Page 84 of The Stolen Princess
“I know this is hard, but the truth about your father is right in front of you.”
“No.” She shook her head as another tear fell.
“What will it take for you to finally believe me?”
A swell of wind circled around them, whipping loose strands of her hair up in the air and into her face. “Why would I believe you? You’re nothing to me. I hate you!”
His expression faltered slightly, like her words had hurt him. The movement was quick, like a sporadic body shiver, fast enough that Myka almost decided it hadn’t really happened.
His eyes went soft. “I’m sorry. I know that this isn’t the response you were expecting.”
“None of this is what I expected, and it’s allyourfault! I mean it, I hate you.” His kind eyes flashed with hurt again as she turned her body and started walking away, the full onslaught of her tears threatening to come. “Don’t follow me,” she yelled over her shoulder.
Her father’s words turned into blades, cutting open the deepest wound tucked inside of her. Her mother hadn’t wanted her. Now her father didn’t either.
She made her way to the bank of the river, dropping down onto the grass. Even though she’d told Drake not to follow, he would never leave his prisoner unattended. He probably hovered somewhere close by, but she was grateful for a few moments to herself to mourn the loss of the life she used to have. The one where her father loved her and everything made sense. She crossed her legs, and her head fell into her hands. She replayed every word of his letter back through her mind, looking for some kind of clue, something she could hold on to. Her brain scrambled to find a logical reason why he had written what he had, but nothing seemed to make sense.
You can do what you want with her. She means nothing to me.
A lump formed in the back of Myka’s throat as another gush of wind whooshed by her, reminding her of the night her mother had left.
Drake
Drake paced backand forth, watching Myka’s retreating back. She was hurting, and there was nothing he could do about it. There was nowhere she could go right now, especially in this weather, but that didn’t stop him from feeling like he needed to follow her in case she needed him.
He looked up at the growling sky. Rain would come soon. When she had a big enough lead, Drake followed after her, stopping forty feet short of her. He leaned his shoulder against a tree and watched her. Even from where he stood, he could see her shoulders shaking up and down from her sobs.
When Kase had shown up with the letter, Drake had thought that would be the beginning of the end. The king wouldn’t hand over the weapons; someone like Adler would never do that. There would have to be some sort of caveat to the agreement, but what Drake hadn’t expected was the king’s complete dismissal of his only daughter. Myka hadn’t expected that either. But why was Drake so surprised? Adler had ordered Seran’s assassination, and now he had tossed aside his daughter, too.
The raw pain on Myka’s face when she had read Adler’s letter was enough to take down even the hardest of men.
It was enough to break down Drake.
But that wasn’t the worst part. Her father was dead, and Drake had to keep that information from her. It felt cruel and wrong.
Myka didn’t mean anything to Drake. At least he was trying to keep it that way—trying really hard—but she never made it easy. She was a handful, and her antics drove him nuts, but it was impossible to get her out of his mind. And at that moment, the vulnerable, broken-hearted look in her eyes crept inside of him, even though Drake thought his heart was closed tight. Maybe his feelings had something to do with the bet. Drake hated losing. But something told him the bet had nothing to do with it.
Drake closed his eyes, pushing a hand back through his hair. Drops of rain scattered around him, falling through the trees, painting splashes onto rocks and the dirt floor. The thunder above got louder, and the lightning flashes were closer together. The last thing he needed was for Myka to get electrocuted. He straightened, hoping she would come back soon.
The drops picked up their intensity, and Drake watched as Myka lifted her head from her hands, looking up to the sky. She dipped her head back, letting the rain wash over her face and hair. Drake’s breath caught. She looked beautiful but dangerous. Strong but fragile. He had the strange urge to gather her in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay. But everything wouldn’t be okay. The pain she felt right now wouldn’t wash away with the rain. A new hurt was on the horizon. When she found out about her father’s death, her heart would be ripped wide open again. Drake was familiar with that kind of hurt and how it stuck with a person the way the pain from his father’s death had stuck with him.
A loud crack of thunder jostled Myka out of her moment, and she stood, running back toward camp. Drake stepped out from his spot next to the tree. Her puffy eyes pulled to him; before he could help himself, he was walking toward her.
“I’m sorry,” he said through the rain.
“What are you sorry for?” Her voice was weak, and her body shivered against the moisture rolling off her face and the ends of her hair.
“I...I don’t know.”
“It’s not an apology if you don’t even know what you should apologize for.”
He knew, but somehow the words fell through him. There was so much to apologize for. For the way he’d been treating her, for the kidnapping, for the bet, for her father, for everything.
She waited expectantly, the pelting rain making up for the silence between them, and when Drake didn’t say anything more, her eyes grew cold. She walked past him, and immediately Drake started after her.
“Myka, wait,” he called, but she kept moving toward the house. Desperation rose inside of him, and all he wanted was to keep her with him, to make her understand what he was feeling inside even if he didn’t understand it himself. “Mykaleen!” he called as he caught up to her. He grabbed her arm, pulling her to stop and face him.
The warmth of her bare arm filtered through his skin, seeping into the core of his chest. That was an unwanted reaction. She looked down at his touch, and Drake immediately dropped his hand.
