Page 19 of Rapunzel Unchained
“She doesn’t trust us?” Luke exclaimed, dropping my hand, his eyes wounded. “After everything how could you not trust us? We would keep you safe. We would—”
“Lucas.” The single word from Blake made Luke clip his mouth shut. “She doesn’t trust the queen not to try and kill us.”
Luke blinked at his brother and then turned his gaze to me, confusion and sadness filling his eyes. “Does she want to hurt us, Eva?”
“I...” I dropped Blake’s hand and stepped back putting some space between us. “I don’t know. I don’t know what she will do or when she will do it. Sometimes she’s fine. She didn’t care when I visited Zane.”
“You visited Zane?”
I locked eyes with Luke. “Yes. I thought maybe he could help me understand the queen, since he has the demon inside of him. I thought he could teach me to control her or at the very least keep her from controlling me.”
Luke cocked his head to the side. “And did he?”
“Unfortunately, we never got the chance.”
Blake made a sound in his throat that made me blush.
Luke’s brows lifted. “Did you and he...? Like with us?”
My blush deepened. “No. Nothing like what we did. Zane needs to sleep more.”
Blake snorted. “Understatement.”
“Anyway, the queen didn’t care about him. But then Adam—”
“Adam saw you, too?” Luke blew out a breath and laughed. “It seems our friends have been keeping secrets from us.”
“Why he didn’t tell you, I don’t know, but the queen didn’t like him.”
“Why? Because he’s the Arch Mage now?”
The mention of the Arch Mage caused the anger inside of me to swirl. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, trying to calm it.
“Eva? Are you alright?” Luke placed a hand on my arm.
I pulled it away, stumbling back a few more steps. “Please don’t.” Once I knew the queen wasn’t going to lash out, I looked at them both. “Like I said, the smallest thing sets her off, and I don’t want to put any of you in the line of fire. The only way Iknow how to do that is to stay away until I can find some kind of semblance of control, balance.”
“Understandable.” Blake faced me but didn’t try to touch me. He seemed to know that he needed to be cautious with me right now. “Can we do anything to help?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. I will say that there are many who don’t like how humans have been treated and will want to see change from Adam... the new Arch Mage. The queen demands it, and if she doesn’t see it happen...”
Luke and Blake tensed, taking a step forward. They must have seen something on my face because they stopped their brows furrowed and jaws clenched.
“You have to understand. The queen doesn’t discriminate. She hates the mages. They killed her mother, so she wants to see them all burn. The good, the bad. Everyone. All of them. It’s taking everything in me to keep her from going on a rampage. So please, let me go. Let me find my own way. Let me keep you safe.”
The twins exchanged a look and then nodded together.
“Very well.” Luke cleared his throat. “It pains me to leave you after we... Well, either way, I hate to leave you alone to deal with this. But I understand. We understand.”
“Thank you.”
When they didn’t immediately move to leave, I blinked up at them.
Luke took a hesitant step toward me. “Can we at least say goodbye?”
My lips curled up at the edges as I dipped my head. “Yes, I think that would be alright.”
Blake held back and let Luke come to me first as it always seemed to be with them.
