scythe. It warms against my palm, steady and sure—like a hand squeezing mine in silent comfort.
“She doesn’t have brothers anymore.” The king raises an eyebrow at me. Hetskslike I’ve done something naughty. “She took the Synod oath, did she not?”
I rip my scythe free. Ryot curses, lunging as if to block me again.
“Like I don’t have a father anymore,” Ryot tells him, trying to step between us. But I barely hear him. Ryot’s nothing but a blur at the edges now.
“How could you? Howfuckingcould you?” Ryot demands of the king. Of his father.
But his anger is too little, too late.
