“Surely, you don’t condone his actions?”
Faster and faster that muscle jerks in Gabriel’s jaw, but he doesn’t answer, doesn’t agree with me.
“Gabriel!”
“What would you have me say, Sol?” he asks, his words empty, low, defeated. “He’s dead. But because of him, people like you won’t leave my people alone.”
My chest aches at his reluctance to agree with me. I need a connection, a tie between my heart and his. He offers me nothing. No threads to weave together a path. No insight into his world.
Bitterness twists Gabriel’s mouth into a deep scowl as he climbs from the bed and speaks in a caustic tone. “You’re no different from anyone else who comes here and tries to kill our leaders.”
“I was heartbroken and vengeful.”
He moves to the table and yanks up his surcoat. “Last summer, the Seer told me I’d marry a woman with a serpent mark on her wrist. She failed to mention she’d be vengeful.”
I swallow through the rawness in my throat. “I cannot help my story, Gabriel. Nor can I change my past. You asked for my truth, and I gave it to you.”
“You asked me why I didn’t bed you.” His lips form a thin line. “This is the reason. I couldn’t trust you, and I cannot bed a woman I don’t trust.”
He has every right to feel that way. Every right to not want to go that far.
I bring my knees up and rest my hands against them. “What does that mean for us?”
He glances at the closed door. “You will not like my answer.”
“Just speak,” I say, my words flat, emotionless.
This isn’t the ending I wanted when I decided to give him honesty. I thought by being truthful, I might garner his trust.
Instead, I lost everything.
His stare lowers to me “You stay here as my prisoner.”
“Your prisoner? Isn’t that a little dramatic?”
Before I comprehend his intentions, he moves closer, leans down, and swoops me from the bed. I land on my feet with a thud and my body tucked close to his.
“You wanted revenge. I want the power of your mark,” he says in the flattest voice I have ever heard.
My breath squeezes from my lungs as I jerk my gaze upward. “What?”
“Your mark will give my people magic again.”
I gasp and try to jerk away. His grip tightens, trapping me like an iron cage to his larger, taller frame.
“How dare you pin such an evil thing on me?”
“Evil?” A scowl forms on Gabriel’s mouth. “Bloodstone magic isn’t evil.”
“It’s dark. The opposite of light.” The words snap out of me.
From the time I could walk, Father implanted that truth in me. “Kyanites,” he’d say, “are the light. Their magic is light. Bloodstone people are the opposite. They once wielded dark, unthinkable magic. They must never be allowed to call on their gifts again. It’s our duty to make sure they never do.”
The scowl deepens on Gabriel’s mouth. “It’s not dark. It’s simply different than what a Kyanite can cast.” He grabs my arm and turns my wrist to the torchlight. “The Seer prophesied I’d marry a woman with a serpent mark, and she’d bring back magic to my people.”
“No!” I yank free. “That’s impossible.”
“It’s the truth.” Frustration burns in his eyes. “Why else do you think I agreed to this farce of a marriage?”
