Frustration surges through me as I wag my index finger at him. “Earlier, you locked me in a room.”
“I was trying to decide what to do with you,” he counters.
“I was right about her not being old.” Merriment flashes across Cenric’s face as he smiles at Hector. “Though, I didn’t expect you to be enjoying her so soon, Gabriel.”
Hector’s mouth thins, and he jerks his chin toward the door. “Give us a moment.”
Cenric rolls his eyes and steps from the room. Praxis gazes at us for a beat before following him.
I stare after them, my focus caught on the door even after it closes.
Praxis is alive! So very alive!
My heart thrums with joy, but then I remember watching him take the arrow meant for me, and the guilt returns, gripping my chest.
“Why did you stare at Praxis like you had seen a ghost?” Hector asks, dragging my attention to him.
“I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did. Why?”
Maybe it’s wrong to tempt Fate this way, to experiment with it, but I cannot keep silent. “Tell him to always wear armor when he walks with me through the city of Karra.”
Hector’s brow lifts. “Why?”
“Just tell him that.” I exhale and continue, knowing I cannot keep quiet about this. “Please. It’s very important.”
Shadows play across Hector’s face as he stares at me, then nods. A relieved breath whooshes from my lungs. Hopefully, Hector listens, and Edvard still has a father when I return to Karra.
“I want to know how you really got here,” Hector says.
My legs tremble as I sink into the only chair. “You don’t believe I have traveled through time?”
“No.”
I clutch my arms around my body and shake my head. “How else would I know your name is Hector?”
Intense silver-blue eyes meet mine, then narrow. “Who told you that?”
“You’re simply denying the obvious. You know what my serpent mark and the binding tattoo mean.” When he doesn’t answer, I continue, my voice soft. “I know you, Hector, and I know how important trust is to you. It took you months to finally bed me because you didn’t trust me.”
Instead of answering, he turns to the window. Tension ripples across his shoulders as his entire body stiffens.
Not deterred by his mood, I keep speaking. “Your cousins mean everything to you. You would do anything to protect them, and you would do anything to protect your people.”
Silence impregnates the room, its weight heavier than the stones in the pit of my stomach—the ones that formed there the moment I stepped through Everly’s portal.
Hector rotates to face me. “If all of this is true, why are you here and not in the future? Why did you leave?”
My chest aches as I drop my gaze, staring down at my wrapped hands. “Because I needed to renew myself.”
“That’s not the only reason, is it?” His question chisels at the space between us, chipping away at my truth.
“You want to rule the six tribes of Tarrobane, and I don’t agree with your decision.” The words escapes me in a rush of bitterness.
I wish it had faded by now, or that I had found a way to cope with it, but I haven’t. Hector still wants to rule Tarrobane, and I still don’t agree with his decision.
“So, you left me?” Hector asks in a flat voice, yet his question still pierces my chest and squeezes my heart.
