Page 277 of The Throne Seeker

She was about to speak when she saw tears of blood leaking out of his swollen eye.

He looked like he’d just escaped from hell.

“It should’ve been me,” he grieved, his deep voice breaking. “My father and Evelyn… it was supposed to be me.”

Her eyes filled with tears again as she shook her head. “Don’t do that.” Rose took his face into her hands. “They loved you. They’d do anything for you.”

Roman shook his head in self-loathing. “It’s different with Evelyn. I always knew my mother wouldn’t stay with us long, and my father would’ve been in agony if he had to live without her, but Evelyn… she’s like you—such a force… You’d never think it was even possible for someone like her to be capable of dying.”

Rose wrapped her arms around him, finding her favorite spot in the crook of his neck as their hearts bled together. “None of this is your fault… It’s mine. He was never after me,”she whispered. “He was after all of you—the people I love… I should’ve never been so selfish to stay, to think I could handle it.”

Roman pulled back just enough to look into her eyes. “We were all fooled. The siren must’ve killed Lord Barron long ago and took his place,” he theorized. “I only wonder how long he had been pretending… how long he’d been waiting.”

A realization set in. “He must have pretended to be Satin to lure you and me out to distract everyone while he stole the talisman.”

Roman nodded in agreement. “And pretend to be me when he did so I’d be blamed.”

“He said he was bound… I think he was working for someone—someone who didn’t want me to know why he was truly there.”

Both of them knew who that someone might be.

Roman thought, looking out at the water as his golden eyes mulled it over.

A wave of pain ran over him, but this time, it was a different kind of pain, more cutting.

“What is it?” Rose asked, her eyes searching his.

Roman shook his head, dismissing it. “It’s not a conversation for tonight. This night is about Evelyn.”

“Tell me,” she insisted.

Roman gave a loud sigh, shifting his swollen eye. “What happened in that room with Tristan…”

“It should’ve never happened,” she said.

Roman nodded generously before his honey eyes met hers. “I just need to know. How much of what happened was your siren… and how much of it was you?”

She knew what he was asking. He wanted to know if she had gone to that room because she,Rose, still wanted Tristan, siren aside. To see if she had gone to that room because she still wasn’t ready to let him go.

Her mouth dried as she tried to swallow. “Roman, I swear on the gods above and below I didn’t want it.” Another tear ran down her face as her eyes fell to her feet in shame. “But my siren… it wanted me to, and it makes me sick to have that darkness be a part of me.”

Roman didn’t so much as breathe.

Her hands shook as she looked back up at him with hesitant eyes. “If you don’t want me… if you can’t do this, I underst?—”

Roman cut her off, grabbing her arm, drawing her in with a sharp movement. “Don’t,” he breathed as he leaned down to press his forehead to hers. “Don’t you dare even think losing you is something I could survive.”

Tears poured out onto her cheeks. She hated being like this. She hated herself—that sick, wet, slimy thing living in her.

She choked back a sob as his gaze gently held hers. “You don’t need to be jealous of anyone, ever.”

He wiped her tears with his calloused fingers. “I’m not jealous. I’m territorial. If I were jealous, it would mean I want something I don’t have… and I have you, Roe. I know it. I can feel it. Every time our eyes meet, I see the same fireworks in your eyes that are in mine. I feel your body relax into a state that happens only when I’m around. I see the smile that is reserved for me, and only me, and I know there is no one else you’d give that to.”

She sniffed as more tears poured out.

He caught a tear with his lips as he wrapped his arm around her waist. “I know men are going to want you. I knew it going into this. Hell, I knew it before you were a siren. I know I will always have to continue to fight for you. The challenge doesn’t sway me. I fight for what I want. And I want you… To the gods, I’ll always want you.”

Rose let out a shaky breath of relief. Her voice cracked as she declared, “I love you more than anything in this world. Morethan the starlit sky, more than the books I read, more than I’ve ever loved anyone… I am yours.”

Roman’s eyes filled with moisture as a bloody tear spilled out. “And you are mine,” he whispered back, lightly pressing his lips against hers.

She kissed him back, then moved to the bruises on his face. Her lips lingered softly over each mark before she returned to his lips again, kissing him tenderly, trying not to hurt the swollen cut on his lower lip.

“The next move is yours, Rose,” Roman murmured. “What do you want to do?”

Her gaze shifted to the sky, looking to the burning stars floating in the heavens above them. “We go into hiding and do what the snawfus told me to,” she proclaimed, still searching the stars. “I’m going to learn everything I can, and then we’re going to find these men… I fear the game is barely afoot.”