Page 69 of Jeweler to the Blessed
I still wasn’t sure I understood. “So, Mother’s tonic … It’s taken care of?”
She arched a brow at me. “Has Alaric ever lied to you?”
I hesitated before conceding. “No, but apparently, he’s seen fit to leave out a lot of information.”
“As he did with all of us, Gem. But I choose to believe I knew him. Which meant he had his reasons.”
I wished for her confidence, even as her words had me on the edge of my seat. Alaric wouldn’t have wanted me stuck in this position with the royal family. It was the only part of him leaving on purpose that didn’t make sense. In his perfect world, what? I found the note, knew he was alright, and that Mother didn’t need me, and I just … left Kavios?
Even if Vaddon hadn’t found me, I wasn’t sure it would have worked that way. Something still didn’t make sense.
Ava’s information soothed me even as uncertainty raged within. “Do you trust the seller?” I asked.
She’d been so honest about Alaric. I hoped it would continue.
She nodded without hesitation. “I do. But I’m not sure it matters. I don’t think trust is transferable like that.”
I sighed, conceding her point.
“What did he want in exchange for the herb?” she asked.
My hands balled into fists at my side, thinking of the unspecified favor he’d extracted. Then, I replayed our conversation. First, he’d asked me to trust him.
Maybe Ava was more correct than I realized. I’d told Hart that was unreasonable. He couldn’t demand trust that way. Similarly, I knew Alaric had trusted Hart, and I kept latching on to that to convince myself I could trust him too. Neither of those scenarios were how trust works.
I didn’t trust easily. Especially not a Blessed. But something in my gut that I’d been working hard to ignore kept telling me to trust Hart.
He’d been as unreasonable as I had been, trying to bartertrust. Talking to him seemed like the best choice. I never got the answers I wanted, but he always seemed to have an answer I needed to hear.
Ava’s catlike smile said she knew her question had struck a nerve. She waved me off, wishing me luck with the seller. My thoughts were scattered as I left the tavern. I didn’t need a run-in with Soren. It was getting late, but since I snuck out, I still wanted to check on my parents before returning to the castle. I pushed open the door, stepping onto the street, when a hand wrapped around my wrist, lifting and pulling me around the corner to the eastern alley.
I reached for my knife, but my attacker was faster, slamming my hand above my head against the wall before I could stab.
My mouth opened to scream for Ava. Then, the attacker’s hood fell back, and eyes the color of the Oldwood’s canopy stared back at me. Anger raged in them even as his lip curled into that smirk. His hand around my gloved wrist flexed, pressing it back against the wall again. I was at his mercy, and he knew it. And boy, did he look unhappy I had snuck out.
Hart glanced at the building behind us. “If you wanted a willing partner, Chaos, you need only have asked.”
22
I fear this city has forced her to apathy.
— ALARIC SARE’S LETTERS TO ISABELLE ARKOVA
Ifought his hold. “Let me go, Hart.”
The panic of an unknown attacker left as quickly as it had arrived. A different feeling pulsed through me as I pushed against my guard. His hand was firmly clasped around my arm—his body inches from mine against the stone wall of the alley.
Even as he manhandled me, he’d been careful only to grab my covered wrists. Now, he leaned into my space. “Not until you listen to me.”
I thrashed again. He only reaffirmed his grip. An image, unbidden, flooded my mind. Those rough hands on my bare skin—demanding and unyieldingin their conquest.
I shook away the thought and shoved against him again. “Let go.”
I raised my knee in my only other defensive move. He saw it coming and sidestepped while his hand clamped harder on my wrist.
“Dammit, Chaos,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
I couldn’t take it. Heat built inside me at his proximity. It clouded my senses and stripped my tongue of the reason I held so dear. “Why are you blackmailing me when Alaric said the tonic was already taken care of?”
