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“Worry about the ones I selected. I had them made for today. These are for you and Kol.” He looked up at my mate. “And Casimir, if he chooses.”
He pushed three towards the opposite side of his desk. Nik inhaled deeply then cleared his throat.
"Raven, you may pick first."
I grabbed the first one, feeling my father's eyes watch intently. I clasped the handle and pulled.
My mouth was a desert. I struggled to gather enough saliva to speak. "This isn't ivory, is it?"
"No."
Casimir's chest touched my back, leaning over my head to get a better look.
Kol stepped closer, as well. "What is it?" he asked.
"Bone," Father stated coolly.
"Bone?" Kol took a second to process. "Whose bone?"
Father reclined back into his chair. "Someone who died far too quickly. Someone who liked carving things in places he shouldn't."
I dropped the blade onto the desk. The clatter rattled in my skull.
A glacial storm of power blasted from Casimir and into me. His arm fastened around my middle.
"Did you kill him?" I questioned my father.
"No."
"Who did?"
Those dark magenta orbs left my face and zeroed in on Kol.
Kol, who still sucked his thumb at night when he was having a bad dream. Who still pulled on his ear like he did when he was a toddler whenever he got anxious.
Like he was doing now.
"Brokk," Casimir said crisply. "Are you telling us that Kol killed Dolan?"
"It was an accident!" Kol insisted. "Sersha used her magic on him. She tried to make him take the blame, to confess to the crimes she had committed. Only, she couldn't maintain the kind of power needed to force a fae to lie. When she lost her hold, he went nuts."
"So it was self defense?" I relaxed. Self-defense wouldn't be as traumatizing. I hoped.
"Uh, no. He didn't go nuts on me. He went nuts on her. Then Malcolm got involved and it got ugly. I wasn't sure what to do so I tried to separate them. Unfortunately, my spell hit Dolan the same time as Sersha's. Which also happened to be the same time as the Consort's sword. It just happened. Pure coincidence."
Nonplussed, I opened my mouth. Closed it. Then opened.
"See," Kol's palm lifted in my direction. "What did I say? I said we shouldn't tell her until many many years had passed and she was old enough to handle it."
UntilIwas old enough? Kol was twelve!
Father crossed his arms. "And what did I say to that?"
"That hiding something I'd done that could have a profound impact on others was never a good idea and that evenyouhad to learn that lesson yourself."
I pulled a Kree and talked myself through a deep breath in and a slow breath out. Then once more just in case.
They knew Casimir and I had been quietly looking for Dolan–and neither had given so much as a hint of the truth.
