Page 84 of Breaking Isolde

After a minute, I lift my head. “Why are you here?” I whisper.

He sits on the edge of the mattress and leans forward, elbows on his knees, hands knotted. “Because you’re too important to lose.”

I laugh, ugly and mean. “To you? Or to them?”

He looks me in the eye. “Both. But mostly to me.”

The anger comes back, sharper this time. “Then why did you sign it? The contract. Why did you let them take—” I can’t even say the word. “Why did you give them everything?”

He sighs, a sound so old it hurts to hear. “Because it doesn’t matter.”

I sit up, wiped out but curious. “What?”

He looks at me like I’m an idiot. “The contract. The rules. The Hunt. It’s all a fucking joke. You think I don’t know how to break a promise?”

It takes a minute to sink in. “You’re lying.”

He shakes his head. “I signed what they wanted. I let them believe they won. But I’m going to rip it all down. From the inside.”

My mouth goes dry. “You’re just going to… what, kill the Board?”

He smiles, small and savage. “If I have to.”

I don’t believe him. Not really. But a small, stupid part of me wants to.

He stands, wipes his hands on his pants. “You’re not a breeder, Isolde. You never were. You’re the fucking Queen, and if you want to run, I’ll burn the whole world down to find you.”

He turns and walks to the door, pausing in the threshold. “But if you want to stay—” He looks back, eyes soft, almost pleading. “If you stay, we win. Together.”

He stands, paces the room. Maybe waiting for me to beg him to leave or to fight him again. I don’t do either.

“You have terrible aim,” he leans against the wall, simply watching me.

I ignore him.

He pushes off the wall and paces the length of the room again. The way he moves, you’d think he was back in the Boardroom,running the show. But here, it’s just us, and I know that every step is a way to keep from exploding.

He stops at the window, stares into the night. His back is straight, hands behind his back. Military stance. It makes me want to punch him.

“We can go… run like Caius.”

He turns then, and for once, he’s not hiding behind a mask. His face is open, every muscle raw. “I’m not them. I don’t run.”

I can’t look away. “What do you want, Rhett?”

He takes a step closer, then another. “I want to take control and get rid of the rot from the inside. All of it. Not for the Board, not for me. For us. For the future we can have, for the one we can’t if I don’t.”

I want to call bullshit. I want to mock the way he says “us” like it’s always been a team effort.

But I can’t. There’s something in his voice, in the way his hands tremble at his sides.

He’s scared. Maybe for the first time in his life.

He sits on the edge of the desk, arms crossed. “The Hunt, the breeding clause, all of it. It only works if we play by their rules.”

I snort. “You’re not exactly known for playing nice, so it’s funny how amenable you’ve been.”

He actually smiles. It’s faint, just a twitch at the corner of his mouth, but it’s real. “No. But you are.”