"Don't what? Ask questions? Notice that you and Yasar are doing an elaborate dance of avoidance? Point out that you're terrified of him?"
"I'm not?—"
"You are." I step closer, shadows coiling around us both. "I can feel it through the bond, Nesilhan. Fear so sharp it could cut glass. What did he do?"
"Nothing." The word comes out too fast, too desperate. "He's your cousin. Your family. He's here to help with the war."
"Bullshit."
"Does it matter?" Her voice cracks slightly. "Would you even care if something had happened? Or would you just see it as another tool to use against me?"
The accusation cuts deeper than any blade could. "You think so little of me that you believe I'd weaponize your fear?"
"I think you chose me over our son." The words hang between us like poison. "I think you're capable of anything if it serves your purposes."
"And yet you're still afraid of him, not me." I move closer, close enough to see the way her pulse flutters at her throat. "What does that tell you?"
She looks away. "It tells me there are different kinds of monsters."
"What did he do, Nesilhan?"
"Nothing I can't handle."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only answer you're getting." She tries to move past me, but I catch her arm—gentle enough not to hurt, firm enough to stop her.
The moment we touch, the bond flares to life. Her emotions crash into me—terror and confusion and something else, something that makes my blood run cold.
Desire. Not for me. The feeling is tangled, complicated, tainted with revulsion, but it's there—a pull toward something that isn't me.
"Nesilhan—"
She wrenches away, light magic flaring. "Don't touch me. Don't ever touch me without permission."
"Something happened." My voice comes out rough. "While I was gone, he did something?—"
"Yes, something happened." She laughs, bitter and broken. "I lost our child. I discovered my closest friend was replaced by a shapeshifter. I learned my husband would let our baby die to save me. Something happened, Kaan. Everything happened. And now I'm supposed to pretend it's fine? That we can just continue like the world didn't end four months ago?"
"That's not what I?—"
"I know what you meant." She backs toward the door. "But I can't. Whatever you're looking for, whatever answers you want—I can't give them to you."
"Can't or won't?"
"Does it matter?" She pauses at the doorway, not looking back. "We're all monsters here, Kaan. Some of us are just better at hiding it."
She leaves me on the balcony with more questions than answers and the absolute certainty that my cousin has done something unforgivable.
The war with the Light Court suddenly seems like the least of our problems.
CHAPTER 10
THE CONFESSION
Nesilhan
Three days.
