Page 192 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
No weakness, even as my heart shattered all over again as I looked at Zandyr once more.
How could you?I wanted to cry. Yell.Roar.
How could he not warn me? Give me a sign, a trail of clues to follow. Anything.
From the way the advisors were practically salivating at seeing their daughter all bejeweled and lovely, the logical side of me screamed that they had a hand in this.
The oath Zandyr had taken before he’d known I was alive.
The secrets he couldn’t tell.
Everyone had warned me, from the moment I’d stepped foot in Phoenix Peak, that Zandyr would protect those he cared about.
But at what cost?
Breaking. I was breaking. I felt it in my muscles that wanted to cave. The breath that ushered out of me in a frenzy. The way my power bled from that little pocket.
And so many people were watching. Waiting for me to break. To be weak.
Zandyr looked at me with such intensity, that force alone might have disintegrated me if not for the famed Vegheara stubbornness in me.
From the periphery of my mind, I felt a nudge from him. A trickle that became a flood. It felt like strong arms trying to prop me up so I could stand on my own.
Not pulling.
Not pushing.
Only giving me that spark I needed to snap out of the paralysis that had taken over me.
The bastard.
Making me choose, once again. At least he had the decency to do that.
But there truly wasn’t a choice, was there? The Protectorate was in shambles under Silas. No armies were coming for me, no spies were digging up secrets, no assassins had been sent out to hunt down those who wanted to kill me and my cousins.
Leaving wouldn’t get me answers, though it might send daggers through my cousins’ backs.
That bloody contract had been signed, I would not start a Clan war that could ravage us.
Steel yourself, Adara had said.
I would become steel incarnate.
For my family, I had been ready to sacrifice myself once.
I would do it again.
The only way was forward.
I took a shaky breath and stepped toward the altar.
Pure relief flooded the connection between me and Zandyr. As if I was somehow in on the plan. As if Iunderstood.
I didn’t.
A corner of his lips twisted into a smile and vanished just as fast as I met his wave of relief with nothing but grief.
Something cracked inside Zandyr. I saw it, in the dimming light of his eyes. Sensed it in the way his muscles tensed, as if he could somehow weather this storm if he turned to stone. Felt it in the rapid alarmed pulses coming down the connection.
