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“Everything of value that the males brought with them was given over,” Eamerson said.
“So, he took everyone’s shit, melted it down and claimed it. Nice.” Jori grumbled. “Fucking disgusting.”
“Aeleftheria has a similar system in that we collect precious metals and gemstones, but it’s gathered and protected for the whole of the colony. The queen guards it, but she doesn’t claim it as her own.”
“Is that why he wanted Aeleftheria? To take their treasure?” Jori asked Elora.
“Probably, but he was also power-hungry. And enjoyed controlling everyone and everything around him.”
“Did you know about this?” Sten asked Eamerson.
“On the surface, yes. I process all financials, but he kept all the details. I’ve never seen those files before.” His eyes were glued to the folders in Kymri’s arms.
“They seem to be all here. Each vault is inventoried. Hand written.” Kymri shuffled through the papers. “That’s mostly what these files are. The rest appear to be diary entries—for another book?” she gasped as she held up another sheaf of pages, flipping through them. “And profiles on everyone here, and maybe everyone he ever knew?”
“Am I in there?” Sten moved away from the shelves of gold toward the stacks of pages that Kymri held.
Flipping through the folder, she tugged one sheet out and handed it to Sten.
His fingers shook as he accepted it from her. He glanced up to see Marli watching him with concern.
Paper gripped between his hands, he left the closet and wandered out into the common area of the royal suite as he read the first few words. And the next.
Heart pounding, he left the suite.
Everything about me is right here.
Things that he’d never known about himself, Kargassa wrote in his own hand and hid away.
Leaning against the wall, he slid down to sit on the floor, arms resting on bent knees.
Marli emerged from the royal suite. “Sten? Are you all right?”
“He knew who my parents were.”
“You didn’t?” She sat next to him on the floor.
Sten shook his head. “I was left with a small dragon tribe in the mid-west. Not so different from the camp at Black River, really.” His gaze dropped to the sheaf. “According to this, my father is on the west coast somewhere and my mother is Aeleftherian.”
“May I see?”
Sten hesitated. “He analyzed me. Used my weaknesses to manipulate me. And I let him.”
“To ensure your loyalty.”
He nodded, swallowing the shame that rose from his gut and burned his heart. “I let him manipulate me because I saw him as a father-figure, even though I knew he wasn’t and never would be.” He’d allowed his awareness to slide right over all of Kargassa’s faults, in exchange for his approval.
Marli’s hand eased over his, pushing the paper away. She slid her fingers between his and pulled his hand against her chest.
“That’s not who you are.”
“Maybe I don’t know who I am.” He searched her face. “I thought I did. But I really don’t.”
“Of course you do. You just have a lot of noise drowning out your own voice. Your own thoughts.” She was quiet a long moment. “Kargassa is dead. That past has died with him. Hasn’t it?”
It had.
Sten’s choice—the line he wouldn’t cross—was that first signal to himself that enough was enough. And every day since then, he’d struggled against his act of disloyalty because he’d listened to his heart.
