Page 171 of Enchanted Heir
How much longer could we all go on like this? It was a long road to summer. I didn’t know how to stomach one more ball, let alone a half a dozen or more of them. I was getting sick of the cycle. It was like as soon as Krew and I got to a place where we were happy, the king did something else that tried to destroy us and chip away at it.
Yet I wasn’t ready for Krew to end him either because that meant I might have to say goodbye to Krew. So I was stuck, trying to get all of us through as many of these hard days as we possibly could. I was exhausted and sick of it all, the endlessly worrying, but there was nothing I could really do besides endure.
“Owen, can you stay for a bit?” Krew asked quietly as he held open the door to his wing. “I need your help.”
“Uh, sure.” Owen sent me a look as if wondering if I knew what was wrong with Krew.
I sent him a subtle shake of my head. I had no clue. Krew seemed fine when we were dancing downstairs, but now he was clearly upset about something.
“What’s going on?” Owen asked.
Krew was walking into the closet or bathroom, I didn’t know which, just that general direction. I wondered if he was heading to change, knowing he didn’t like being all dressed up, but then he was back just as fast as he had left. With a coat in hand. My heavy tan coat.
“Here,” he tossed it to me. “Owen, can you give us five minutes, please?”
Owen gave me the weirdest look.
I didn’t know what he was thinking, I just knew the look on his face immediately terrified me.
“Five minutes and then you are getting her out of here,” Krew explained.
My breath caught and then left me entirely.“What?”
Owen’s eyebrows arched upward. “Like for the night or...”
Krew’s eyes avoided me and went right to Owen, his magic flaring in his cheekbones as he clenched them. “Five minutes?”
Owen turned to me. “I’ll be right outside if you need me, okay?”
I gave him a nod and whispered, “Okay.”
CHAPTER42
As soon as the door shut when Owen left us, Krew softly commanded, “Put your coat on, please.”
The rawness of his voice and his lack of looking me in the eyes had my heart picking up speed, tears rising to the surface. “Not until you tell me why.”
“Because,” Krew began, “I told you the final four. I made you a promise I’d get you your freedom. It’s time, Jorah. I can’t do this to you anymore.”
I shook my head and had no idea how all those tears roaring to the surface didn’t spill out. “No, Krew.”
He gave me a nod. “Yes, love. It’s now or never.”
“So never then,” I snapped. Of all the things I’d been worrying and fretting over these past weeks, I hadn’t really ever considered that he’d do this. Send me away.
He cocked his head and strode over toward me, taking the jacket and throwing it on me around my shoulders.
I was stuck standing there while he gently put one of my arms in the coat and then the other. Frozen to the spot. Was this really happening? He was sending me home? He was kicking me out of the Assemblages. I was finally getting the very thing I had wanted since the moment I had walked into this godsforsaken castle.
“You want me to leave?” The tears finally spilled over as I felt the first one track down my cheek.
He shook his head. “No, love. But I want you to have your freedom. I want you to be able to get out while you can. I want you away from my father. I want you safe and somewhere he can’t so much as put a finger on you. And I don’t wish to string you along only to hurt you in the end.”
“Look at me,” I croaked. “Look at me, please.”
His eyes finally met mine, and I was staring into a pair of watery and tormented gray eyes. “I didn’t mean that about you, Krew. I was talking about Molly and Keir. He may not care that deeply about Molly. I know that you do for me. It’s entirely different.”
“But in the end will I be any better? So does it make a difference? I’d do anything for you. So to spare your heart I’ll do this too. You deserve your freedom. You deserve to get out before I hurt you in the end.”
