Page 120 of The Throne Seeker (Vallorian #1)

“Do you want him?” he asked again, his merciless gaze bearing down into hers. “Do you want him like you want me?”

She knew the answer immediately. “No.”

“Do you need him like you need me?”

“No.”

“Do you love him like you love me?”

She finally understood what he was doing. With every answer, another wound opened in Tristan’s chest, cracking his fragile frame.

“No,” she whispered.

“Do you want to fuck him like you want to fuck me?” he growled.

Rose looked Roman dead in the eye. “No.”

Roman nodded, satisfied. He turned to Tristan, sizing up his brother. “You hear that? She doesn’t want it. She doesn’t want you . Get it through your fucking head.”

Tristan’s face remained fierce. He cocked his head smugly. “Her body tells me otherwise. Perhaps she’s just too scared to tell you the truth.”

Roman scoffed, taking another formidable step toward him.

“Is that why you had to tear the clothes right off her back?” he asked, nodding to her dress crumpled on the floor.

He lowered his voice as a terrifying smile took hold of his handsome face.

“Funny, when I bed her, she practically tears the dress off herself because she can’t get it off fast enough. ”

Tristan charged at Roman without a moment’s hesitation.

Roman veered to the right as Tristan lunged, dodging his attack.

Child’s play.

Roman drew his sword from its sheath.

“Don’t!” Rose pleaded with them both.

But this was past negotiation now.

In all their training, she’d never seen Roman fight with such bloodthirst, his barbaric eyes looking like he could kill. Like a fool, his gentle nature the past few weeks had made her overlook that he was the general of the largest army in Vallor for a reason.

It shouldn’t have thrilled her siren the way it did.

Strike after strike, Roman backed Tristan into a corner, stepping over the debris of the room.

Tristan was far too drunk to fight properly.

That, coupled with the fresh injury on his shoulder, made him no match for Roman—a fact that Roman took full advantage of.

Within moments, Roman had knocked Tristan’s sword out of his hands, leaving him defenseless.

Even then, he didn’t stop, lifting his sword to strike a fatal blow.

“Roman!” she yelled.

Roman’s sword stopped just as it reached Tristan’s neck, the blade piercing through the top layer of skin, drawing blood.

A calculated move.

Roman glared down at his brother like he was nothing more than a disgusting cockroach.

“We’re leaving.” Roman’s cold-blooded voice chilled the air.

“If you even think about trying to stop us or hunt us down, I promise I’ll finish what we started here.

” He crouched to Tristan’s level, his sword still at his throat.

“And if you ever—” he dug the blade deeper into Tristan’s neck, making him wince, “ —ever touch her like that again without her full permission, blood or not—king or not—I swear to the gods above and below, I will kill you.”

Rose never would’ve believed the words came from his lips if she hadn’t witnessed it herself. Roman had a dark side after all. For some reason, it made her feel better—like it leveled the playing field.

Tristan’s eyes filled with a loathing she’d never seen in him, not even for Xavier.

A new rivalry born before her very eyes.

Roman forced Tristan to his feet and dragged him to the one good chair by the knocked-over table. He began tying him to it with the rope used to hold back the curtains.

“What are you doing?” Rose asked.

“I’m tying him up so we have time to get out of here.” Roman grunted.

“There’s no need for that. He wouldn’t stop?—”

“Wouldn’t he?”

Rose gazed at Tristan.

Tristan was immediately outraged. “The hell you’re leaving!”

Roman’s glare shifted back to her with a knowing look.

“You’re not taking her anywhere. Are you both out of your minds?

” Tristan looked back and forth between the two of them.

“The safest place for her is here! And you know that, you selfish bastard. You just don’t want to stay because you know if you stay long enough, she’ll come to her senses and leave you. She’ll see you manipulated her.”

Roman punched him in the face.

Rose flinched.

Tristan’s mouth dripped blood again, likely from the same blow Xavier gave him only hours earlier.

“This is treason!” Tristan shouted at Roman.

Roman didn’t care.

“Rose, please,” Tristan begged. “Please don’t do this.”

She diverted her eyes as she wrapped her arms around herself.

“Don’t look at her,” Roman growled, grabbing Tristan’s jaw and snapping his face back to his. “Look at me. I’m doing this. Not her.”

Tristan jerked his chin from Roman’s grip, ignoring him. He looked at Rose again with desperate eyes. “Rose. Don’t leave again, please. We can?—”

Roman had had enough. He placed a gag roughly over Tristan’s mouth, tying it with aggressive tugs. “Let’s go,” he grumbled. He grabbed his sword off the floor, marching for the door.

Rose hesitated, looking back at Tristan’s pitiful frame.

His eye was already swelling from Roman’s strike, the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

His eyes still pleaded with her, though they were full of betrayal.

He tried to say something, but the gag reduced his words to incoherent mumbles.

Roman moved to where she was standing and gently but firmly took her shoulders, twisting her to face him. “We need to go now. If anyone finds him before we leave, we’ll be sitting ducks.”

Rose nodded weakly.

Roman removed his cloak and set it over her shoulders, covering all that was left of her slip and throwing the hood over her head. With a nod, she followed. When she reached the door, she looked back at Tristan one last time.

She wished she hadn’t.

