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“Shh.” Cael touched his finger to his lips in a gesture of silence. He locked the door behind us and started down the staircase without answering me. He had a penchant for knowing exactly how to irritate me.
I groaned, forced to follow him blindly, as he loved and as I loathed. I pulled my light from my bag and pointed it down the iron staircase, finding dirt far below.
Cael glared upward, shielding his eyes with his hands. “Where the hell did you get that flashlight?”
“Flashlight?” I asked. “Is that what it’s called?”
“Yes, but you didn’t answer my question.”
“It’s . . . from the boat,” I said.
Cael flinched and looked away. He continued down the metal staircase, his footsteps loud and angry, each step a hollow reverberation through the pit we descended.
I should’ve chosen a different lie, but I wasn’t about to bring up the Enforcer I’d killed in the aqueducts. The boat was where Fiona Merrick had been killed, so I reminded myself to be careful about bringing it up if I didn’t want Cael getting angry—well, angrier.
I reached the ground after Cael, my flashlight illuminating a crude tunnel with a wooden door at the end. It looked like a prison. I wondered, again, if this was a trap. Maybe Cael was leading me to my imprisonment.
I stopped, shaking my head and planting my feet.
“What now?” asked Cael impatiently.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Exactly where you asked to go. It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine,” I said. “I don’t know why you built an underground prison. I don’t know if my father is even here. And I really don’t know what I’ll say to him if—” My voice caught and I went quiet, swallowing back my emotion.
The door at the end of the tunnel creaked open. A large, broad-shouldered silhouette filled the opening, warm light spilling out around him.
“Mara,” said a deep, rough, and painfully familiar voice.
The flashlight fell from my hands and I looked up, tears blurring my vision.
My father stepped forward, reaching for me. My body sagged and I didn’t reach back, but I was helpless to resist the arms that had always been home and safety to me. So I let them envelop me, pulling me close to his steadily beating heart, my tears wetting his shirt. I sank into him, crying out of sadness, joy, and relief, but mostly anger. So much anger. I had not come anywhere close to forgiving him for his lies.
“Father,” I said. “I need to understand?—”
“Hush,” he said, patting my back like I was a small child.
I did as I was told. Even though I had so much to say and so many accusations to make, his presence softened me, taking the edge off my hatred so I forgot my need to voice the hundred questions I had. They weren’t gone, but they were buried, the noise muffled like underwater voices.
My hope to understand faded and my desire to be loved took its place, but not without a heavy blanket of self-loathing.
“Later,” I said out loud, as I had to Graham in the carriage only minutes before. I wanted to mean it, but part of me suspected it was a false promise in both cases—my desperation to avoid the truth for another day.
We settledinto a living room of sorts with a dirt floor, stone walls, and four doors, including the one we’d entered through. There were several armchairs and a sofa, making it a surprisingly inviting space considering that we were underground, but I couldn’t get too comfortable, especially when I still wore a constricting dress and a giant wig that made my neck ache.
My senses were on high alert, watching out for the devious ways Cael and my father would try to use and manipulate me. One thing was certain about my relationship with both of them: my worth was predicated on my usefulness and they would exploit that to get what they wanted if I let them.
My father sat in the armchair beside me.
“How are you not in prison?” I asked my father. “Everyone thinks that’s where you are.”
“When Brennin returned and spoke out against me, Cael came for me at once, only telling the Academy that I’m being kept in a secure location that he is personally supervising. With all the focus on Brennin’s return, no one has thought to ask exactly where I am.” He smiled. “Cael manages impressive feats as First Immortal.”
A twinge of envy awoke inside me. I hated the way my father loved and praised Cael for everything he did when I, on the other hand, could do nothing well enough to earn his pride.
“He didn’t manage to keep Graham from condemning you in the papers,” I said.
