Through gritted teeth, he said, “So that I may takeeverythingfrom him, just as he has taken everything from me. His soldiers have become mine. His daughter has become mine. His entire kingdom, and all the magick and power it possesses, will become mine, and all the while he will molder and fester, dying a slow, agonizing death, knowing that the boy he once called a slave has finally exacted his revenge.”
Evander was trembling now, the force of his convictions thrumming through him like an electrical charge.
“And what about Elian?” I whispered, reaching out to touch his arm. “What about your brother?”
He turned away from me, shaking his head. “You’re so certain, Haley, but as I’ve told you, I have no memory of him.”
“But he’s your—”
“Brother, yes, so you’ve said. But tell me, Haley Barnes.” He turned and stepped close to me once again, the rotting, wheezing Keradoc temporarily forgotten. “What is he to you?”
“Elian? Well, he’s my… It’s kind of hard to explain, but we sort of…”
“Love each other?” he offered. A cold laugh followed. “Your connection to him runs deep. Deep enough that on our first night together, you were able to see through my glamour to the silver-eyed fae beneath.” He took a step closer. “And when you kissed me, you believed you were kissing him.”
“Yes, but only… Only at first.”
He arched an eyebrow, a challenge flashing in his now-violet eyes, a new intensity that stripped me bare.
I couldn’t lie to him. Not about this.
“I knew it the moment our lips touched,” I admitted. “I knew I wasn’t kissing Elian.”
“Yet you didn’t stop. Why?”
“I… I don’t know. I guess I felt… something.”
He took another step closer, chasing the last of the air from the room. “Something.”
“A connection. A spark. Just like earlier on the wall, when you kissed me again, I…” I pressed my lips together, forcing myself to stop. I’d already said too much, and this was as close to the truth as I was willing to go.
Evander held my gaze for a long beat, his own fiery. But then he closed his eyes and exhaled, his head bowing low to his chest, a heaviness settling over his shoulders once more.
“For your sake, little thief, I wish Icouldremember my past. A happier time. Some hope to cling to on the darkest nights.” He lifted his chin and looked into my eyes again, his own clearing. “No matter. That was a long time ago. I must move forward, as we all must.”
“Why did you bring me here?” I asked. “Why did you tell me about Keradoc?”
“I left you vulnerable on the wall tonight, and the consequences of that were a wake-up call. I’ve kept you in the dark for too long, yet I’m asking you—once again—to risk your life for my war. My cause.”
“Your revenge,” I said, tightening my grip on his dagger, still not entirely sure where this was heading.
“My revenge,” he whispered, taking my other hand in his. The cool metal ring that held his glamour in place clinked against my bloodstone ring, making me shiver. “Whatever you choose, I want you to do so with open eyes. To know who—and what—you’re choosing.”
“Who else knows about this?” I asked, glancing into the cell. Keradoc was silent, his desperate breaths the only indication that he was even still alive. “Oona, I assume?”
He shook his head and released my hand. “It’s a ruse I’ve kept even from her, though she remains the only advisor I trust. This prisoner is unrecognizable even to her, and as for me, well…” He let out a soft laugh. “She must think her father has gone soft, but that is a small price to pay for her continued loyalty and counsel. Besides, that woman has suffered enough at the hands of a loveless father. I’ve read his diaries—I know this.”
The diaries. Of course. “You read them so you can understand him better. To play the part.”
“I was taken by him as a child, Haley. Kept as his personal slave—one he loved to share among his noble friends.” A shudder wracked his body, his jaw tight, but he squared his shoulders, continuing. “I knew his inner circle quite intimately. Knew how to speak like them, act like them,destroyandtakelike them. I didn’t need his diaries to study my part, only to glean some useful intelligence that might help me win this endless war and claim the realm once and for all.”
“Who, then?” I asked. “If not Oona, who else have you told?”
“There are only four alive who know about this, Haley. And three of them are in this very room.”
Evander. Keradoc. And now me.
“And the fourth?” I asked.
