The King's Obsession ✔️

TWENTY FIVE

Word Count: 1833

~Akara

I stare out the window, fuming.

Tai hasn't explicitly said I cannot leave, but as I came up to my old room, I noticed the guards tailing me, now standing at the door. So much anger is rolling through me, desperate to come out somehow. My hatred for Tai is overwhelming, and yet I can't act on it. Not yet. Not until I have a plan.

I begin pacing across the room. It's not exactly like how it was a year ago, Vaia having changed it while she was reigning, and now Tai has tried to change it back. He missed some details, understandably, but it's eerie, how alike it is.

As if he is trying to recreate our past.

I shiver, looking toward the bed.

There's not much chance for me to get any sleep tonight. Marek is in the prisons, possibly already murdered, or about to be. And I'm stuck in this room, staring out at a forest I once adored. I fell in love in this manor.

But not to Tai. No matter how much he wants to force me into new situations expecting old results.

A knock on the door has me flinching dramatically, whirling around.

I don't answer, already knowing who it is. Sure enough, the door opens slightly and Tai looks in, only to see me glaring at him, arms folded over my chest. Regardless, he steps carefully into the room, closing the door tentatively, waiting for me to explode in anger.

"Don't even think about it," I growl, backing up until my back is against the glass door leading to the balcony. I would rather jump from it than have Tai come anywhere near me.

He sighs. "Come on, let's talk."

"I don't have anything to say to you," I snap. What could he say to remedy this situation? He's keeping me here against my will, forcing me to marry him. I'm standing before a monster, someone who not only doesn't love me anymore, or at least in the way they think they do, and who clearly want to cause me harm.

But for some insane reason, he doesn't see it. He believes he is doing me a favour.

"I want to apologise, okay? I know a lot has happened, but I still love you," he breathes, striding into the centre of the room. I remain plastered against the glass, ready to throw myself out while I need to, or make a run for the door.

"If you loved me, you wouldn't lock me up here," I remind him, motioning to the impressively sized room. Just because it's large and lavish, doesn't mean I want to spend the rest of my life stuck in it.

Tai tips his head back, having the audacity to look frustrated.

"I'm going to be honest with you, okay..." he says eventually. My eyes narrow. Honest? Is he truly talking to me about honesty? I'm not sure anything out of his mouth is the truth anymore, although I have no other choice than to stand here and listen to him.

"Are you even capable of that?"

A shadow passes over his gaze. "You are in danger."

"Really?" I say flatly.

The only danger I'm in his coming from him. He has been the only threat to me. He forced me to stay here, he put me in danger of Vaia, and then contributed to me becoming a Tani. I don't feel safe near him, not considering what he did to his brother, and what he wouldn't do to his father, despite everyone knowing what needed to be done.

"You're the first person who has truly survived the river from one of my cures. People are going to want that...The power to become any Tani they desire," he explains, looking somewhat flustered, desperate for me to believe him.