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I turned to Graham. “Come with us.”
“I don’t think he’ll allow that,” he whispered, so low that only I could hear. “Besides, how could I walk away from the kingdom now that I know what lies beneath it?” He surveyed the room, not with a look of greed, as my father had, but with horror. “I refuse to leave this all to Cael, unsupervised, to wreak havoc as he pleases.”
“He won’t be First Immortal without you on the throne, and there’s nothing left for you here,” I said. “Cael has ruined you, and if you stay, you’ll have no respect, no power. You could even end up executed!”
“Mara!” My father called.
“Go,” said Graham. “You’ll finally have the freedom you wanted. Your friends are free. Your father will be free. Now it’s your turn.”
“And leave you?” I said. “What will you do?”
“I still have a shot at the throne,” he said. “If I can explain the accident with my brother, the Academy might understand. I don’t feel right about walking away and leaving the kingdom to Byrne.”
“I wish I cared about this city as much as you do,” I said, “but all I want is to leave it.”
“I think that’s a lie,” said Graham. “You do care. It’s just your shame making you believe otherwise.”
“What about your own shame?” I asked. “After what Cael just told everyone, I’d expect you to want to leave as much as I do.”
He sighed. “I can’t deny that I want to escape my shame, but the real temptation is the chance to finally be with you.”
I felt a smile lift my mouth in spite of myself. “And I can’t bear to leave without you.”
“I don’t expect they’ll give you a choice.” Graham gestured at Cael and my father where they stood at the side of the speedboat. He lifted his bound wrists and held both of my hands in his. “I wish we had more time for the proper goodbye you deserve. If we were alone right now”—he looked down at my lips, his own parting, then he pulled in a deep breath and let it out in frustration.
“Mara!” My father shouted again. “We are leaving!”
I squeezed Graham’s hands in mine. “When I’m away from you, all I want is to find you again. I can’t leave without knowing you’ll be okay.”
“If you refuse to leave, I’ll never forgive you,” he said with a hint of a smile.
“That’s not much of a threat when you already haven’t forgiven me.”
He stepped close, his voice low in my ear. “I’ll forgive you if you leave me. If you’re free of the city, then my heart might finally be free of you.”
His words cut me like a knife, though I tried not to show it. I wondered if he meant it or if he only wanted me to leave and save myself, but I didn’t have the time to find out. “I understand,” I said.
“Goodbye, Mara,” he said.
I let go of his hands and backed away. I wanted to say more, but my heart felt too broken to let me speak without my tears taking over. With one final look into those blue eyes that had captivated me a thousand times over, I turned away from him and headed toward the speedboat.
At the water’s rocky edge, I paused next to Cael. Now that I was closer, I could see the individual lights lining the underwater rock walls of the pool, making it glow blue.
My father stood at the helm of the speedboat, stroking the glossy bow like a beloved pet.
“Mind removing these now?” I held out my cuffed hands to Cael.
“Not yet,” he said with indifference.
“Then when?” I asked. “I’m leaving now, aren’t I?”
He ignored me, looking down at a device in his hands that I’d learned was called a remote.
“Destination?” Cael asked.
“Somewhere I’ve never been,” my father said.
Cael clicked his tongue. “That’s not an option. Tell me which island and I’ll enter the coordinates for you. Tramore? Gellor?”
