Page 68 of Ash and Roses
My eyes narrow. “Quinn doesn’t give orders.”
“I think you’ll find he’s in a very princely mood today. Best not keep him waiting any longer.”
I allow her to escort me through the halls even though I know the way. This castle has become a second home to me now, but perhaps it was just another prison all along, masked under the beauty and the sweet scent of roses. Quinn has no right to be angry with me, so he can take his attitude and shove it right up his—
“Leave us,” Quinn says the instant Tess and I step into the dining hall. Tess bows—actually bows—before scurrying out of the room.
“You’re making people bow to you now? What did you say to make her so upset?”
He lets out a heavy huff of air. “Would you believe me if I said not a thing?” I don’t answer him, so he gestures to the only empty chair. It’s all the way at the other end of the long, dark-wood table and sitting there puts both literal and figurative space between us. “Please sit down.”
I remember the last time we sat in this room just like this. It was the morning he’d tried to send me away before I fell ill from an infection in the wound I now know was caused by him. My shoulder burns at the memory, as if the now pink scars remember too.
I do as he says and claim my seat. There’s a plate of food waiting for me, but I couldn’t stomach it even if I wanted to. He looks as if he wants to tell me to eat, but instead says, “I’m sorry for locking you in there. I acted out of fear and jealousy, and I know it was wrong. I’m sure it will take some time, but I hope you’ll come to forgive me.”
The last thing I want to hear right now is an apology. “Did you kill him?”
He swallows a bite of his food before answering. “Would you be surprised if I did?”
No. “Yes. You’re not a killer.”
“But I am a monster.” I want to argue, but I’m so tired of trying to convince him he’s not the awful creature he believes himself to be. He’s an ass, but he’s not rotten to the core. I’ve witnessed the good that fills his heart, and even though I’ve never been more angry with him, I still want him to see that. He leans back in his chair before wiping the corner of his mouth with a napkin. “Your huntsman came to kill me.”
“Where is he?”
Quinn looks annoyed. “He’s fine. Ruben and a few others are escorting him out of the forest.” So that’s what has Tess so flustered. She’s worried about Ruben. At least she would know if anything happened. Her connection with Ruben might differ from my connection with Quinn, but in some ways, it’s probably stronger.
I have to bite my lip so I don’t yell at him. He locked me in that room and denied me the chance to speak to Jade. It doesn’t matter that he was afraid I would leave him; it was my choice to make. “How did you make him go?” I can’t imagine Jade would just give up, but on the other hand, he’s already left me behind once before.
“I told him that the goddess your people believe in—the one who supposedly saved your people with the Lunar Hunt—put the creature in the woods to drive animals to the edge of the forest so your people don’t starve. If he kills it, he will doom your people.”
Would Jade care if that happened? “And me?”
“He believes you’re dead.” I can’t stop my face from falling, and I know it hurts him. “Do you love him?”
His question takes me by surprise. “What? Love? No, I…” Jade was important to me,isimportant to me, but love? I’m not entirely sure that’s something I’m capable of.
“He loves you. Or so it seems. I may not have killed him, but I think I broke his heart.”
I don’t want to think about that. Not Jade’s heart, Quinn’s, or even my own. My head is swimming, and all I want is some time to myself. I never thought that I would long for solitude, but nothing shocks me anymore.
I push my plate away. “I’m not hungry. May I be excused?”
“You don’t need my permission.”
I don’t say the words screaming to be spoken, but Quinn’s flinch tells me he heard them.‘I thought I was your prisoner.’
I stand from my chair and move for the door, but don’t get very far before a strangled cry and the shattering of glass has me frozen in place. Quinn is out of his seat and racing past me, and when I follow I find Tess kneeling on the floor with her head in her hands. A broken teapot lays shattered before her, the spilled reddish liquid resembling blood and pairing ominously with her wails.
“What’s wrong?” Quinn is on his knees beside her, stroking her back with a gentle hand. She leans into him, sobbing so hard that she can hardly get a word out.
“It’s Ruben. He’s—He’s dead.”
The heat of the anger coursing through my veins chills in an instant. That huge, powerful, awe-inspiring man can’t be dead. Quinn looks as if he’s experiencing the same disbelief as I am.
“Why would you say that?” The tremble in his voice is unmistakable. Ruben is the closest thing he has to a father now, and I don’t want to think about what losing him would do.
“I can’t feel him anymore,” Tess sobs. “One minute he was there, and the next….”