gotten this far in life by trusting everyone around me mindlessly. Maybe there was a way to make his devotion to Selena useful.
I’d send him in next to look for whatever relic was in the warden’s office that could help Selena. If he got caught, then I wouldn’t have to worry about him. And if he got what we needed, that would be helpful too.
Win-win situation.
“Actually, she does need your help,” I told him with a grin.
I loved when things came together.
Selena
“You want me delivering food there?” I all but whimpered as Boris told me that my duties today would include Seth’s section of the prison.
“Do you have a problem with that?” he growled as he spooned a cup of what looked like slop into a few bowls and began to put them in my cart.
“No,” I told him reluctantly, scared to make a fuss about anything, thanks to the stolen goods hiding in my room and the rumors that I knew were flying around about me. A bead of sweat slid down my forehead, and the room’s temperature seemed to spike.
I smiled at Boris, getting a disgruntled grunt in return, and I began the trek to Seth’s cell.
I was nervous.
We’d barely spoken since he’d brought me back from death. With everything that had happened with Alaric and Keon…and I suppose Laz, I was starting to feel guilty about the freeze out after he’d saved me.
But every time my anger started to chill, I would see him with that girl…his fiancée, and all the hurt and anger would come rushing back.
The trip to Seth’s section of the prison seemed much quicker today. The guard walking behind me was silent, and I longed for a talkative one to keep me distracted. Granted, those kinds of guards were usually saying disgusting things to me, but at least it would be distracting.
The wails of the prisoners were louder here. You could taste the despair in the air. I passed by a cell where the prisoner was nothing but a pile of rags on the ground. When I set down the tray, the rags didn’t move.
Something told me they wouldn’t move again.
Butterflies took flight in my stomach as I wheeled the tray up to Seth’s cell. I frowned when he wasn’t waiting on his cot like he usually was. The guard wasn’t really paying attention as he opened the cell door, and Seth was suddenly there with a piece of concrete from the wall, smashing it against the guard’s head.
The guard fell to the ground as I choked on a scream. Seth dragged the guard into the cell and threw a blanket over him. I stood there in shock. Seth looked revitalized…better than I’d ever seen him. Was it the crystal? And why had he just done that to the guard? Once the other guards and the warden found out, Seth would be lucky to be left alive.
He was there in front of me then, pulling me into his arms. “You have to let me explain,” he whispered hurriedly. “You can’t shut me out anymore.”
“Seth, what is going on?” I breathed, the weak girl inside of me savoring the feel of his arms after so long without them.
“I’m desperate for you. I thought I could do it, push you away. But I’m weak. You should want nothing to do with me, because my entire kingdom is on the brink of destruction and all I can think about is the last time I felt your lips, the last time I touched you. How did I get to the point where I’m endangering everything just on the off chance that I can see your smile again?”
“Who was she?” I asked, my voice trembling as my heart reminded me of how much it had hurt to see him with her.
“My only connection to Fairie,” he told me, touching our foreheads together as his hands moved up and down my arms. “She was my betrothed before everything happened, before my father was killed and I was framed.” He brushed a kiss across my lips, cutting off my gasp at his revelation. “She’s screwing my cousin but still in love with me. She gives me tidbits about Fairie, things that I hope to use if I ever get out of here.”
“Do you love her?” I asked painfully, my heart clenching at the thought. Over the last few weeks, I’d tried to rip him from my heart, but ten seconds in his presence and I realized that I was still