“A fluke, nothing more.” Lunara was clawing for any excuse, any explanation that would make him back down.
Lyriat knew it too.
He offered her a smile, no less gentle for its insight. “Was Baldrir also a fluke then? Because I happen to know that Thaddeus mistakenly delivered your things here, instead of Bal’s sickroom.”
“So?” Her voice was little more than a croak.
“So, you healed a male who should’ve been dead without the common implements of your people and profession. There’s only one type of Nachthellian capable of that feat.”
Goosebumps broke out across the whole of Lunara’s body, as if her flesh could break free piece by tiny piece and allow her to disappear that way.
“What is yourname?”Lyriat asked softly.
Lunara knew what he was really asking, and it was amazing she stifled the sob his question tried to rip forward. Barely.
“Please. Don’t make me answer that.”
Names were of the utmost importance in the Evesong. So silly, when they were just a jumble of letters strung together.
And yet…
If a Nachthellian was powerful enough to have one, that series of syllables distinguished them in ways that had nothing to do with family or which realm they were from.
Lyriat was right. She was terrified. Had been for decades, ever since her parents had been taken and Cordelia had helped her to die alongside them.
“I swear on the Sisters who made us that I will never reveal it,” he promised. “Not unless or until you are ready for it to beknown. But I need to be aware of who I’m hosting in my home, for obvious reasons.”
“You ask too much.Theyask too much.”
To deny a Realm Ruler was lunacy, but the words had blurted out before she could tear them back.
“Ah. It’s the Council you fear, then.”
His level of discernment had to be a gift from the Sisters, nigh mystical in its precision. It was the only explanation for how he could know exactlywhat had haunted her for so long.
There was no more sense in trying to deny it. A tear slipped free, damn the useless thing. “Wouldn’t you? The Elder Council lures with false promises. They would groom me, until I was obedient, dutiful, mindless. They’d make me forget there was ever a time I was my own person. My hopes, dreams, all gone. And for what? A garish tower in an overrated city?”
The floodgates had opened and she was practically yelling, pacing like a caged beast.
“What hopes and dreams could anyone have when living half a life in hiding?”
That pulled her up short, too close to the truth for comfort. Fine. Shemighthave had hopes and dreams if she wasn’t afraid for her life every second of every day.
The Council wouldn’t order her literal death, but they’d gladly cull any parts they found to be offensive in order to more easily pull her strings.
That, she couldn’t live with.
And your parents would never forgive you if you tried. You may as well have killed them yourself.
Bolstered by the integrity of her choice, she looked Lyriat right in the eye. “My hopes and dreams may be small. Nonexistent, even, by some standards. But they’re mine.
“Meanwhile, the Council thrives on using their collective power for their own, sordid ends. On ensuring creatures like mecome to heel, whether they want to or not. On protecting themonstersthey control, rather than the people who need them.”
Sisters save her. Just the thought of those abhorrent beings, the individuals even worse than the Elder Council themselves, nearly brought her to her knees.
Talk about being scared of a name. She refused to let her mind even think theirs.His.
Lyriat’s brows had punched upwards, his lips pulled down at the corners. “You seem to have a lot of opinions about them.”
