By the time Renit hands me a handkerchief, I finally have a bearing over my emotions. I wipe away the tears from my cheeks, smudged in dirt caked on my skin for days now. If I was sleeping for two days in that wagon, put underneath the illusion I needed by Binx, I haven't bathed.
Renit doesn't know what to say. He sits there, his forearms rested on his knees, and watches me wipe away the last of my sorrows. His scarred hands don't reach out to touch me, and he doesn't take me in his arms, wrapping my body in such warmth I'll never want to leave it. Although he may want to do those things, he's resisting each urge his body is throwing at him.
And I respect that. He doesn't question me, doesn't speak, doesn't try to tell me that everything will be all right. If he does, if he decided to change his tactic, it would become overwhelming. As if he has done this thousands of times before, consoled witches that've been under the influence of his father, he doesn't speak. Instead, his silent presence does all the talking.
I wipe my nose with the handkerchief and tuck a piece of tattered, scarlet hair behind my ear. At some point under the king's influence, I thought it was a good idea to cut the length back to my collarbones because it'd be easier to kill people if my hair wasn't in the way. The simple Roux, the normal one, would have pulled the strands behind her head and been done with it. But the Roux he made me into...I look at her in disgust.
My entire body shivers in remembrance of what it felt like to wish for the king's blessing. It was addicting to stride after him and beg for acceptance in the only way I knew how—kill who needed to die. In a way, a twisted way, I became Renit's replacement and did everything the king would have ordered him to do; if it wasn't for the banishment.
Both of us are on the other side now, recovering from such a disastrous experience, and the resemblance tethers us together.
"Renit," I squeak, unable to make out any other words. He leans closer, his silver eyes waiting in anticipation for what I might say next. Through the sob, my words are cracked and dry with shattered pieces. "I've done so many things...I've killed...so many people."
The banished prince of Esaria shakes his head in denial. He won't accept the grave I've dug for myself, and to prove that, he gets on his knees between the two beds no more than rickety frames with mattresses on top, disguised by fluffy pillows and duvets. I stare down at those beautiful eyes and the hard face they offset, the dark brows that create a concerned crease in the middle, just above his broad nose.
"We're all killers," he says quietly. "Through one way or the other, everyone has blood on their hands, and it's not just you. Those things that happened—my father caused them—not you. All of us, especially me, have had to take parts of ourselves away to survive and thrive. We've had to sacrifice others so we could live."
A tear breaks loose from the corner of my eye and with such a delicate touch, Renit wipes it away with a simple brush of his finger. The warmth barely reaches my skin. "Except I wasn't living. I was killing, I was taking lives that have never once belonged to me and I loved it. I did it, otherwise, he wouldn't have accepted me. And that was all I cared about."
"Again, that wasn't you. Can you honestly tell me that the witch I'm looking at, the true Roux Aimrey, would have killed all those people?" It's such a simple question to ask, and such a truth it's hard to ignore.
"But if I could do those things without question, without remorse, don't you think part of me is willing to do those things?" My bottom lip quivers. "I was still there, deep down, but I didn't try to stop myself. Not with any of the deaths. There wasn't anything left."
A sob breaks loose from my throat. Renit watches me carefully, nestled on the floor and staring up at me. Our powers are still learning how to be around each other again, they're still mingling underneath the grip of the titanium, but their interaction is dulled. After a bond so strong was nearly snapped by the king's power, they're rejoicing in their friendship.
ESTÁ A LER
Aligning the Forgotten ✓
Fantasia[Book 3 of the Grounding the Storm series] Renit's worst nightmare has come true. Roux isn't at his side, and he's banished from his throne and his crown, leaving him nameless and on the run. While trying to escape his father's cruel reign, he has t...
