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“Why did he take you all the way down there, just to bring you back?”
“Rancor promised him a ship to return to his homeland but revoked it now that Father is watching the coast.”
She gave a slight nod, her eyes still on the ground. “Good thing Uncle Ian spotted that black ship.”
“Yes.”
“Your father will be so happy to see you.” She met my gaze again. “He was so strong when I told him the news, but I know he didn’t want to be.”
My heart broke thinking about the way his heart would have shattered into a million pieces. He was a man of few words, of few emotions, but he felt deeply when it came to Atticus and me. He looked at us in this special way…a way I couldn’t describe.
“I sent Atticus a message. Once he receives it, he’ll return with our army. General Henry and his men are at the bottom of the cliffs. I expected one of them to find you, not for you to walk back inside with your abductor.”
“We didn’t pass the soldiers because we moved through the mountains. It was the only way to escape the Teeth.”
“Well, I’m grateful that man brought you back alive, at least.”
“He’s not a man…”
“Then what is he?”
“I have no idea.” He wasn’t Teeth. He wasn’t Necrosis. I couldn’t figure it out.
“Your father may know. He’s seen a lot of things.”
My thumb brushed her fingers.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Mother. Compared to all the horrible things that could have happened, it was a fairy tale.”
She gave a nod. “I meant…are you okay with…what happened between you and that man?”
I held her gaze, unable to share my feelings like I normally did. I’d told her about Ethan. I’d told her about my first time. I told her everything—because she was my best friend. But this time…it was hard.
“I can tell he hurt you…based on the last things you said to him.”
Our journey felt like a single day because I’d had no time to process everything that had happened. We were always together, bickering, fighting, detesting each other. “I should have been more suspicious. I’d never seen him around the village, and then all of a sudden, he shows up out of thin air…and I’m the only thing he’s interested in. He’s a very handsome man, so that was a red flag too.”
“It’s not your fault, sweetheart. Living a life of constant suspicion is no life at all. And he’s not out of your league, if that’s what you’re implying.”
“You’re my mother. You have to say that.”
“But I mean it. And I bet he would agree.”
He was underneath the castle, locked up in the dungeon, the very dungeon where my grandfather was kept before my father killed him, and I wouldn’t go down there to visit him. The next time I would see him would be in five years when he was released. “It’s not like I can trust anything he says.”
“I’m sorry that he hurt you.” She patted my hand. “I can tell you really liked him.”
And that made me feel even more foolish. “I did my best not to get attached, knowing it wasn’t a long-term thing, but…it was hard not to.” I’d only been with Aurelias a couple of times, and I masked my affection with distance because I knew I didn’t want it to end. I’d never felt that level of heat with another man, never felt that throbbing connection. I didn’t really know him because he was so closed off, but I wanted to know the rivers in his soul more than anything. “But that’s over now. Time to move on.”
* * *
My father still hadn’t returned.
Now I worried for him the way he worried for me. He’d gone to the Teeth to negotiate my release, and I hoped it didn’t claim his life. It was hard to get back into a routine when life was forever changed. The era of peace had officially ended.
Mother and I spent a lot of time together, and it seemed like she wanted to keep me in her sights all the time, like someone would take me all over again. But there was a distinct melancholy to her features, and I knew it was because she worried for my father.
