Page 36 of Thief of Dreams
"Well, maybe you're not the oneIwant?"
Fear makes my voice harsh.
Keir stares at me.
"You barely know me," I whisper. "I'm not kind. I'm not.... I'm nothonest. I can't be trusted. Not with your heart."
It's the closest I can get to warning him.
He smiles a little dangerously. "Yes and no. I will wait, Merisel. But you should know—I mean to have you, no matter how long I must wait. No matter how much you doubt me."
This is a nightmare.
He's like the mirror, offering me my greatest temptation, even as I feel the jaws of the trap closing around me.
"I'm sorry," I whisper, retreating toward the door. "I cannot be what you want me to be."
"Then I will wait."
The words follow me through the door as I slam it and press my back to it. This needs to end. Now. Tonight.
Before it's too late.
* * *
Soraya archesa brow the second she sees me. "You look like something the Cauldron just spat out."
I collapse back onto my bed with a groan. I feel like it too. Between the attack and Keir's sudden decision, I feel like I've been gut punched. "Try Calliope. Bitch was our crazy killer. Tried to bury me in a wall."
"Tried?"
"Keir cut off her head." I shudder. "And then he pulled me out of the wall. You're lucky you still have a sister."
Maybe it would have been for the best if he left me in there.
What am I going to do?
He flat-out stated his intentions to make me his wife.
Hisprincess.
I was so out of sorts, I didn't even think of the fucking relic once. This is all turning to shit. The sooner we're out of here the better, but the second I think it, I know I'm in no hurry to pull off the job.
Because the second I do, I betray him.
My mouth tastes like ash.
Soraya kneels on the end of the bed and tugs at my right boot. "You shouldn't have trusted her."
"I didn't." It was a lesson learned from her all those years ago. My voice softens, "It doesn't mean I didn't like her."
"You didn't get a chance to steal the relic from the prince?"
"Don't. Not tonight. I'm tired and my head hurts." I sit up on the bed as she discards my boots behind her. Then she's helping with my gown, dragging the bloody remnants of it over my head. "The last thing I was thinking about was stealing the charm from around Keir's neck."
Soraya rubs my shoulders, and I can't stop them from softening. "Keir, is it?"
I shove her in the gut. "Is there anything to drink? My mouth tastes like a horse's ass."
