“Astory?” he repeated.
I rested my head on his shoulder. “Yes. It’s important, and I need you not to be angry.”
Xander snarled, “Am I going to want to be angry?”
Pursing my lips together, I nodded slowly. “Probably. But it’s going to be hard enough for me to tell you without you going all… dragon on me.”
A long sigh escaped him. “I’ll do my best,” he said. He jokingly added, “Besides, I’m a captive audience right now. You heard Nonna. I need to rest for a bit.”
My lips twitched as I patted his cheek. “Why do you think I chose to tell you a story now?”
“Fair point.” He waved a hand in the air. “Please, Sunshine. Tell me a story.”
I snuggled up beside him, letting the heat of his body warm me from the inside out. “How did you start?” Humming, I pulled his arm over my shoulder. “Oh yes. Once upon a time….”
Over the next hour, I told Xander about everything that had happened to me. Growing up in the tower, being raised as the king’s pet, being marked for breeding. I skipped over the various punishments I had received, deciding that now probably wasn’t the right time to share those with him.
I told myself it was because I didn’t want Xander to get angry. But really, I just wasn’t ready to confront the truth of what had been done to me.
One day, I promised myself, I would tell him. When we were both ready.
When I got to the part about Matthias taking me to the attic to train, Xander chuckled. “I was going to ask who trained you to wield those daggers so well. I suppose I have him to thank for the way you stabbed me when we first met.”
I winced. “You could, but he’s dead.”
“Oh,” he said.
“Everyone always dies.” The words were soft and tinged with sorrow as they left my mouth.
Xander shifted, pulling me onto his lap. His arms wrapped around me, drawing me against him. I didn’t fight him. His warmth washed through me as he brushed back a stray lock of hair from my head. Xander pressed his lips to my hair, murmuring, “I’m so sorry, Aileana.”
I sighed. “It’s… not okay. But it is the way my life seems to go. I never even met my parents. Did you know that?”
He shook his head.
“It’s true. My earliest memories take place from the tower. When I was younger, I had a nursemaid. She taught me about Thelrena.” I shook as I said the goddess’ name, my back clenching in terror even though I knew I was safe with Xander.
He ran a soothing hand down my back as he asked, “What happened to her?”
“One day she just… disappeared. She was there one day and gone the next. Fool that I was, I asked the king what had happened to my nursemaid on his monthly visit.”
A long pause, then Xander growled, “What did he say?”
“The bastard laughed. He said that I didn’t need her anymore, so he had her killed. A liability, he had said. Because she knew too much. She knewme.”
I blinked, rubbing my hands over my eyes as I remembered the way I had sobbed that day. The king had left my tower, and I had collapsed into a ball on the ground. I hadn’t even moved until the next day.
I ran my hands over my face. The sleeves of my dress slipped as I whispered, “I don’t even remember her name, but I know she used to sing to me at night.”
Xander tensed beneath me, his hand darting out and grabbing my wrist. He yanked up the sleeve of my dress, exposing the black bracelet. “Aileana, what is this?”
I stared at the black manacle that seemed to suck the light out of the cavern. I lifted my wrist, staring at it as I said, “Remington—”
A snarl escaped Xander, and I hurried to finish my sentence. “Remington put them on me. He said they were made by a witch and can only come off with his blood.” My voice cracked. “They stop me from using my magic.”
“I swear to you on all that I am, Aileana, we will find a way to get these off you.”
“We?” My voice cracked as hope, treacherous hope, leaked into my words.