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He gave Luc a pat on the shoulder and nodded to him, turning on his heel to leave with his men. Jacques lingered a moment longer, meeting my eyes and then following the king.
I slumped onto the closest bed.
Vanish? Those who were deemed tainted or whatever would just vanish? How could that be true? Did that mean I would never see my father again if I were ruled as tainted? Would Adrian or Henrik simply disappear before my eyes, never to be seen again? Would their parents also never see them return home?
A hand came to my shoulder. “Don’t panic, little dove.”
I snapped out of my thoughts, throwing Luc’s hand off of me. “Don’t call me that anymore.”
“Listen, I—”
“You lied to me!” I said, standing from the bed. “You never told me about your plans, or who you were, or what I was. Maybe if I had known sooner…”
I stopped, looking at my hands. Luc grabbed both of them.
“I’m a siren, Esmeralda,” he said. “When I realized this, I knew I had a bigger purpose. I had to bring in the humans to be tried. That was my responsibility. You, however, had no idea of this burden. I couldn’t give it to you so quickly.”
“So you simply sent away people that I cared about to their deaths?”
“I cared about some of them too, you know.”
“But not Adrian. You’re happy to watch him die.”
Luc swallowed, not looking away from my eyes.
“Yes,” he replied.
I tried to pull my hands away from his, but he didn’t allow it.
“If someone killed your father,” he asked, “wouldn’t you feel the same?”
I didn’t want to answer the question, but I couldn’t help but feel convicted.
“Perhaps…” I replied bitterly. “Perhaps I would have been vengeful as well. But what about Henrik? He’s innocent.”
“He’s an alchemist who performed deadly assaults on behalf of the king,” Luc replied with a scoff. “I wouldn’t bet on it.”
“Deadly assaults?”
“What do you think people in the navy do for the king?” Luc asked. “They siege pirate ships to capture and kill the crew. It never occurred to you?”
I turned my head away. Henrik wouldn’t, I mean, he couldn’t…
But then I remembered the day Henrik saved me from that vile attacker—the one with two missing fingers.
Luc dropped my hands, stepping back.
“I didn’t want to hurt you, little dove,” he said sincerely. “Truly. Of anyone I’ve met since Maria’s death, you’re the only one who has—”
He sighed, cutting himself off. He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair, staring at the ground.
“I suppose it doesn’t matter now,” he said. “But just know that I truly consider you a friend, no matter what you feel about me at the moment. Should we both get our wings, I hope that I can have your forgiveness. And if one of us is cursed, even more so.”
He lay on the bed across from me, looking up at nothing as I sat across from him. I wanted to forgive him, but for some reason, I couldn’t.
Even if one of us was destined to disappear tomorrow.
CHAPTER 29—BAD MATCH
