Page 54 of A Queen’s Game (Aithyr Uprising #1)

When the sun began to set, Keyain returned to the suite with his button-down shirt already untucked and hair disheveled. Marietta waited for him to notice her at the dining room table, sitting with a book left unread next to her.

He furrowed his brows as he reviewed the open file in his hands before giving Marietta a double-take. “Mar, you’re up.” He closed the files as he approached and set them down on the table. “And dressed.”

“Amryth came by.”

Keyain sighed, mussing his hair more. “I told her to stay away after….”

“Of course you did,” Marietta said, a frown tugging at her lips.

“I see she got you out of the nightgowns. Did you eat today too?”

“Yes, a little.”

“A full meal?”

She thought back to the handful of grapes and cheese Amryth goaded her to eat. “More than usual.”

He nodded his head, a smile hinting at his lips. “That’s good—an improvement. Are you feeling better?”

She sighed and gestured to the seat across from her. “Can you sit so we can talk?”

With furrowed brows and a nervous glance, he sat down. “Is everything alright?”

Part of her didn’t want to bother asking, wanted to resign herself to wasting away in bed as she had for days. But after an afternoon with a friend, another part of her stirred. Marietta wanted control over her life and wouldn’t let anyone or anything take her agency away.

She met Keyain’s gaze, holding her chin high. “As you said, I can’t continue as I have been, but I’m content with wasting away.”

His hand reached across the table to hold her own, concern laced into his expression. “How can I help?”

With a squeeze of his hand, she said, “I need to talk to someone, to get out of this suite, Keyain. Amryth mentioned she’s been visiting the Temple of Therypon and that they’ve helped her—”

“For fuck’s sake, Mar,” Keyain said with a sigh, pulling his hand back from her. “The temples are just cults.”

“But they helped Amryth with the death of her wife. If you want to help me, then let me go to the temple to find peace.”

“I’ll have a doctor from the infirmary sent to the suite,” Keyain said, standing. “I know you didn’t like the drugs, but it’s better than what you’ve been doing.”

Marietta stood with him, her chair knocking backward. “No, Keyain. I want to go to the temple, not be drugged out of my mind.”

Keyain stared at her, letting the anger ease from his features before speaking. “You can not, and will not, go to the temple; you will not set foot outside the palace. Do you understand?” Without waiting for a response, he turned towards the living room.

Marietta followed at his heels, arms crossed at her chest. “No, I don’t understand. You ask how you can help, and then you deny the one thing I ask for after you caused all of this!”

He stopped at the center of the living room, Marietta bumping into him. “I’m sorry my actions have affected you so negatively.”

She scoffed at his audacity—affected her negatively? He stole her life.

“The city isn’t safe right now. With the missing pilinos—” His words cut off, and he offered a glance back at Marietta before continuing to his office.

Marietta’s heart paused in her chest. “What missing pilinos?” she asked, trailing him into the office.

Keyain licked his lips as he placed the files into his desk drawer, locking it with a key.

“What missing pilinos, Keyain?” she asked again.

He hesitated, lines bracketing his mouth as he thought of his words. “Fifteen pilinos were reported missing in the past month, most of them being half-elves. I will not risk your safety.”

“But you’ll risk my life here in the suite, waiting for me to rot away?”

“I’ll take my chances here, where I can protect you.”

“Then come with me,” she said, trying to hold on to hope. “If you take me, then you’ll know I’m safe.”

“No,” he snapped. “We’re done talking about this.” Keyain moved to the door, but Marietta stood at the center, blocking his way.

“This is what I want.” She swallowed hard, looking into his face. “I’m asking you for help and you’re refusing. You’ve taken everything from me, Keyain. What will it take for you to help me?”

He placed his hands on her shoulders. “Not this.”

The hope that blossomed in her chest uprooted, and Marietta cursed herself for letting it grow in the first place, for the tears it now caused. She turned from Keyain and continued to the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

She had no control over herself, over her future.

Keyain had the final say on it all. Frustration caused Marietta to tear the now loose-fitted dress from her body, to tear her hair from its bind, ignoring the pain of strands ripping from her scalp.

She dug her nails into her skin and sunk to her knees as her breaths came sharp.

She felt nothing and everything, the pain of being trapped, of being at the Keyain’s whim.

Before her abduction, she chose everything—her clothes, where she went, what she did.

To have such control only to lose it made the hurt greater.

Marietta knew that this was her fate, brought on by the hands of Keyain and what he believed was protecting her. What she needed was help, but what she received was damnation.