Page 267 of The Throne Seeker

“I promise I won’t leave,” she whispered, ignoring the ugly parasite eating at her insides.

“Prove it,” Tristan demanded, his eyes flickering down at her lips.

She knew what he wanted.

Rose closed her eyes, shutting out Roman and Xavier’s screaming waves of rage as she lifted her lips to meet his. She even slid her hand into his hair for good measure. Acid burned up her throat.

As hard as she tried to throw up a wall, she couldn’t shut Roman out. His soul-crushing presence in her mind was far too powerful. Painful. Crippling. It was as if each of her ribs had broken one by one and caved inward, puncturing her lungs.

She pulled away. Tristan’s eyes had become possessive, lustful, and powerful. “Again,” he demanded.

Rose had never hated herself more.

She brought her lips back up to his again. This time, his lips devoured her mouth. His hands snaked around her waist and up into her hair.

Roman’s pain amplified.

After Tristan was satisfied, his hand slid down into hers.Mine, he proclaimed.

“Stand down,” Tristan ordered the guards with the bow and arrows.

Oxygen was finally allowed back into her lungs.

“No!” Lord Martin cried out. “She’s playing with you! They are guilty. Don’t let thissirenseduce you.”

“I’m the king.” Tristan’s dark voice overpowered Lord Martin’s by miles. “And I say stand down.” He turned to his brothers. “For Rose’s sake, I’ll allow you to live. Instead of being killed, you’ll both be stripped of your titles and banished from Cathan. If you ever set foot in this province again, or if I even hear so much of a whisper of your return, I will not hesitate to put you both back on this ledge.”

Enraged murmurs flooded the high council, opposing in an uproar.

“You cannot let this go unpunished,” Lord Barron said, taking a small step forward.

Rose’s heart faltered. Out of all the high councilmen, she’d hoped he would be the one who would claim mercy.

“The talisman is still missing,” Lord Barron continued. “We cannot let them go. We’ll never see it again.”

“They’ll be escorted out of Cathan. We’ll make sure they have nothing in their possession. I’m not claiming their innocence. I’m merely changing their sentence, which, as you all know, is well within my rights as king. It’s decided.” Tristan turned to address the guards. “Take them to the border.” Without another word, Tristan began to lead her back to the castle, her hand still in his.

She looked at Roman one last time before being torn from him forever. She considered begging Tristan to let her say goodbye, but if she went to him… she didn’t know if she could go through with it.

So, instead, Rose’s glistening eyes met Roman’s bloody ones. She nearly choked as she committed him to memory, as if she hadn’t already. She cursed the darkness, wishing she could see the golden spark in his eyes. To heal him.

But above all, she wished she could rip out her own heart and lay it at his feet. To let him know that even though she would be sharing a bed with Tristan, her heart would still belong to Roman. Let it serve as evidence of his name etched on her heart. Forever marked.

There would not be a day, a minute, a second that she wouldn’t think of him.

Roman shook his head in denial. He lunged for her again, but his injured leg collapsed beneath him. He tried to say something, but his gag made it no more than muffled protests.

Tristan dragged her along as Roman thrashed like a caged animal. Three more guards had to join the other two just to restrain him. One of them sucker punched him in the gut, forcing him to his knees. She bit back a sob.

Don’t fight it. Let me go,she pleaded.

A sudden movement caught her eye.

Lord Barron marched up to a soldier and snatched the bow and arrow from his hands. Without hesitation, he drew back his arm and aimed the arrow straight at his target.

“Roman!” she screamed into the wind.

Her warning came too late. The arrow traveled with such a fierce ferocity that he wouldn’t be able to escape its path.