the waves. “You’re always up for an adventure. But when it mattered…even if you had married me out of pity…” He spat out the last word, then seemed to master himself before he went on. “I told you my court was dying. And your answer was that somehow, you’d decide to help me, even after you married Raile. I’d be at your mercy.”
“You know I—” I couldn’t name the enchantment, but he knew about it; Raile had brought it up in our meeting. “I couldn’t give you what you wanted.”
“And that’s fine,” he returned smartly. “I did what it took to protect my court. The same as any of you would have.”
“I don’t think so.”
He went on as if he hadn’t heard my interruption. “If you didn’t have the privilege to pretend the higher moral ground.”
“You can justify it any way you want.” My voice came out brittle. “I thought perhaps you were trying to rescue me, but you were just using me, weren’t you?”
“If you didn’t mind being married to Raile, I couldn’t imagine that you would mind being married to me.”
I stared at him in shock. “You arrogant ass.”
He finally turned away from the window, just to give me a shocked look. As handsome as he was, that face right now made me want to slap him.
“I came to you for help, and you denied me,” he said. “I understand that your mind might not have been your own. So I did what was necessary.”
He made it sound so reasonable, as if he’d just been helping me.
“You know you weren’t helping me. You were taking me.”
“I was trying to save my court!” he exploded. He raked his hand through his hair, as if he already felt sorry for his raw emotion, and exhaled slowly. “Alisa, there’s so little left there. One fragile city and a thousand half-destroyed villages. I swear to God, there are as many monsters as at the Rift. Most of the villages have been destroyed and when people try to go back… Faer’s guards....”
He trailed off, his eyes distant, then shook his head.
My heart ached for him. “I want to help, Tiron.”
“I know you do. But you want to help, and I literally live to free those people. It’s my only purpose.” He scrubbed his hand over his face. “Otherwise Herrick might as well have destroyed me along with my parents.”
I had to force the words out of my mouth. I was afraid to know the answer. “But did you hear Raile, changing the wedding spell? Did you know you were ruining his spell, or did you think you were rescuing me?”
His jaw stiffened, then he turned back to the window.
My heart plummeted into my chest. He’d heard. He’d known I would be free if Raile’s spell worked. And then surely, surely he had to have known I’d help him, once I could.
Perhaps he’d decided it would simply be easier to take what he wanted.
“Tiron, tell me what you were thinking.” My voice was steel, but my desperation was obvious enough because I even asked again. I knew.
He just smiled faintly, as if I was asking for something ridiculous.
And maybe I was. I was asking for an explanation, hoping there was a version where he hadn’t betrayed me in order to protect his court. I was practically inviting him to lie, because I didn’t want to think any less of Tiron.
I couldn’t stop replaying that moment in my room before my wedding, when he asked for my help. I’d claimed that I was marrying Raile to protect them all.
“You felt abandoned,” I said. I was sure that Duncan must feel the same way, given the broken look on his face, just for a second, when he saw me kissing Raile.
I could have forgiven him anything just then, if he was just sorry.
But as he watched out the window, it was obvious he wasn’t sorry. He felt justified in doing whatever it took to protect his kingdom, and fury burned in my chest. I held my tongue, though, waiting to hear what he would manage to say next.
Silence fell between us like the hush after a snowfall.
“I see,” I said. “Well, here we are now. Bound by magic.”
“Here we are.”
“I swear to the gods, I will find a way to unbind us.”
“Mm.” He sounded amused by the thought, but it was only a flicker for a moment. He raked his hand through his hair as he stared out the window, as if he were troubled.