AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, your father did like surprises,” I say, slumping back on the bed next to him.
“Hm,” Evander says, pensive. “Remember me telling you about the shadow siren Kiran, Blaise, and I ran into in Mystral?”
I raise my brow. “No, the creature who got into Kiran’s head and almost convinced him to yank out Blaise’s heart slipped my mind.”
Evander chuckles, but there’s no life in his laugh. “Well, it wasn’t just Kiran’s head she got into.”
I nod, remembering Evander telling me that the shadow siren had offered to bring his brother back. “But you didn’t fall for her tricks.”
Evander’s cheeks drain of the little color left in them. “You know what tipped me off that it wasn’t real?”
I take my husband’s hand, and he strokes it absentmindedly.
“She came to me in the form of my father. Pretended to be him, then begged me to kill Blaise to bring Jerad back. I was tempted, too. But you know what the siren did that tipped me off? You know what her mistake was?”
My heart thuds, aching in my chest for my husband.
“‘I love you, son’—that’s what the vision of my father said. And I knew then it wasn’t real.”
Silence blankets the room for a moment, and I don’t know what to say, so I do all I know to do, and sit in the pain with my husband.
“Do you regret it?” Evander finally asks.
“Regret what?”
“Putting the crown on my head?”
I snap my neck to stare at him. “Why? Are you planning on making me regret it?”
And then, blessedly, the smallest of laughs escapes my husband’s mouth. “That prospect is too terrifying to consider.”
Evander pulls me into him and kisses me as if our perfect little world hasn’t just shattered to pieces.
CHAPTER 76
PIPER
I probably should hate Blaise a tad more than I do.
I probably shouldn’t like her, either, but what can I do? Hate her for opening the Rip to bring back her kind-of-dead suitor?
That feels a little hypocritical, given I prefer others overlook the fact that I used to kidnap children for a living.
Besides, the girl is so clearly lost. And that’s a feeling I recognize. I know what it’s like to swim in an ocean of your own guilt, the hatred of others acting as waves crashing above your head. Your own self-talk—the current trying to pull you under.
So I decide not to feel too terrible about not hating Blaise. She’s told me her story now, and though I wasn’t born yesterday and know better than to assume she hasn’t omitted any important information, I believe what she has revealed is probably the truth.
No one paints their own actions in such a horrible light unless it’s true.
As we make our way through the forest, my heart longs for Marcus and Amity. I want nothing more than to go after them, to ensure they’re safe. But if things continue to go as Blaise fears they will, I’m not sure my family will ever find safety.
It feels like my soul is being rent in two, feels like I’m abandoning them.
But logic reminds me this is just a fear response. That the idea of searching them out only feels safer. If I ever want the people I love to find peace, Az has to be stopped.
I just have to pray Amity finds a way to keep Marcus alive.
“So, does it talk to you?” she asks, seemingly out of nowhere as we pace through the words.
