“I hate you.” I hated his power. His presences. His lies.
He stilled. Inhaled. And smiled. “Good.” He stepped over the fallen roses and what remained of the vase. “Come on.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
His boots clicked as he climbed the first two stairs. “We both need sleep, and I refuse to deal with cranky Aveen.”
Cranky Aveen? I wasn’t a bloody child throwing a bloody tantrum. “I’m not sleeping here.”
Rían stopped mid-stride, drumming his fingers against the banister. “Would you prefer to sleep in the dungeon?”
“I wouldprefergetting my sister and bringing her back to Graystones.”
I’d have to come up with a way to explain my resurrection and find someplace to hide her body. Perhaps Padraig would have some ideas. Of course, that was assuming my father still lived at the estate. If Keelynn hadn’t married Robert, he may have been forced to sell.
And if he’d been forced to sell, there’d be no estate to return to.
Meaning I had no home. No money. No clothes. No sister.
I had nothing and no one.
“And how do you plan on doing that?” Rían drawled. “The penalty for crossing the Black Forest without the Queen’s permission is death, and our sea is swarming with hungry merrow. Go on.” He rolled a hand toward me. “Tell me your grand escape plan.”
Was he saying I was trapped in Tearmann?
Oh god.
No. It must be another lie. Rían didn’t know how to tell the truth.
I would find a way out.
And when I did, Keelynn and I would leave this cursed land and go somewhere he and his brother would never find us.Bargain be damned.
“That’s what I thought.” The arrogant bastard pointed toward the next floor. “Now, you can either walk up these stairs on your own, or I can carry you. What’s it going to be?”
Again, I tried to move my hands. Again, I failed.
Despite knowing there was no hope of escape, I retreated toward the door on principle.
Rían caught me, spun me around, and hefted me over his shoulder like a sack of flour. My indignant screams reverberated off the stone walls. No matter how hard I struggled, his bonds were stronger. Sweat trickled down my forehead into my eyes as he climbed higher and higher. When it became clear no one was coming to my aid, I stopped shouting.
Where were all the servants? Did no one care that I’d been taken hostage?
On the third floor, Rían left the stairs, plopping me onto my feet next to an arched wooden door. I glared toward the staircase. How far would I make it before he caught up?
“Don’t even think about it,” he growled, twisting the knob and throwing the door aside.
A white sleigh bed sat in the center of a modest bedroom. The thick rug beneath the bed stretched all the way to a stone fireplace.
Rían flicked his wrist, and the bonds fell away. A second flick and the fire in the hearth roared to life. “If you need me, my room is down the—”
“I won’t need you.”
Not now. Not ever again. Dead to me. That’s what he was. Dead as my sister.
“Dammit, Aveen. Why can’t you just believe I did what I had to do and leave it at that?” He banged a clenched fist against his thigh. “You are the one who sought me out. The one who begged me to help you. This”—he gestured to the room—“wasn’t part of the plan.”
His plan? He wanted to talk about his bloodyplan? “You promised to keep her from your brother. You promised to keep her safe. To keepmesafe.” Look at me now. Stranded in Tearmann. Empty. Hopeless.