Above all, I see the eternal truth …
A man in his prime, just as he is today.
Flinching, I dash the vision away.
I don’t want to see.
Cainon’s grip on my shoulders tightens. “They can’t stem their desire to own and control and dominate, Orlaith. This ...unrestcould just be the tip of the iceberg. What ifhe’sthe one thriving off all those missing children?”
My thoughts tumble to The Tangle. To the child I found bunched on the ground, eyes puffed from the rise of her tears …
She was frightened when I found her. Frightened when I returned her to the doors she seemed reluctant to slip between.
Cainon pinches my chin, tips it, forcing me to look up into his condemning stare. “A full-blooded Unseelie needs blood to survive. Daily.”
I feel something inside my chest split. Feel a coldness flood through me.
No ...
“You lived with him for years. Did you ever witness him drinking blood? Did he ever drink fromyou?”
“What? No!” I shake my head, burying memories of my blood dripping into that crystal goblet. Of Rhordyn’s teeth hovering over my thumping carotid. “Never.”
I’m going to be sick.
Cainon’s brow pleats. “Are you certain?Think hard, Orlaith. This is important. A possible matter of life or death for many,manypeople.”
I rip my chin from his grip, upper lip peeling back. “I’m positive, Cainon. I’d remember something like that.”
I’m not lying. I’m simply not telling the full, unguarded truth. I’ve neverseenhim consume my blood.
Not once.
There has to be another explanation.
I scream it internally, over and over. I know Rhordyn’s a monster. That he’s capable of cruel, unmerciful things. But I refuse to believe he’s …this.
Please don’t be this.
“Well, did he ever eat with you? A proper meal?”
Another surge of nausea, and that split in my chest deepens to the point where I want to curl around the pain and nurse it. My gaze shifts past Cainon to a corpse lumped on a mattress tucked in the corner of a cell.
My lids flutter, yearning to sweep shut and close me off.
Is that why he never shared a meal with us? Does regular food simply not … notsatisfyhim?
“No,” I’m forced to admit, then recall the time I pressured him to eat that piece of bread at the ball. “I meanonce,yes …” I hate the desperate spike of relief that soothes my fraying veins. “He was always too busy,” I’m quick to tack on, stare swaying to Cainon.
He frowns. “Toobusy,” he repeats, shoving the words back down my throat and making me choke on the pathetic lump of them. There’s disappointment in his eyes—cold and blatant. “You’re smarter than that, petal.”
My cheeks flare, and I want to slam my hands against his chest so hard he stumbles from the assault. Most of all, I just want him to stop speaking.
I don’t want to see.
“In my eyes, he’s guilty until proven innocent,” he mutters, lifting his chin and looking down his nose at me. “He’s circling, Orlaith, and I’m scared for my people. They’ve been through too much already.” He trails his finger down my face, my shoulder, the heaving tilt of my breast. “I want this connection with Ocruth. I want a future with you and the safety of an alliance secured with our coupling. But he’s marked you.”
I shrink away from his touch. “Markedme?”
