sighing. When she let Garik in, he stopped at the side of the door and immediately folded his arms and propped himself against the wall. “This is far enough. What do you need, Saedra?”
The abrupt question caught her off guard. She’d envisioned several scenarios on how to broach the topic but there was nothing welcoming about his attitude. “I wanted to explain everything.”
“Little late for that, don’t you think?”
Saedra resisted the urge to punch him. He was being needlessly stubborn. “I was going to tell you.”
Garik’s lips firmed. “I asked you if Maurin was your father. I asked you repeatedly who your parents were and you denied the truth and avoided telling me.”
Saedra threw her hands in the air and walked away. “Because I knew you wouldn’t listen if I told you the man who captured you and imprisoned you in a dungeon after torturing you was my father.”
His steps stormed behind her and he gripped her shoulder to spin her around. “I warned you about lies!”
The thunderous expression on his face didn’t deter her from yelling back. “You wouldn’t have trusted me!”
“And I still don’t!”
Saedra froze. Dismay and hurt clogging her throat. The claim echoed around them. Her nose and eyes burned with the need to cry.
Garik dropped his hand from her shoulder and jammed a hand through his dark hair. He dropped his head back and stared at the ceiling. “Fucccck!”
The truth she’d wanted to avoid slapped her right in the face. They’d started out on a lie and nothing would ever change those facts. Steel snapped her spine straight. Her heart was breaking but she’d deal with it. “You should leave.”
Remorse drenched his voice. “Saedra...sesi.”
He extended a hand toward her but Saedra ignored it. “This...this isn’t going to work.”
***
Garik knew he’d messed up. The lies about Maurin had been banging around in his head since the discovery. He cared for Saedra—was pretty sure he was falling in love with her but his experience in the past with trust had him circling back around to the single lie standing between them. It didn’t help that two of the Guild Masters had reprimanded him for bringing her.
Their dire warnings and predictions pointed at Saedra being apart of a more elaborate plot to infiltrate the Guild through him. Garik studied her hurt expression and the quivering bottom lip. He was a fool for listening to them.
He drew close and attempted to wrap his arms about her waist but Saedra jerked away. “No. Stop. I want you to leave. You...y-you were right and this wouldn’t work.”
What? He hadn’t said that. “Saedra, let’s talk.”
She was already shaking her head. “A relationship built on lies can’t survive.”
Garik swallowed. Isn’t that what he’d been telling himself when he’d avoided her for the last week? Except resisting the connection they’d forged had been torture for him and he’d wanted nothing more than to have her in his arms again, taste her sweet lips.
Emotions tangled up in his gut when he choked out, “What about one born of strength, courage—the traits you’ve exhibited from the moment you entered my cell?”
This time she at least didn’t pull away when he touched her. Garik cupped her jaw and tipped her face up to see her eyes and to make sure she understood what he was saying. “I’m sorry. Finding out Maurin was...is your father shouldn’t have surprised me. The few things you did share about growing up in that household should have been enough. I let my temper get away with me.”
And fear. He’d never felt about anyone the way he felt about Saedra. Knowing he was willing to ignore her heritage to be with her was a revelation. He had intentionally been putting distance between them though the bond constantly hammered at him keeping his awareness of her sharp and center.
The hardest part of these last few days was ignoring that intimate connection. He thought getting her the translator, a place to stay and seeing to her injuries would ease his need to care for her while he struggled with this new feeling. It hadn’t. All it had done was served as a reminder that he wasn’t alone anymore, didn’t have to be alone.
“You made me believe in you and this bond.” She pursed her lips. “Then you abandoned me.”
It was a shot to the chest. She was speaking from her heart and not disguising the pain he’d caused. “I am sorry, sesi. You are absolutely right.” He thought about it then added, “I have no excuse.