“But he took her,” I said, feeling like a knife was carving a hole in my chest. He’d lied, no surprise there.And if it had been me in that meeting, I wouldn’t have needed Eve’s gift to know that.
That’s why you weren’t invited, a voice in the back of my head told me.
“I never trusted Father’s words; I just thought we’d have more ti?—”
The door to his study burst open, but it wasn’t him. It was one of his guards.
“If you don’t leave, I will be forced to show you out,” he said, his reddened eyes looking over us.
His attitude shocked me.What did Father say to them?Evenat his angriest, he never used our own people to force us from his sight.
“He doesn’t want to see us then?” I asked, rolling my shoulders back.
I was given a stiff nod. Nothing else. I would need to weed out the guards.I had a few names I knew were loyal to the whole family, notto him. The one in front of us was not one of them.
“You can see him in three days at the banquet,” he replied. “Until then, you will be barred from his presence.”
We have to get to Eve in the next three days or else?—
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Eros said, pushing herself up and crossing the room with a newfound rage. “We are the next in line to the throne; you cannot just order us?—”
I put my hand on her shoulder.
“Let’s go,” I said, steering her out of the room.
She was still huffing and puffing by the time we got down the hall.
“We need to find her, Oros, or?—”
For the first time in my life, I raised my clawed hand and struck Eros across the face.
She met me with bewilderment in her eyes.
“Youspoke to him alone?” I hissed. “And you didn’t think to tell me right away? Or let me know that he threatened you? What happened to our promise?”
My throat unexpectedly started to close toward the end.
Her eyes widened and her mouth opened to speak, but no words came out.
“If you had told me, I would have taken all threeof us as far away as possible,” I said, my voice raising. “And there would have been no chance for him to kidnap Eve in the first place?—”
Eros’s clawed hands were on my chest, pushing me back with such force that I fell to the ground.
She was on top of me before I had a chance to steady myself.
“Don’tyou dare blame this on me. This was because you were fucking sloppy when passing out those flyers?—”
“Oh, right; just blame me for every?—”
Her hands pulled at my shirt while mine grabbed her hair.
“And if you hadn’t taken her out, Father would never have approached me?—”
“Don’t act like he hasn’t approached you every year since we were fucking fifteen.”
This had her pausing, her face softening.
“You knew?”
