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"For Healynas,” I snarled, taking a step back.
"No," Elliot shook his head. "I was getting information for... for..." He was still reaching for me. Pleading for me.
He was a fool. But so ws I, I was the one who had believed him in the first place.
"Listen," Elliot continued, dropping his hand. "You know about how you got here, right? About the witches and King Lilith and the war and all of it."
“What does that have to do with anything?” I snarled, just as Jaide propped herself up on the edge of the bed beside me.
"I don't know about it," she whispered, pulling away from Parris who was trying to pull her back. “Well I mean, I know some of it. Will you tell me?”
She sang the last bit, the corners of Elliot’s lips pulling into a smile, like it was some big joke. Which it probably was, to them. My stomach flipped.
They knew each other, because I had asked Elliot to watch her while I stayed away. It shouldn’t hurt, not with him working for Healynas, but it did. It stung.
“I think you need--” I began before Elliot cut me off.
"Thousands of years ago the Fae were thrust into war. It was a war over land, and over mating rites," Elliot began, giving me one side glance as he moved closer to me, and to the bed. "The four Fae houses moved against each other for nearly a thousand years. Water. Air. Land. Fire. After so many years of fighting they had all created creatures to fight their war for them. Serpents in the water. Wolves of the land. Dragons with fire. Sylphs in the air." He gestured to himself, only to vanish a second later, wind circling around the room before he reappeared right where he was. "The house of air, Healynas’ house, won. No one could fight against us. The Sylphs were cunning, stealthy, and no one could track us. The other of the Fae’s creations, the Lyrous, didn't stand a chance. But Healynas wasn't going to take chances. He banned all of the Lyrous, as well as the witches who they had used to create them, and the Synians who had fought against him. He separated them all, so that they could not rise up and destroy his rule. If you see a map of Knot, Xerai is like a big X through its center, keeping everyone separate. The borders are lined with sanctuaries, but they do more than hoard the Omega’s for the Fae. They are filled with soldiers keeping everyone apart."
"Wait. I thought Healynas banned the Synians for attacking him over their Omega’s?" Jaide asked, she was clearly confused, not that I blamed her.
Some of what Elliot was saying was news to me. Even Parris looked confused, this was not the history that we had been told.
"Yes, but that was only part of it. Healynas wanted to destroy their future just as they had attempted to destroy his. Synians can only create life with their fated Omegas. If they want to extend their kind they must mate with those that this world created for them: The Witches. By banning the Synians from Xerai and separating them from the Witches he cursed them to a slow death. But not just them, the witches too. The witches can't bear children without the seed of the Synians. They are the Omega’s that the Synians lost. They are dying, and it is they who sent me to help you all break the curse."
I stared at Elliot. You would think the guy had grown a cock on his forehead with all the attention he was getting. He would love that, because he loved his cock.
I bit my lip, trying to keep my thoughts on track and my anger in check.
"I don’t work for Healynas. Not anymore,” Elliot continued, breaking the silence and I focused on my breathing. “I came to find an Alpha, I came to help the Witches and the Synians.”
“You came to help us,” I spat the word for the lie it was. My chest felt like it was about to explode. Something was gnawing and clawing at it from the inside out. “Is that why you wanted me to leave with you? To help?”
I ignored Parris’s gasp. I would have to deal with him later.
“No. I mean, yes. I hoped when I showed you--”
“You should have told me!” I was raging, all of that boiling anger turning into a fury that was exploding from me. I didn’t care about keeping my temper at bay. I didn’t care about restraining the monster I was. I just didn’t care.
“All the times I told you I loved you, you never said it back. Was it just because you were lying? You could have told me anytime. I would have understood. I would have believed you. Healynas took our Omega’s away and you helped to keep them from us.”
“No!” Elliot’s eyes flashed as the edges of his body warbled as they always did before he shifted. “No. I just… I failed. I fell in love with a King. And I was so in love I was selfish. I didn’t want to share you. I didn’t want to risk losing you. I love you, Garret."
He looked at me, clearly thinking that finally saying the words was some kind of magical reveal that would make everything better.
But nothing was better. Nothing would be.
Because no matter what sob story he gave me, it didn’t change what he was. It didn’t change that he had lied.
He stood there, his arms out, the dark lines of his tattoos flexing as though he would take flight.
I just stared at him.
"You still lied to me. You lied to us all." I didn’t keep the snarl out of my voice that time. There wasn’t a point anymore.
"I didn't have a choice I had to save… You don’t understand… the witches!" His calm confidence was fading into a panic. It only fanned the flames of my temper.
I worked so hard to be something different than I was. To be better. To be worthy of him.
