319 Beyond the Throne

~ STARK ~

David sat across the wide expanse of the table, glaring at me. I set my teeth and clenched my fists. For the first time in my life, I wanted to curse my King.

He'd had love. Real love. He'd held Zara—her heart, her mind, her devotion—and he'd lost her. And he had let it destroy him.

I'd tried compassion. I'd tried shocking him out of it. I'd tried calculated wisdom, and even careful indulgence.

Nothing worked.

Because the thing he was fighting was himself, I realized. It wasn't going to matter what I did or said. Until he accepted that he was in love with a woman who was either dead, or wrapped up with his enemies in some manner, he was nothing but a disaster waiting to be unleashed on the world.

And on poor Lizbeth.

Last night, I'd held the woman I loved and listened to her cry for another man, and for her fear of losing me.