Glass of Revenge

~6~

Over the next several days, Sam learned the true depth and breadth of Lyria's viciousness. It wasn't enough for Lyria to kick Athril out of the house upon being informed of Aelin's pregnancy. No, she had to punish Sam just for being there when the news was delivered.

It started off small, with insults, name calling and constant criticism. In a way, it made Sam feel humiliated. It didn't matter that there was no one around to witness the degradation – it always made him feel less of a man.

What with the verbal degradation, isolation and magical compulsion, Sam was definitely feeling used and abused. If anyone had been there to witness Sam's treatment at Lyria's hands, they may have considered it a form of abuse. But Sam no longer cared. He didn't want to put up the insults and degradation any longer, but he was unable to see a way out of it. Being unable to run, being forced to stay and put up with the vicious anger of the beautiful woman... The vicious anger that was solely directed at him... It was the worst thing that Sam had ever experienced.

It had been days now – if not weeks – since Athril had delivered the news about Aelin's pregnancy, and he had not yet been back. Probably because he had known how Lyria would react, and did not want to be on the receiving end of her temper. And because Lyria was unable to vent her anger on Athril, it was always Sam on the receiving end.

Deep down, Sam thought that this was the worst year of his entire life. He had put up with the years of imprisonment at the hands of Arobynn and the other assassins. Those years of imprisonment had left Sam feeling weary and fatigued. Those years had also left him shattered and broken. After he had finally snapped he had killed all those who had continued to hold him hostage after Arobynn's own murder, thinking that he would at last be able to reunite with his beloved Celaena. But those who had kept him imprisoned had merely spat in his face as they said Celaena didn't exist anymore. Had spat in his face as he killed them all, one by one.

And then when this beautiful Fae woman had turned up on the doorstep of the Assassin's Keep, offering him news of his precious Celaena – as long he helped her exact her revenge first. He had been exceptionally displeased when he had learned who Celaena really was. How could she keep something so momentous from him? Hadn't she trusted him at all?

Sam was not just shocked about the revelation that his beloved Celaena was royalty, he was enraged. She, who had known his hatred and disdain for royalty better than anyone, was, in fact, royalty herself? And she had lied to him about it for years? Who, in their right mind, did something like that?

He thought he had known her, he had loved her, but in the end, it turned out that he didn't know her at all. Despite initially being angry about Celaena lying to him for their entire lives, and wanting to revenge himself upon her, he now felt nothing at all. Nothing but sadness for what could have been. It was wrong to be so angry at her for moving on with her life. She had as much a right to peace and happiness as he did.

Even if their lives were no longer entwined with each other's, they each had a right to peace and happiness. They both deserved that, after everything they had been through.

But, Sam was not happy. After the years of imprisonment, he no longer knew how to be happy. He did not know how to be happy.

Dreaming about Celaena and the life he wanted to have with her was the only thing that had kept him sane during those long years of imprisonment. And now that he was free, only to discover that everything he thought he had known about Celaena was a lie, he had nothing more to live for.

He had been illegally imprisoned by Arobynn and the other assassins for years, in the house that he had grown up in – the house that had been the only home that Sam had ever known. After suffering the loneliness and isolation for years, he had fought his way free, killing all those who had held him prisoner. He had gotten his revenge. But revenge didn't taste as good as he had thought it would. And now, a gorgeous Fae woman was holding him prisoner, trapped within his own mind, a mere tool for her to use in order to gain her own revenge.