Page 68 of When Ashes Fall

She represented a large chink in my armor, and I hated it. If she ever betrayed me, I’d tear her wings off and smash them into the ground.

“You don’t want to test me, Briar.”

“Maybe it’s me you don’t want to test, Knox.”

I chuckled as I drummed my fingers on the wooden armchair. “What are you hiding?”

She recoiled a little before she quickly recovered. It was already too late by then. I’d clearly hit a nerve.

“I’m not hiding anything from you!”

The sound of her heart cut through the beat of the rain as I held her gaze. “You’re lying,” I stated.

“So we’re back to that again,” she spat. “It’s funny, you say I’m lying now, but you also accused me of lying before. Is that your favorite thing to do when it comes to me?”

I’d been so convinced she was the reason I’d suffered and my kingdom was cursed that I hadn’t wanted to believe her before and didn’t study her reaction to my words. I did now, and she was scared.

“You’re determined to believe I’m a liar,” she said. “Have you ever stopped to think maybe you’re someone I don’t trust?”

Those words were like a dagger straight to my heart. We could never go back to the way we were, but I hadn’t expected her not to trust me.

Why would she? You’ve never given her a reason to since taking her from the harem.

“So you admit you are hiding something from me,” I stated. “And I’d think hard before replying. Lying will get you nowhere.”

“Neither will telling you the truth,” she retorted. “You didn’t believe the last truth I told you… until now.”

“Briar,” I said in a warning tone.

“Knox,” she shot back in a mocking one.

The beast snarled within me; it didn’t like being taunted in such a way, but I understood… even if I wanted to choke her for it.

“Something changed after your Needing,” I stated.

She didn’t respond as she kept her chin high and stared into the fire.

“You developed…” I trailed off as I pondered what I’d seen from her since her Needing. “Your powers are stronger; that’s evident in your potions.”

“How would you know?” she asked. “You’ve never seen my potions at work before I came to Wildwood.”

I ignored her words while I continued trying to work everything out for myself. “You’re not bound to the sun or moon gods, and while you’ve always taken energy from the earth, it’s clear you’re absorbing more from it now.”

“Again, you knew this.”

“Your eyes glowed when you touched the tree of knowledge after your Needing.”

Her mouth pursed.

“I haven’t seen it happen since,” I told her. “But I didn’t imagine it.”

“I didn’t know that happened.”

“It’s not like you can see your own eyes.”

“What’s your point, Knox?”

“My point is that more changed within you after your Needing than I realized.”