Disgust.
I looked over my shoulder at Malachi, who just stood with a blank face.
“I think you should go,” Tessa muttered. I had never heard her use a tone like that. “I think you should go and not come back.”
My whole body was shaking. Was she serious? Did she think I was going to hurt her? Did she think they were?
But Tessa’s eyes were wild as they darted between Malachi and me. I wanted her to believe she was safe. I wanted her to believe Malachi wouldn’t hurt her, and that he was just trying to protect me.
How could I explain all of that? Half the things I learned about the fae over the last week would be impossible for her to believe. She was like me. She was stubborn and naive and she had grown up believing all the lies about the evil fae who wanted to kill humans.
Plus, she had just seen firsthand how deadly they could be. How deadly the dark fae prince could be.
“Fine,” I said after a few moments. “If you really want me to leave, I’ll leave.”
A sob wrecked through her, and I wanted to wrap her in my arms and never let go.
But instead, I backed away from the door and nodded. If she wanted me gone, I would give her that. I had come here so that she knew I was alive.
I supposed I had at least accomplished that.
“Jade,” Malachi’s voice boomed behind me. “Let’s go.”
This time I listened.
CHAPTER 23
Malachi
Nobody had said a word in hours. Serefin didn’t speak, but every few paces he shot me a glare. There was no way I was going to apologize to Jade. Not when she was just letting him talk to her that way. Jade was my wife, and her father was nothing more than human scum.
By the time we walked back to my bedroom, the tension was practically dripping from Jade.
“Good luck with that,” Ser nodded before I closed the bedroom door.
I stayed there for a second, resting my head against the solid door, before taking a deep breath and mustering the strength to face Jade.
She slapped me straight across the face.
“You selfish, stupid, big-headed son of a bitch!” She sneered. Her face was flushed, and her heart was racing.
Maybe I deserved that. After watching Tessa, the only person Jade truly loved in her life, cower away from Jade, I understood why Jade was pissed at me.
But even so…
“Did you just slap me?” I asked. Her eyes widened, like she just realized the extent to what she had done.
“You deserve far worse,” she said, but her words didn’t match her actions as she took a step backward. “You shouldn’t have done that, Malachi! Saints, what were you thinking?”
“I was thinking your father is an asshole.”
“Well so is yours!” she yelled, “And you don’t see me nearly killing him in front of your sister!”
Her face flushed, and her chest rose and fell with every deep pant of breath.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like that,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
I couldn’t respond. I was watching her unravel completely but I could do nothing but stand and watch.
Jade’s eyes glossed over. “She hates me,” she said. “She hates me and she never wants to see me again.”
Because of me. Tessa hated her because of me.
“All I wanted to do was let her know that I was okay,” she continued. Her voice had dropped to barely a whisper. “And now she never wants to see me again.” Jade stood there, just a few feet away from me, staring at her hands.
I wished I knew what she was thinking. I wished I could fix everything for it. I really wished I could rip the head off that piece of shit father of hers.
But she was here. I could at least make her think that this place was better than that wretched home of hers.
I don’t know what came over me, but the sudden urge to make her smile washed over me.
“Tell me what you want,” I whispered, stepping closer to her. “Tell me what you want and I’ll make it happen.”
She stared at me with those dark, glossy eyes. As if she couldn’t believe what I was saying.
“I want none of this to have happened,” she breathed. “I want to be back in bed with Tessa and my drunk father yelling nonsense in the kitchen. I want to be hunting for our food in the forest. I want to be free again,” she said. Her voice grew stronger with every word.
“Then be free,” I pushed.
“You know I can’t,” she rolled her eyes. “We both know that.”
“But why not? We are about to be the rulers of our own kingdom.”