Page 17 of Of Masks and Fury

The hallway seemed to stretch forever. Each step was torture, carrying us away from public spaces and closer to the privacy of my chambers. Closer to being alone with him.

When we reached my door, Trew eased around me and placed his hand on the handle. Such a simple gesture, ordinary and meaningless to anyone watching. But I could feel the tension in his shoulders, see the way his fingers gripped the metal too hard.

He opened the door and stepped back, gesturing for me to enter first.

I walked past him, so close our clothing brushed. So close I could feel the heat and rage radiating off him.

No Pherin, but perhaps that was for the best.

I could sense her flying with Gavelle. Of course. She’d missed him.

Trew entered behind me, stepping near as he closed the door. Clicking the lock.

Magic charged through the air as Trew warded the door, layering spells of silence and privacy with brutal efficiency.

Then his hand was on my shoulder, spinning me around to face him.

He thrust me back against the door, his body caging mine, his hands braced on either side of my shoulders. “Do you have any idea what you did to me, Minx?”

His voice had become his own again, rough and raw and shaking with barely controlled emotion.

I looked up into those gold-rimmed eyes and found fury and fear and desperate relief and love there. So much love it stole what remained of my breath.

“Trew—”

“I woke up and you weregone.” Each word came out precise and controlled. “Just a note. You left me only four lines, Isi. A fucking note with four lines and my entire world ended.”

His forehead dropped to meet mine, seeking contact. His hair was still the wrong color, his face still marked with a false scar, but his eyes shone with the soul I knew as well as my own.

“I thought you’d been taken,” he said, his voice dropping low and raspy. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I tracked you for days.” One hand left the door to cup my face, his fingertip brushing across my cheekbone. “Gavelle followed you from a distance. I watched you limp for two days on blisters and couldn’t help you. I watched you sleep in a ditch and couldn’t hold you. I couldn’t go to you without giving away that I was following. Do you know what that did to me?”

Tears burned in my eyes. “I had no choice.”

“There’salwaysa choice.”

“Addie is alive.” The words burst out of me. I reached into my bodice and pulled out Thorne’s letter, waving it between us. “She’s alive, Trew. She’s here somewhere, and I had to come. I had to.”

He took the letter and quickly scanned the contents. I watched his expression shift from anger to shock, then something darker.

“Addie’s alive,” he finally said. “She’s in your father’s dungeon.”

“I looked last night, but she’s not there. If I’d told you, you would’ve followed me and my father would’ve killed you. He’s gathering an army for war against Syllavar. I was protecting you. Protecting everyone.”

Tears stung in my eyes. I’d been holding everything in for days and now it let loose.

“She’s my sister. My responsibility. I raised her. I was happy while she was rotting in a dungeon. What kind of person does that make me?” The guilt was eating me alive, a constant weight that even this reunion couldn’t lift, clawing deeper as I spoke the words aloud.

“The kind of person who didn’t know. You thought she was dead. Your father is the monster here, not you.” Looking down at the letter, he nodded. “I don’t need protecting.” He crushed the letter in his fist, his jaw tight. “I need you beside me. Someone told me we were stronger together, Isi. Was that a lie?”

“No. No! I couldn’t risk you?—”

“And I can’t fuckingbreathewithout you.” His breath shuddered out. “Never again. You will not leave me again.”

“I won’t,” I whispered.