I didn’t know what I wanted anymore.
Should I leave?
That had always been the plan. To get out and find Joe. To look the monster in the eye and kill him.
And yet… I hesitated.
The choice was in my hands now, Sargis had given it to me without resistance.
I was finally free.
So why did my chest ache when I thought of walking away?
Maybe it was the way he was retreating. The way his broad shoulders, now slumped like the weight of the world had finally crushed him. Or the way his eyes had dulled.
Maybe it was the pain radiating off him like a storm, soaking the room even in silence.
But whatever it was… it did something to me.
It reached into that steel vault I’d buried my heart in and twisted.
I stood there, frozen. Rooted to the spot like my feet were no longer mine. Watching him walk away felt like watching something irreversible happen. Like a bridge being set on fire with no chance to rebuild it.
And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel fear.
I found myself, for the first time, wanting to comfort him.
The realization landed in my chest like thunder. My heart was caught in my throat, and my palms clenched by my sides, aching with the want to do something.
I opened my mouth to speak. To finally say something that wasn’t sharp or guarded or meant to protect me from imaginary betrayals. I wanted to stop him. Just… say his name.
But before I could utter a single syllable, he turned back around.
His face was unreadable now.
“If you have any request,” he whispered, “or anything you want to take along… ask anybody, and you’ll be given.”
Then he walked out of the room. And I just stood there, staring at the door.
Sargis’ POV
I stumbled out of the elevator to the fourth floor, which was the guest room floor, boasting fifteen rooms. I settled for the one closest to me.
I slammed the door shut behind me and twisted the lock so hard it nearly snapped. My chest burned. My throat ached. My eyes stung with a fury I hadn’t tasted since the war days. And all of it was because of her.
My fists found the nearest lamp and smashed it to the floor. The crash echoed like thunder, but it wasn’t enough. I gripped the dresser and flipped it over with a snarl. Bottles of perfume and carved figurines from old emissaries shattered on the tiles. The mirror cracked straight down the center like a jagged scar.
“FUCK!”
I roared until my throat gave out.
Breathing hard, I stumbled back. I looked at the wreckage and my bloodied knuckles, and felt… nothing. Nothing but the hollowness of her words on replay.
“I never felt anything other than gratitude.”
“I didn’t ask for any of it.”
“You did that all on your own.”
She was right.
She didn’t ask for any of it. I saw her broken and wanted to fix her like she was some noble cause, some divine assignment the Fates had tossed into my lap. I poured everything into her and… my fucking heart.
And still… she didn’t feel it.
Didn’t want it.
I collapsed to the floor, with my back pressed against the splintered frame of a broken chair. I felt like a fool, like the cruelest joke had been played and I’d only just gotten the punchline. And god, it hurt.
“I would’ve given her the world,” I whispered into the darkness. “I was already halfway there.”
But it didn’t matter, did it?
Because no matter how much love I gave her, no matter how patient or kind or restrained I tried to be… it wasn’t what she wanted.
And that’s what wrecked me most.
I always thought I could handle her rejection.
I swore I could.
But I didn’t know it would feel like this, like something was twisting inside my ribs, like someone had gripped my heart with iron claws and was slowly squeezing the life out of me.
I slid my palms down my face and let out a trembling breath.
I couldn’t go back out there. Not like this. Not with this war waging inside me between the man who wanted to let her go and the wolf who wanted to chase her to the ends of the earth and never let her out of his sight again.
I stumbled toward the bar cabinet in the corner and ripped it open like a man possessed. The crystal clinked as I shoved glasses aside, not bothering with any of them.
I reached for the eye of the dragon bottle.
With shaking hands, I popped the cap and drank straight from the bottle.
The burn clawed down my throat like fire, but it didn’t distract me from her voice replaying in my head.
“I never asked for it.”
I threw my head back and let out a bitter laugh. My jaw clenched so hard I felt it ache in my temple.
“No,” I rasped to no one. “You didn’t ask. I just… gave. Like a fucking idiot.”
Another swig.
I paced in tight circles, gripping the bottle in my hand like a lifeline.
You did that all on your own.
“Yes, I did,” I muttered, laughing again. “Every goddamned thing. I went out of my way to make you feel safe. I built walls around you so you’d never have to fear anything again. I shut down an entire kingdom’s demands for your sake. I took your pain and made it mine.”
Another drink. The bottle’s neck trembled in my grip as the liquid scorched a trail down my chest.
“And all for what, huh?” I sneered. “Because of some fucking bond?”
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