“At least look at me once before you send me away!”
There was no reply, not even a turn of his head.
Helaina lost every sense of herself in that silence. She wanted a reaction, acceptance or rejection, she wanted something—anything at this point.
Thoughts that crossed her mind too frequently flooded into her.You are hated. You are death and darkness. You are cursed. Your birth ruined their happiness.
She couldn’t take it.
“Look at me!”
Still nothing.
“look at me!” Her anger boomed. The curtains fluttered apart, as if shoved by phantom hands. A gust of black burst from the floor and snuffed out the candles.
She didn’t balk at her own demonstration of power, she just gripped her bracelet as tight as she could until she felt pain there.
The king rose from his chair, still facing the now-disheveled curtains.
“You won’t even face me. You couldn’t tell me yourself, could you? That you’re sending me away. You sent your brother to do it instead, you pathetic coward.”
Her father’s large body whirled around and headed straight for her. She wished immediately she could suck those words back in between her teeth. People had died for such insolence, such lack of respect.
He looked so angry, but beneath that anger she realized he had aged a decade since she’d last seen him. His bronzed skin had become sallow. His hair had become laced with more gray.
Oren bent down and single-handedly tossed the coffee table separating them to the side, sending stray dishes to shatter on the ground.
By the time he was on her, there was barely time to react. His whole body was tense, his face twisted in contempt.
She felt the swift crack of his hand connecting with her cheek. Her neck snapped to the side.
She tongued the inside of her mouth, tasting the tang of blood. Then she warily turned back to face him.
He gripped her tunic with both hands as his heavy breathing picked up. The closer he got to her, the worse he looked. From the reek of his clothes, he hadn’t bathed or changed in days.
“Howdare youcall me a coward! After all I’vedonefor you? After what I’ve sacrificed to keep you safe? Whose fault was it that night, Helaina?Tell me!” He shook her violently, trying to coax out the answer they both already knew. “Why was this life never good enough?” His voice was hoarse yet full of malice.
She tried to keep her chin from trembling. “You hideverythingfrom me. Instead of telling me the truth, you locked me up! What was I supposed to do?”
“Everything we did was for your own good! The fae king gave you a chance, a shield of protection, and you pissed it away! We tried, Helaina, gods damn it, we tried!” His angry eyes turned exhausted. “I’m weary of the burden you bring.”
Her heart cracked.
Not a daughter.
A burden.
“I am yourblood. I didn’t choose to be born this way.” Her own nostrils flared.
He let go of her with a scowl and turned his back. “I didn’t have a choice either, but I’m choosing now. I can’t—Iwon’tprotect you anymore.” His anger turned to defeat as he walked back to his chair. “If we keep you here, we risk more incidents. It’s too much of a liability. The farther west we can send you, the better.”
She was sick to her stomach. “I’ll never make it there andyou know it.”
Oren was silent for a beat. “We’ll send you with double the guard.”
Like that would help.
She tried to placate him by appealing to his heart—surely he still had one. “Father, that night... with Krysta...”
