Page 114 of Facade

“And the storms. You… make them?” My brows furrowed. A sharp dip of his head in confirmation.

“Took Aniah a lot longer to figure it out.”

I pressed my hands to my face.

“That’s what Aiden meant about my bloodline,” my voice hollowed. “But I don’t have powers, do I?”

“I don’t know. I think it’s a possibility.” He filled a glass with amber liquid, offering it to me. I curled my fingers around the crystal.

“What happened next?”

“Several weeks after that night of freedom, he came for us.”

Ryker poured another drink, throwing the contents back.

“A convoy showed up led by my father in full regalia. I’d never seen him in his finery. Before that, he’d always looked like one of us. Now he looked even more like a stranger. I resented him for taking us from our village.”

Another pour. Another swig.

“From our family. Where my village had been warm, the castle was cold. The Queen didn’t bother hiding her hatred toward us. The King put us in a wing opposite the Queen. We stayed out of her way. But my mother started to wither, or so it felt. She grew pale and thin. She wasn’t singing or laughing. She just followed me to the different lessons my King Ezren demanded I take and sat there silently with an empty smile.”

He swallowed, gaze darkening.

“I begged her to leave with me. But she always said no,” he scowled. “Aiden avoided me, having been told at that point who I was. My father tried to get to know me as much as possible, but I refused to speak to him. When my mother died, I wanted to leave. But my father had other plans. He tried to publicly accept me as his son. To announce me as Prince Ryker Nightbane and put me in line as his heir. I refused. I kept my mother’s last name, Kallik. He still wouldn’t allow me to leave. Instead, he permitted me to be in the royal guard and assigned Malachai to watch over me. To protect me. Brushed off my strange colors as a defect.”

He stared into the fire, the orange glow drawing out the silver threaded in the blue.

“Once I refused his offer to accept me, the Queen declared that no one outside of the royal family, and Malachai, would know my true identity.”

A growl built in his chest.

“I didn’t want any of it. My grip on my rage began slipping, sending me spiraling into that darkness I’d worked so hard to get away from with Watka, that even Malachai took notice. He soon became more than my guard—a friend—and even introduced me to Aniah. But it wasn’t enough. Being in that place was like ingesting the same poison my mother had. It was killing me.”

He moved before me.

“Eventually, Malachai told me he knew of a way to get me away from there. We had it all planned out. Aniah was even going to retrieve my mother’s body so I could bury her away from that fucking place.”

“What happened?”

“You.”

32

Evanee

“Me?” I breathed.

“We never knew what went on in the castle. I always stayed far away. We’d heard Aiden was engaged to the most beautiful Gargoyle the kingdom had ever seen, but I didn’t care. Even when you came that day to meet him, I stood at the back, hidden. I didn’t even look up.” His mouth hooked at the corner, whereas my face wrinkled.

“The day we were to make our escape, Aniah begged me to wait. She didn’t tell me why, but even Malachai held me there. Urging me to trust her—so I did. That day she brought you out that door, I knew I couldn’t leave.”

Blood rushed to my cheeks as his gaze drifted to mine. My pulse quickened, and so did the wind outside as his eyes glazed silver.

“Why?”

He cast his gaze down as he came to sit next to me.

“As I said before, I saw my own darkness reflected in you. I wanted to help you.”