Page 172 of Enchanted Heir
He was really doing this. He was sending me home. And away from the castle I had felt trapped in. I should feel happy. This was what I had been working toward since I ran from Keir’s wing that night. But instead, all I felt was a rising panic. “It’s too late,” I whispered. “I love you, Krew. If you send me away tonight, I will be just as destroyed.”
Krew tipped his head back to the ceiling. “Dammit, Jorah! You don’t want this life. I’m trying to save you. I’m trying to make sure you’re safe and not standing on the cliff with the rest of us. I’m trying to get you out of all this before it gets even harder.”
I reached for him, but he sidestepped away.
“Don’t.” He shook his head. “I don’t have the strength. Don’t. Just go.”
I shook my head. “Why? Why would you tear us apart like this?”
Krew grabbed at his hair and then clenched his fists. “Because.” He had to stop, his voice cracking. He turned his back to me to begin pacing, taking a few steps away. “You deserve to be happy. You deserve to walk out of this castle and into whatever life ofyourchoosing.”
Tears were now flowing out of me so hard, pooling at my chin, I could only manage to whisper. “And if I choose you?”
He spun to look at me. “What?”
“And if I choose you?” The thought of trying to live my life without him was unbearable. I added, “It might actually kill me...” I trailed off then, the tears too much to speak around.
He shook his head. “Jorah, you have never wanted a crown. You’ve never wanted to be stuck in this castle. I understand.”
I took one step forward. “No, a crown wouldn’t kill me, that’s not what I meant. I meant being away from you, trying to live my life separate from yours.”
His magic finally went still as he listened.
“It’s true, I didn’t want to wear a crown. But that was before I loved you, Krew. So you’re right. I don’t want to wear a crown. They seem heavy and kind of awkward if we are being honest. I don’t think I’d make a good queen, but I’m not totally opposed to it either. The only thing I know,” I paused as another salty tear ran over my bottom lip, “the only thing I really do want isyou, Krew.”
“I’m trying to give you your freedom, Jorah,” he said exasperated. “So let me.”
I shook my head. “No. No, I won’t. If you are making me choose between my freedom or you, I choose you.”
“Even if it forces you to wear a crown someday?”
I looked directly into his eyes. “Even then. I don’t care if we rule Wylan or not. I just want to live my life next to yours. For as long as they may last.”
His chin quivered, and it was the saddest, most horrifying thing I had ever seen. “Dammit, Jorah. Please just go. Before I hurt you any more than I already have. Before my father hurts you any more than he already has.”
I took a deep breath that jerked my body and tried to calm down. Tried to find a way out of this. He wasn’t budging. He had Owen right outside the door ready to take me out of here and officially dismiss me from the Assemblages. “May I at least explain something first though? I’ve kind of been keeping some information from you.”
As I suspected, that had his eyes back on mine, trying to figure me out. “What do you mean?”
“The day we went to Nerede?” I asked. “Do you remember I wanted to speak to my mother without you?”
He nodded. “Yes? Understandably so. It was after we learned about Easton.”
I looked up and swallowed. “That wasn’t the only reason why I didn’t want you there.”
His eyebrows slammed together. “Okay?”
“I wanted to talk to her about something.” I paused. “Becoming bonded to you.”
His entire body went still. His tears, his tension, all traces of his magic were gone. He just froze as if he’d turned to stone before me.
“I had been considering it for a while. Owen and I had a conversation a while back and it just really got me thinking on it.” I shrugged. “You can ask Owen, but that day, before the attack even, my mother and I discussed me getting a drop of your magic and becoming bonded to you.”
He was still frozen to the spot. I wasn’t even sure he’d blinked.
I took another step forward. “It went well. But Owen and I still didn’t know if it was even possible for me to take your magic, considering the Iron Will. Or what it would do to my blood. If I would still be able to heal the forest if I took your magic.”
I think his mouth went slightly open, maybe to breathe, maybe in shock, I wasn’t sure.
