“The only one that matters,” she fires back.
Stopping mid-stride, my arms cross over my chest. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She lets out a humorless laugh. “The king of Astralis hasn’t done anything for this realm in a long time, not since his wife and daughter died in a fire.” She pauses, taking a moment for the deceased. “Which is tragic, but he still has a kingdom to run, decisions to make.”
“What kinds of decisions?”
“Aside from the obvious day-to-day? He needs an heir.” And that heir is standing right here. But I don’t say that out loud, instead keeping it confined to my own thoughts and Voraxis’s, as his own filter in and out.
“What if he doesn’t?”
“Chaos,” she says bluntly. “Surrounding kingdoms would attack, and no matter who gets it, there would always be an imbalance of power.”
This would be the perfect time to speak up, tell her there’s nothing to worry about because…well,I’mhis heir. But I don’t know the first thing about running a kingdom. All that responsibility resting on me would be too much. I don’t want it. “Seems bad.”
“Bad?” her voice raises. “Try disaster. Completely unimaginable. Feuds, war, neighbors turning on each other, and so much bloodshed the entire realm would be covered in red.”
“Why does it have to be that way?” My question seems to puzzle her, but as she ponders how to answer, another voice fills the empty space.
“Look what we have here.” It slithers over me like tendrils of unease, cynical and taunting, chilling me to the bone and shattering whatever resolve I’ve been able to repair. All the parts of my life he infiltrated so long ago.
Hesitantly, I turn, knowing the person standing behind me has the face of someone I haven’t thought about in ages. “Miss me, Angel?” The nickname slices through my armor, rendering me speechless and exposed. My eyes stay glued to his lax form, unable to move, speak,thinkas his grin lazily pulls at his lips.
“Uh, Kallie, who is this?” Odeyssa questions warily.
“I—” My answer leaves on a stammer, and the knowing look he points my way as he tilts his head in my direction has my voice disappearing.
Rolling her eyes, Odeyssa asks him directly. “Who are you?”
His laugh causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end, the sinister undertones of whatever he’s about to imply. “Maybe you would recognize me like this.” He rolls his shoulders back, shaking his head vigorously side to side, then suddenly, all his features start to shift, twisting and contorting until it’s no longer Ryan standing in front of me.
“Stephan?” Odeyssa whispers, confusion pulling at her features. His shaggy blond hair and deep blue eyes tug at a memory that doesn’t wish to surface, like I’m pulling on a rope that’s stuck beneath a boulder. It doesn’t matter how hard I try; there’s no give, but it stays as a persistent itch I can’t scratch.
He slaps the area on his chest where his heart should be. “I’m wounded. You don’t remember me? How could you forget a handsome face like this one?” The most terrifying part is, he’s not wrong. If there has been a time our paths crossed, I might’ve done a double-take. “Unless…” he drags out, “he wiped your memory. Callum was always a sneaky bastard.” If he didn’t have my attention before, he does now.
“You know Callum?”
“We all kind of go way back,” Odeyssa answers for Ryan. Or Stephan. Whatever he’s going by these days. “Where have you been? We all thought you were taken. Like the others.”
“Sweet, innocent Odeyssa. There’s so much you don’t know.Lucky for you, I’m in the mood to chat.”
Do you see it?Voraxis startles me.
See what?
Look closer at his appearance. It’s an illusion, making you see what he wants you to see.The perfect manipulator. Staring at him, I try to break it, pull back the curtain, and see what his true face is.
It’s subtle as my eyes strain against the magic, like I have to peel away each strand to get to the next. It happens slowly. The subtle mannerisms, the tick of his head, the swift change in his body language, the quirk of his lips, giving the slightest hint of a dimple.
Focusing on the little things, the facade begins to crack until the illusion shatters altogether. I stumble backward, unbelieving of the face he was born to wear. Flames immediately erupt over my arms. “It’s been you this whole time?” my voice booms.
He looks at me inquisitively. “Huh, can’t say that’s happened before.”
“What’s going on?” Odeyssa questions.
“Callum. It’s fucking Callum!” As the accusation hits his ears, all the magic slips away, and Odeyssa lets out an audible gasp. The guy standing in front of me is the one I poured my heart to, gave my soul to as long as he gave me his in return. The one who saved me and turned around and shoved the sword so deep into my chest he took my once beating heart as a souvenir.
“Callum,” she breathes.
