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“Secondly, you need to get used to doing things together. He’s your Er Bashou, which means he’s supposed to support you. Both of you have to work on this because he’s trying to act like a brother instead. If you exclude him, it will damage your relationship.”
I growled under my breath, and Titus’s eyebrows raised almost comically.
“He forced me to go to the hospital!” My chest was tight with betrayal. “He promised!”
Titus let out a long breath, and looked past me, out the window behind his desk. “Do youwantme to kill him?”
“What?” I took a step back as horror washed over me. Why would he’d think I’d go to such extremes? “No!”
“Are you angry at him?”
“Ye…” I opened my mouth to answer, but my reply trailed off. I clenched my fist and stared at the beige floor. “No.”
Now that I thought about it, I wasn’t really angry, although I couldn’t explain why. I had every right to feel that way.
But my stomach hurt, and my chest felt tight. Tears began to prickle behind my eyelids.
I wasn’t angry. I’d been betrayed.
“He was wrong.” How could I ever trust him again?
“Not in that situation. I was angry at first too, until I heard the details. You’d fainted on multiple occasions in a short period of time. He did what he thought was best,” Titus argued. “And also keep in mind that he’s still learning, just like you are, and sometimes you have to try to understand the other person’s point of view.”
“That’s not fair!” The words exploded from me in a rush. Why should I have to be the bigger person? “He should pay!”
“Pay,how?” Titus looked back to me, and my protests died on my tongue at the look on his face. His features were taut and tight, and there was something unsettling wavering in the depths of his darkened eyes. “If you’re not going to kill him, then you need to either learn to work with him or strip him from his position. Because you can’t have an Er Bashou you refuse to collaborate with.”
“But—” My voice broke, but he didn’t let me finish.
“Damen is furious with Finn for keeping you away, but as you can see, he’s still around,” Titus continued. “Miles and Julian are dealing with their own officers too. But do you want to knowwhynot a single one of them has been replaced? Because, in the end, they trust in the bigger picture.”
My hand was still raised in protest, but now I couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
Then he said the words that caused a dagger to stab through my heart, “If you want to prove that you’re ready for this, you can start by acting like a leader.”
“He was wrong…” Even though I knew he wasn’t.
“He did what he thought was best, even though it might not have been the wisest approach.” Titus waved his hand in the air dismissively. “No one is arguing that. But you still need to make a decision: are you going to work through this with him, or are you going to let him go? Because it’s your responsibility to solve conflicts, not let them fester.”
I glared at the floor as my eyes flooded with tears.
Darn it.
“What do you want to do?” Titus asked. “If you want to project your anger onto him instead of dealing with it, fine. I’ll grab him right now and do whatever you want. We could find a replacement for him in a heartbeat.”
“No.” Bryce, after all, was growing on me.
“Then what do you want?”
“I’ll talk to him,” I grumbled. I did understand he was trying to help, but we were going to have a serious discussion about boundaries.
Titus placed his hand over the top of my head, and his voice was warm when he spoke. “Good.” He paused, then, “I have something for you.”
“What?” I blinked at my feet. Was this going to be a recurring thing? I’d already lost the first gift he’d given me.
Though, for some reason, it didn’t feel wrong to accept stuff from him. Sometimes. But only when the moment struck.
He grabbed my right hand, holding my wrist lightly as he reached into his pocket. My breath caught as he pulled out a ring. I’d seen this pattern once before: twisted leaves and inlaid diamonds. He’d managed to save his mother’s hairpin.
