Keep her under control.
The phrase hammered in her mind, over and over, each repetition louder and heavier.
The world rocked. Nausea twisted in her stomach as realisation crept in, insidious and unwelcome.
No. He must have meant something else.
Because the alternative…
The alternative…
But Dorias offered no explanation. He simply stood there, arms crossed and expression blank. No warmth, no regret, nothing. Just silence.
Standing withthem.Againsther.
Katell locked eyes with him, desperate to find even a flicker of the man she knew, the man she trusted.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered, hating how fragile her voice sounded. Her legs threatened to give way beneath her.
Dorias exhaled slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. “I followed you.” He tipped his chin towards her. “That armour you’re wearing? It’s woven with enough magic to track you anywhere.”
Katell’s gaze dropped to the black leather cuirass he’d given her back in the Western Lands. All this time… He couldtrackher?
“Dorias…” His name snagged in her throat as panic tightened her chest. “What’s going on?”
Tarxi’s chuckle slithered between them, his smirk curling at the edges. “Dorias? You told her your real name?”
Dorias shot him an irritated look before uncrossing his arms and stepping forward. “Katell?—”
Beside her, Tia stiffened, edging back as Dorias closed the distance. She’d always been drawn to him—so why was she suddenly afraid?
Katell’s heart urged her to trust Dorias, but instinct drove her hand to her sword. Confused and torn, she asked again, voice firmer: “What’s going on?”
Dorias stopped a few feet away, his brow lifting at the sight of her sword. “You’d use your blade against me?” His tone was weighted, as if testing her resolve.
Katell’s trembling fingers clenched around the hilt, her knuckles white. She lifted the blade higher, forcing herself to focus on him amid the chaos threatening to consume her. “Answer me.”
Dorias sighed—a sharp, impatient exhale, stripped of anything resembling regret. His gaze, once warm and reassuring, now cut straight through her, devoid of affection. “You already know what’s going on.”
No.
No, this couldn’t be real.
Her mind clawed for an escape. She was dreaming, caught in some nightmare. An illusion.
But nothing came.
Only the suffocating weight of betrayal pressing into her until she could barely draw a breath.
Her heart shattered as reality sank in.
And then she was Tia—wide-eyed and afraid, and terribly, unmistakably guilty.
“Tia.” The name tumbled from Katell’s lips, distant and hollow, as if someone else had spoken it. “How many times?”
Tia’s brow furrowed. “What?”
“How many times did you use your Gift on me?” Katell demanded.