Tristan’s betrayed eyes gouged hers, ripping her soul to shreds. She felt every dark part of him—his unworthiness, his love, his pain, the endless pit of darkness he was falling into. The storm that had been brewing had morphed into a terrifying tsunami.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, looking at him through blurred vision.

She could still hear his muffled cries through the gag as she closed the door.

Roman had her things waiting for her outside the door.

She grabbed her sword and bag. The corridors were blissfully empty, suggesting that most of the court had remained in the grand hall for the passing ceremony celebration.

Roman helped her into a new dress, covering her exposed body with his cloak as she put it on as quickly as she could, eager to put as much distance as possible between herself and this place.

Roman was silent as they moved through the halls. He wouldn’t even look at her. His powerful strides urged her to almost run to keep pace as they headed to the stables where they had all agreed to meet.

“Roman,” she whispered so softly, she was surprised he heard it.

His eyes met hers for the first time since they’d left Tristan’s room.

“It was a mistake to leave him like that,” she said, risking angering him.

“You think I wanted that?” He rounded on her. “To part ways with my brother like that? But you just couldn’t help yourself, could you?”

“I’m sorry. I should’ve never gone in there,” she admitted with regret.

“No, you shouldn’t have,” he agreed harshly. “So why did you?”

“Satin came to the room,” she explained. “She was so upset. She told me she was worried about Tristan and didn’t know who else to turn to. I couldn’t tell her no.”

Roman stopped dead in his tracks. “What?”

She nodded. “I know, it was a surprise she’d confide in me, but?—”

“No. Satin came to my room and told me the exact same thing.”

Rose’s brows grew together. “What? You mean it wasn’t my mother who came for you?”

“No, why would she?” Roman asked, his fury waning slightly.

She stilled. “She wasn’t there when you came to the door?”

“No, I never saw her.”

“Then… where is she?” A tremor coursed its way through her.

Roman scanned the corridor—as if someone was watching.

Rose’s hand went to grip the hilt of her sword. “I don’t like this. Something doesn’t feel right.”

“No,” Roman agreed. “It doesn’t… Maybe she’s with Xavier.”

“And if she’s not?”

“Then we’ll find her. Come on.” He made her walk ahead as he glanced over his shoulder before following.

A fierce storm loomed on the horizon, unleashing a cold wind that made even the mightiest trees bend to its will. She tightened her grip on her cloak as her siren eyes scanned the darkness for any sign of her mother.

Amid the wind, Xavier was standing at the double door frame, waiting for them in the shelter of the stables. But her mother was nowhere in sight.

Rose’s panic escalated.

“Took you long enough,” Xavier complained as they entered the stables. With one look at Rose and Roman, Xavier knew something was wrong. “What’s the matter?”

“Have you seen my mother?” she asked, still hoping she’d pop out of the shadows.

Xavier shook his head. “No, I haven’t seen her since the beach. I thought she was with you?”

Rose gazed at Roman with horrified eyes.

“Don’t go there,” Roman said. “We’ll find her.”

“You mean she’s missing?” Xavier fumed. “What the hell could’ve possibly happened in an hour?”

Without warning, horns blared into the wind, alerting everyone inside and outside of the castle—a sign of intruders.

Roman cursed under his breath. “How’d he get out so fast?”

Xavier’s eyes whipped back to them. “What the hell happened back there?”

“I may have gagged Tristan and tied him to a chair…” Roman said, not sounding like he regretted it but still acknowledging it wasn’t the smartest move.

Xavier opened his mouth to say something but paused briefly before shrugging, as if it was understandable. “I’ve had the same urge.”

“Not helping!” Rose snapped. “What are we going to do? How are we supposed to find my mother now that the whole castle is on alert?”

“We should leave,” Xavier said, sizing up which horses to take. “If we don’t, we’ll never make it. We’ll never get this chance again.”

“Get Rose out of here,” Roman instructed. “I’ll go back for Evelyn.”

“No,” she said. “I’m not leaving without you.”

“We can’t all fit on Onyx,” Roman pointed out. “You two can get a head start, and I’ll be right behind you as soon as I find her.”

“And if you’re caught?” Rose asked. “Tristan will throw you in the dungeons as soon as he finds you.”

Xavier agreed. “She’s right. You don’t stand a chance.”

Roman glanced over his shoulder at the gates. “At least I’ll know you are safe. He’ll never let you leave if we’re found.”

“He won’t let you either,” she bit back.

“I’ll stay,” Xavier volunteered.

She shook her head. “No, I’m the only one he won’t hurt. I’ll go back.”

“He won’t let you leave his sight,” Roman argued. “And he’ll finish what he started tonight. I’m sure of it.”

Xavier narrowed his eyes, picking up on his tone. “What did he do?”

Roman ground his teeth, his jaw feathering. “He tried to force her to fuck him, that’s what.” His hands clenched back into white fist just having to say it.

“He did what ?” Xavier exploded, his eyes sparking with outrage.

“We’re running out of time!” Rose reminded them. “The question is, what do we do?”

Silence fell over them. Xavier, still reeling over the news, paced.

“I suppose we stick together,” Roman concluded.

Rose looked to Xavier for confirmation.

He gave a loud, defeated sigh, unsheathing his sword. “Let’s go, then, so we can get the hell out of here before they realize we’re gone.”

Xavier moved to exit the stables, but before he could even take a step, a group of soldiers entered.

They were outnumbered.