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Kalen grabbed my wrists and tried to hold me still, his eyes sweeping across my face. “He told me his daughter would follow in his footsteps. That you would finish his quest to release the god, no matter what I did to him. Is that true, Tessa? Be honest with me for once.”
I stopped struggling against him and just stared into his face, dumbfounded. None of this made any sense. It was lies.More lies.All he’d done since I’d first met him in that stupid dream was lie to me. About who he was, what he was, and what he wanted. And now he seemed determined to turn me against my family. Butwhy?
“Tell me,” he repeated insistently, “when we were in Itchen, were you trying to release the god? All those visits you made to her…what were you really trying to do?”
“What do you think? Her twisted offer was a cruel joke. Nellie isn’t even dead, did you know that? She’s locked in Oberon’s dungeons, along with me.” A tear slipped down my cheek, but my hands were still trapped in his, so I couldn’t brush it away. “Let go of me.”
He released his grip on my hands. I twisted away and stared up at the stars with tears streaming down my face. I didn’t want to hear anymore. None of it made sense. Father would never do anything like that. He was a good man. And the Mist King had killed him.
I can’t trust anyone.
“You don’t know about any of this,” he murmured, “do you?”
“Just leave me alone.”
“Did he ever mention anything about the gods to you?” he asked. “About his plans and what he would do to bring them back?”
“Please, no more of this. You’ve already done too much,” I breathed. “Stop talking about my father. I won’t listen to it, especially after you lied to me about where my family was. Everything you’ve ever told me has been a lie.”
A strand of mist curled around my body, and it caressed my cheek. I ached to lean into it, but I wouldn’t. Not now.
“Not everything, Tessa. I truly didn’t know where your mother was until we were in Itchen, when Boudica arrived with letters. Niamh found out through one of our spies. She reached out to him when we started suspecting that Oberon was using Morgan more than we thought. He fully controls her, giving her commands she’s forced to follow. That’s also how Niamh found out who you are. I didn’t know what to do after that. I thought you were working against me, using me to get to the god, especially after you smashed that stone. And so I took you back to Dubnos because I didn’t know what else to do. I was going to try talking to you about it after you got some rest, but you made your move first.”
When I tried to kill him.
I closed my eyes. “How am I supposed to believe a word of this? You even lied to me about the damn Mortal Blade. The one you carried with you was its twin.”
“Because I had a feeling you’d try to use it against me at some point.”
I frowned.
“Turn around and look at me.”
My body shaking, I turned to face him. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from my face. Everything within me tensed. “Stop. You can’t do that. It’s not fair. Not after everything you’ve just dumped on me. After everything you’ve done. Kalen, I—”
Something tickled the back of my neck, and a strange sensation swept down my spine, like the fingers of Kalen’s mists. But his mists were nowhere near me. Frowning, I glanced over my shoulder, half-expecting to find someone standing behind me. But no one was there. Just a sparkling horizon full of stars.
“I know,” Kalen said. “I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry. But I won’t lie and say I’m not worried about you being trapped in Oberon’s dungeons. That’s the last thing I wanted, even when I thought you were following in your father’s footsteps.”
I turned back toward him, saw the sorrowful look on his face, and felt my shoulders droop as resignation replaced my boiling anger. “Please tell me you didn’t mean any of this. My father would never do something like that. He wouldn’t bring back one of the gods.”
“I wish I could.” He glanced toward a gathering of shadows. “Niamh is calling for me. It might be about the army outside our walls. I must go.”
“Wait.” I lifted my hand toward him but then yanked it back when I realized what I was doing. Still, the words poured out of me before I could stop them. I hated him and I didn’t trust him and yet…“I’m set to wed Oberon in a few days, and then I’ll be stuck in the Kingdom of Light for eternity. I’ll never see the stars again.”
He palmed my cheek with his strong, steadying hand. “As long as dreams remain, so do the stars.”
A breath later, the dream began to fuzz around the edges. The night-encased forest whispered away, the trees transforming from living, breathing things into nothing but dense fog full of shadows. I blinked and sat up, gazing around at the barred cell and my sister sleeping soundly beside me.
The Mist King and my dream were gone.
I squeezed my eyes shut and fell back onto the pillows, my head pounding with the weight of what I’d just seen and heard. Kalen had killed my father because he’d been seeking a way to release the god’s power. It made little sense. All my memories of Father…he never would have done something like that.
Kalen had to be wrong. The Mist King had killed an innocent man, and then he’d wanted to end me too. That made sense. That fit into everything I knew about the world.
But I’d been wrong before. My reckless anger and distrust had landed me here, along with everyone I loved.
Kalen had no reason to lie to me about any of this. I was trapped in this cell and couldn’t go anywhere or do anything. I wasn’t a player on the board anymore. Which meant…I’d stabbed Kalen for nothing. He had never betrayed me, not truly. Morgan had.
