Makai in love with Mom? It’s insane considering the position I’m in, but my heart does a little flip. Mom deserves to be happy. Does she feel the same about my uncle? Is it because of me they’ve never made their feelings known? Because of my dad?
“With Archer out of the way, carrying out the rest of my plan was a breeze. I even found myself glad for Rhyen’s presence. His defiance made my decisions all the more grounded. Who were the others going to trust? A former traitor or their loyal ally and friend?”
What’s that, glinting just below Gage’s pant hem? The point of a knife. Bull’s-eye.
Gage cups his hands under my shoulders, lifting me as if I weigh no more than a sack of feathers.
I keep my eyes downcast, zeroing in on my target. Timing is key. Otherwise it won’t work. “What are you going to do with me? Send me back to Jasyn? I escaped once.” With Ky’s help, but still. “I can find a way to do it again.”
“You insult me.” His fingers lock around my forearm. “Crowe is a blip on the map. His vision is too tapered. What I have devised far surpasses that numskull’s plans.”
I struggle, and he tightens his grasp. My knees lock, and my soles skid across the ground. Not yet. “Gage, why are you doing this?”
We’re at the gate now. A wolf howls in the distance. An owl hoots from a nearby tree. If only the owl was another shape-shifter, maybe then it could sound an alarm.
Gage propels me past Stormy and through the opening in the gate. “Because I’m tired of standing in someone else’s shadow.” His top lip curls. “A high price has been placed on your head. In exchange for you, Mistress Isabeau has promised me something very valuable indeed.”
Isabeau? As in crazy-lady-who-wants-Mom’s-nonexistent-baby? I’m so not playing slave to that wicked witch. I inch my foot next to Gage’s. If I distract him just long enough . . . “What could possibly be worth this? Betraying your friends? The Verity? When the king takes the throne—”
“Don’t you get it?” He grabs my biceps, his voice a desperate rasp.
I lift my foot off the ground, keeping my intent gaze locked with his frantic one.
“There is no king.”
My boot touches stone. The knife will have to wait. “What?”
“You heard me. If King Aidan is alive, where’s he been? You believe you’re so special because of your wretched little mark. The truth is, no one needs you to find the vessel of the Verity. The king probably died a long time ago. No one with that much goodness living inside him would stand for what Crowe’s done.”
“Even if King Aidan died, the Verity would’ve found a new vessel. It finds the purest heart.” Robyn’s words seemed like a tale at the time, something unfathomable and out of reach. But saying them aloud now, I know they must be true.
“You stupid, naive child.” Gage’s hands shake. “No such thing exists anymore. Consider this. Have you ever met anyone selfless enough he’d give his life for yours?”
Yes. Mom. Joshua. Makai. All of them have put my needs before their own.
“Everyone has an agenda. Everyone. You may think those close to you love you unconditionally, but take it from me, there’s always another reason behind their actions. Always.”
Oh my word. Ky was right. Gage’s behavior tonight proves it. Why did I let my stupid pride get in the way?
Hoot. Hoot. I search for the owl. Are its calls meant for me? No. I’m delusional. If the nocturnal bird is a disguised human, what’s it waiting for?
Stormy plunges to her knees, still clutching the gate’s bars. “I’m sorry, Eliyana. Please forgive me. I have to do this. For Kuna.” Her grief is a black hole.
“I understand.” And I do. Because I’d do the same for Mom. Gage is wrong. If Stormy’s willing to risk everything to save Kuna, there has to be a vessel of the Verity.
“See what love gets you?” Gage leers. Is he taking pleasure in Stormy’s sorrow? “If you weren’t so desperate to keep your dirty little secret from your oblivious husband, you wouldn’t be in this position now.”
Dirty little secret? Stormy? Now I’ve heard everything.
“You made an oath, Gage. We all did. ‘To the Crown until Death,’ remember? I didn’t think you’d actually go through with this.”
“Oh, please. Of course you did. What good is an oath when there is no crown to bind it? And don’t feign innocence for the girl’s sake. You knew exactly what I was doing when I brought that traitor along on our little excursion across the sea.” He faces me again, his superior smirk pleading to be smacked off. “It took a good beating, but Kyaphus eventually spilled about your encounter with the Troll. How she seemed to think you’d make a fine slave. Everything was falling into place. We’d take you to the Physic. Once you were healed, we’d ditch the others and trade you to Isabeau.”
“We? Are you saying Ky was . . . he was helping you?” No way. He said his brokenness was an act. A ruse to earn my trust.
“Don’t get me wrong, the little weasel was reluctant. But when I told him his precious baby sister’s life was at stake, I knew he’d do anything to protect her. Even if it meant aiding me.”
“I know exactly what it feels like to care for someone so much, the very thought of their pain cripples you.”
Oh, Ky.
“And then my entire plan went to the Void. Kyaphus saw through my lie. He figured out there was no possible way for me to get near his sister, so he double-crossed me.” Gage releases me, darts to Stormy. “And you. Did you really believe summoning the squall would slow me down? That somehow drowning me would let you off the hook?”
She swipes at her dripping nose. “It didn’t hurt to try.” The disdain in her eyes is like nothing I’ve witnessed.
“Lucky for me the Leviathan came along.” Knife in hand, he stalks to me. “All Kyaphus did by taking you to Crowe was make my job a whole lot easier. When we found you, I knew his tune had changed. He wouldn’t have released you if his sister was still alive.”
“Those reasons are no longer valid.”
Ky’s story becomes clearer by the minute. The reason he worked for Crowe. His sudden switch of sides. His refusal to use his Calling to force me into submission. Did something happen to his sister?
“I have nothing left to lose.”
I know the answer. Because I’d do anything for Mom. If I lost her, I’d feel the same way.
“Which brings us here.” He withdraws a small vial from his jacket pocket. “I swiped this Slumbrosia from Wade’s stock. A couple drops below the nose, one inhale, and you’ll sleep for hours. Joshua was more difficult. Had to sneak up behind him.”
“Some nerve you have calling Ky a traitor when you’ve been one all along.” I spit in his face.
He blinks, then closes his Hulk-strong fingers around my neck. “Stormy, is the Threshold ready?”
Threshold? Where are we going?
Without lifting her head she whispers, “Yes.”
Just when I’m about to be soaked by the now-full fountain, the owl’s hooting grows louder. It swoops down, digging its talons into Gage’s hair. He swats at it, and I scramble away. The owl pecks, unrelenting, at his skull. I can’t look away. I’m the rubbernecker I always criticized.