The Princess's Guard ✔️

42

Word Count: 1963

~Kiva

I sit on the edge of the bed, shaking.

I've contemplated Ark's gruesome, bloody death at least fifty separate times by now, and yet each run through isn't satisfying enough. He needs to suffer, and he will.

He sits in front of me on an old metal chair. He's tired, dark circles lingering up his wary eyes.

"Are you calm now?"

I glare at him. I'm back at the compound now, and this time, I don't think I'm getting out. I know I should be devising a plan, to manipulate him, to pray on our mate bond, which happens to be his one vulnerability...

I'm too angry.

"Calm? Is that what I should be feeling?" I hiss.

"No. Of course not." He closes his eyes, summoning calm before he opens them again. "But I want you to hear the words I am saying, not to be deafened by your fear or hatred."

"I can hear just fine."

He leans back in his chair, examining me for a moment. I'm not tied down, and I noticed he never locked the door. He knows I'm not going to try to fight my way out, although I wish he was scared of me as much as I'm scared of him.

"I want to apologise, first," he tells me earnestly.

"What for? There's a long list," I mutter. An apology means nothing to me because I'm still stuck in here, still being forced to look at him.

"I want to apologise for the times I used force against you during those break-in's, for scaring you," he starts.

I look down at my hands, rubbing my wrists. I can still remember the hold he had on me, how scared I had felt. And yet, when he was my guard I felt safe...I can't think of anything more backwards and screwed up.

"I am sorry about Andri. He was an unfortunate sacrifice that needed to be made," he tells me steadily, frankly.

"Fuck you."

I think of Andri and I feel sick. I missed his funeral because of Ark and the threat against my life. My mourning was disrupted out of fear for what could happen to my father and I...

"I am sorry for assuming a position as your guard for the sole purpose of being close to you, to your father. I needed to be inside, to know what was going on at all times," he continues.

I shake my head. "Unbelievable."

"I am sorry for lying about my intentions. I am sorry for sleeping with you before you knew the whole truth." A faint, pained frown appears for a moment, and then it's gone.

That night clearly haunts him, and it should. I wish I could banish from my mind, because even now I look back on it fondly, my mind failing to acknowledge the man I spent that night with is the same as the one who has now betrayed me.

"You should be," I say smoothly.

"I am sorry about lying about being in the rebellion. About staging Taven as your second mate," he adds.

I almost laugh. There really is an extensive list of terrible things he has done that has essentially ruined my life. He has contributed to almost everything that has gone wrong recently, and now, all he is doing is highlighting it.

"You are a terrible person."

He sighs, running a hand through his mussed hair, which he clearly hasn't had time to maintain recently. "Everything I did, I had a reason for. I know there is no possible reason you can think of that would justify so much deceit, but I promise there is one."