Twisted Metal Heart - Eve Langlais Page 0,49
Maybe you’d like me to find a flog? Something with spikes on it to truly rip yourself open and play the martyr.” He gaped at her, and she couldn’t stop. She kept going. “I’m sorry you got fucking hurt. But beyond that, I’m done listening to you being such a pussy about life. If you change your mind about getting out, let me know before I leave.”
“You’re leaving?”
“I have to in order to uphold my side of the bargain.”
“Even if I wanted to leave, where would I go?”
She spread her hands. “Wherever you like. If you choose to leave the city, I have a vehicle stashed about an hour’s walk from here.”
“You’d give it to me?”
She rolled her shoulders. “Easy enough to get another.”
“If I stay, you’ll still complete your bargain for the king.”
“I don’t have many choices.” She flexed her shoulders. “If I like working and feel safe here, maybe I’ll stick around. If it doesn’t work out, then I’ll find a new set of tunnels and see if I can’t find another abandoned citadel. Or maybe I’ll hit the Port City and find a ship sailing out of here.”
“Alone.” Flatly said.
“Yes.” Since he seemed so adamant about not wanting to be with her.
“What is your bargain with the king? He doesn’t seem like he needs extra parts.”
“Communication. He wants to be able to speak to his satellite fiefdoms.”
“To better control,” he said with a sneer.
“Yes, but also aid. Not everyone is a despot like the Emerald queen. A good king with a strong kingdom might even be able to protect me from my mother.”
“Mother.” His lip curled. “You hate her and yet still call her by that name.”
“I can’t change the facts of my birth.”
“No, you can’t. You are the queen’s daughter. Making you my enemy.”
She couldn’t help the downturn of her lips. “I never wanted to see you hurt.”
“And yet it happened anyhow. I might have been stupid enough once to think I could trust you, but it won’t happen again.” With that statement, he abruptly departed, and not once looked back.
The door had just shut when it opened again, and she started to smile, thinking he’d returned, only a stranger entered. Slim, with a long braid and beard. He held a knife and grinned at her.
Given her current mood, he really shouldn’t have. By the time she was done turning his knife against him, he sobbed on the floor.
His intent wasn’t to kill her, apparently, but return her for a prize. The queen had put a sizeable bounty on her head, and word had reached the kingdom. Just like news of her arrival spread, probably from the first guard she spoke to when she gave her name.
The king profusely apologized when he arrived after she’d notified Anita she had a situation. Anita was appalled because she’d been too busy overseeing Titan’s return to the prison and had left Riella unguarded.
It wouldn’t have mattered either way. She’d run out of time. The queen’s influence stretched even here. Which meant she couldn’t stay. But before she left, she decided to see Titan one last time, to say goodbye—apparently, she was a sadist for rejection.
Twelve
Titan stalked away from his meeting with Riella angry. He held on to that rage, let it bubble inside him for the daughter of his enemy. A liar.
A woman on the run from the queen. A victim in need of his understanding and help. Except she didn’t want his help. Didn’t need it either.
Seeing her in that lavish room was a reminder she didn’t need him at all. Riella had obviously done better than him at getting herself out of the domes in one piece. She’d negotiated his release. Didn’t think him capable of getting out on his own.
She kept saving him over and over. And it occurred to him that part of his anger over it had to do with the fact he’d never had a chance to be the hero. Never got to save the girl.
He was fucking jealous because she was better than him and he couldn’t handle it.
“Where are you going?” asked the guard keeping pace with him.
“Back to my cell.”
“Your cell? But I thought—”
He interrupted with a snapped, “You thought wrong. I’ll earn my own damned freedom when I want to. On my fucking own.”
“Well excuse me,” the female guard muttered, letting him back into his cell.
But the confining box of it didn’t soothe his anxious thoughts.
Seeing Riella again, he was reminded of too much. Such as how she sighed