Page 62 of The Only King to Claim Her

“I would never have asked for it,” he said, the words scraping his throat raw. “You’re the one who seems insistent on giving it.”

“More fool me.”

“I can’t give more than this.” How could he? His heart was a stone, and what was beneath...

He was battered. Wounded beyond repair.

She deserved someone more. She deserved something more, but the world had given her a broken and lacking life, and him, a broken and lacking man to go with it.

“No. You won’t,” she said. “Because you are afraid. A coward. So brave. So brave when it comes to doing things. So afraid when it comes to the feeling of them. Don’t think I cannot see. I told you. I do not need a bitch. I need a guard. I need my cane.”

“Careful,” he said, grabbing her wrist then. “Careful before you insult me.”

“You insult us both.”

She got off the bed and began to gather her things. She dressed slowly, the anger and hurt radiating off her in waves. But she would know someday that he was doing her a kindness by not prolonging this. By not lying. For his part, he wouldn’t lie.

“It is an offense, this,” she said. “That we have both survived so much, and both traveled through so much darkness, for you to run away from the light when it is offered.”

“Annick...”

“I thought you could rescue me, Maximus. But you are the one who needs rescuing. And if you will not take my hand, then I cannot help.”

And then Annick slipped from the room, closing the door behind her. And he was left alone.

As it should be.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

RAGE SWIRLED THROUGH Annick as she went down the halls, heading back toward her room. She felt mortally wounded. She had known that it would be a fight. That all of this would be so much work. But she had thought... She had thought that she would be able to reach him. Truly, she had. She felt nothing but deep regret over this.

It wasn’t her own pain. Not so much. It was his.

He still saw the bars. And until he decided not to, there was nothing she could do.

She heard a sound. A sound that was almost no sound, and then the brick beside her head split apart. She screamed, dropping low and crawling to her bedchamber, slamming the door behind her. She didn’t know where it had come from. And it was likely that whoever...

Suddenly, there was a hole in her bedroom door.

She lay flat, as flat as she could. Someone was actually trying to assassinate her.

It was happening. And Maximus wasn’t here. He wasn’t... She heard the sound of a struggle on the other side of the door. A roar, thunderous and terrible. Clattering and banging about. And then it was silent.

“Annick,” came the sound of a rough voice.

“Maximus,” she said.

“Open the door. It’s safe.”

She scrambled to

her feet and went to the door. And there he was. Half-dressed, a wound on his face. “An assassin. From Lackland. So now you have your answer as to who is your enemy. It wasn’t just the other regime they wanted removed. They’ll be dealt with. Harshly.”

“Maximus...”

“You forget that I know secrets about them. I didn’t take the job to get rid of the dictator of this country without getting insurance. It will be dealt with. And you will be safe.”

“I...”

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