Page 70 of The Shrouded Queen
I whispered, “I think I’m losing my mind, Jasim.”
His brows drew together. “What do you mean?”
“I—”
Selfish to the end, eh?The king tsked.Tell him this and you’ll have to tell him everything. It’ll hurt him. But of course, you don’t care about that, do you? No, you enjoy torturing the pup. Sadistic bitch.
I flinched hard.
“Amunet?” Jasim cupped my cheek, eyes desperately searching my face.
When King Zaid had forced me to accept Shaya, I’d felt as if there wasn’t enough room for me in my own body. It was a horrible, claustrophobic, violating feeling. One I had never wanted to experience again. But gods, itwashappening again.
“I, um… I think you’re right,” I said, my voice wavering. “I think I’m sick.”
The king snorted.You can say that again.
Jasim put a hand to my forehead. He didn’t feel any fever, but still he said, “We’ll turn back. Find you a healer—”
“No,” I cut him off sharply. “I have to speak to Shaya.”
“Amunet…”
“I’ll be fine once I speak with him, I just have—”
Once you kill Jasim, you mean.
I hope you’re rotting, I snapped at the king viciously.I hope your blood is staining that throne you loved so much. I hope the Kaldfolkslit your throat—or worse—and I hope it hurt. I hope you were in agony.
King Zaid merely laughed.
“Amunet.” Jasim’s gaze was penetrating, fingers pressing into the skin of my jaw as if he could keep my mind from slipping if only he held on tight enough.
My legs tensed with the instinct to run. I couldn’t tell him. No matter how much I wanted to. No matter how much thelooktried to draw me in. The moment he knew, the look would die. Its promises, its comfort, it would all vanish before my eyes, and I’d be alone again.
Normally, I would be relieved to be rid of the look’s lies, but for one foolish moment, I wondered… what if it wasn’t a lie?
King Zaid’s snicker mocked the naïve hope. Fine, maybe the look was a lie or an illusion, but I was hearing the dead king’s voice in my head. What was one more illusion?
I curled my fingers into Jasim’s tunic. “Do you remember a few years ago, when we were forced to train in the height of summer and I got heatstroke?”
Confusion twisted his features, but he nodded. “You passed out in the middle of the ring. Training ended early because of it.”
I smiled slightly. “No one could wait to go inside, where there were fans and ice, but you were there when I woke up. You didn’t leave. You never leave.”
Loyal pup that confuses beatings for love, the king quipped.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I breathed, begged, “Stay with me.” My knuckles turned white from how hard I gripped Jasim’s shirt. “Please, stay.”
“Of course I’ll stay.” Jasim rested his forehead against mine. “I’ll always stay, Amunet.”
Gods, forcing him to make a promise like that while marching him to his death. You really are evil, aren’t you.
I shook my head as tears welled up.
“I’m here.” Jasim wrapped an arm around me and drew me into him. “I won’t leave you.”
It was selfish. It was evil. It was everything Zaid said, everything I thought about myself, but I let him make that promise. I savored it. Cherished it. Basked in the security of it.
