Page 134 of Captive

“So, you hid this from me instead.” I say, my words too broken, too fragile—as if I’m a piece of pottery he will pick up and shatter.

But I don’t want to shatter.

I want to live. To thrive. To know who I am. To be goodness. Light. A healer. Hector’s wife.

Yes, I want that.

But there are too many divides between us. Too many mountains. Too many secrets.

“Yes, and it was a mistake. I know that now,” he says, his words pulling me back to him.

I look away from the regret in his eyes and stare down at my black-tipped fingers. If only they weren’t defective.

If onlyIwasn’t defective.

“What about what the Seer said? Didn’t she tell you I would bring magic back to your people?”

“You helped ignite the return of Bloodstone magic when you healed Praxis in Astarobane.”

“This entire time, I believed I could stop this.” Frustration strikes at my chest as I dig my heels into the marble. “But there was never any stopping it.”

He sighs.

“You can stop time during battle. You and your army will be unstoppable. Is that what you want? To be unstoppable?”

When Hector doesn’t reply, I stand up and pace. “Is that what you want, Hector? To be unstoppable?”

He still doesn’t answer.

I come to an abrupt stop and face him. “Answer me!”

“Why should I? You have already come up with your own conclusion.”

I shake my hand at him. “No, you don’t get to skirt around my question. I want a proper answer from you. Do you want to be unstoppable?”

Anger blazes from his words as he speaks. “What I want is to not live in fear of someone killing my entire lineage. To not ride into one of my villages again and see everyone slaughtered. Is it wrong to want those things, Sol?” He moves to stand in front of me. “Look at me.”

Intensity rises off him in waves as he takes my face in his hands. His eyes plead with me, flooding with anguish and heartache.

An invisible force pulls me closer to him—a desire too powerful and intense for words.

My anger quells the force.

I look away, breaking that contact, that connection. “It’s not, Hector. But I don’t want you to keep secrets from me.”

He releases me and steps back. “My secrets would have destroyed us.”

Unspeakable pain wraps around my stomach like a thick, relentless vine and squeezes. I sink into the closest chair. “They have.”

“No.” He shakes his head. “Don’t say that.”

“You should have told me the truth when you found out.”

“Sol…”

“Do you think I can trust you after this?” My throat tightens as sadness shoots through every nerve. “You speak of trust, yet you don’t trust me with your secrets.”

“I’m truly sorry.”

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