A sob cracked through her. She collapsed against my chest, but I caught her and held her tight. I would never let go again. Not now.
“It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault.”
I said the words over and over again, even as she cried. Even as she fought me. She might not believe me now, but I would keep saying the words.
Until they drowned out the dark whisper in her mind.
Until they were the only thing she could hear over the sound of her own crying.
Until—if the goddess was on my side—she actually started to believe them one day.
After finding the strength to walk again, I guided Rummy through the dark night and back to my room in the heart of Scarlata.
“I can’t believe I’ve never seen where you live.” The way she studied every detail of the modest apartment set my nerves on fire.
“There’s not much to it. I left most of my belongings in The Golden City when I left. Most of it made me remember things I’d much rather forget.”
“You’ve lived an entire life I know nothing about.” She trailed her finger across the wooden bed frame. “How did you manage it?”
I shrugged. “Manage what?”
“Living under your father’s rule in The Golden City. Being scrutinized every damn day. Surely there were times when you wanted to blow up and take everyone with you, weren’t there? Especially because of what they were doing to your brother.”
My throat closed up. She had no idea how true those words were.
I had done my best not to think of this place for years. I’d shut down memories of my life here. I much preferred focusing on the life I was leading now, the one full of freedom and choices and friends.
Living here, where my evil father corrupted everything and everyone? Being forced into submission, unable to do anything but watch as he destroyed lives?
I didn’t realize how truly terrible it was until I got out of it. Until I witnessed the way Huntyr and Wolf lived, saw how they stood up for what was right.
And then I met Rummy, and damn it all, she was a fucking spitfire, full of freedom and spirit and chaos, and I’d never wanted anything in my life more than her.
She inspired me to break free, she inspired me to forget about all the shit, all the torture, all the manipulation. She inspired me to beme.
And now she was standing here with me, close enough to touch, her blonde hair cascading down her back.
“What?” she asked. “You’re staring at me with a weird look in your eye.”
“Living here was… My life was dark then.” I stepped farther into the small room. “But it was all I knew. I didn’t know it then, but all I was doing was surviving. What my father said, went. I didn’t question his orders the way Wolf did, and I’ll regret that until the day I die.”
She looked up at me, her lips tugged down. “It’s not your fault, Jessiah. You trusted your father. Any of us would do the same.”
I shook my head, pain lancing my chest. “He hurt so many people. He corrupted this entire damn city, he spent years controlling and abusing everyone he encountered, all for more power. He didn’t care about me. He didn’t care about Wolf.”
Rummy pressed a hand to my chest. “I’m sure deep down, somewhere in that twisted, fucked-up heart of his, he cared.”
She said the words like she meant them, and maybe she did, but nothing could convince me to believe them. A man like my father would never truly be capable of caring about anyone but himself.
A man who only wanted power would stop at nothing. Even if it meant destroying his own children to get there.
The Golden City had once been a place of refuge. Of hope. Of magic.
But while my father ruled, he’d turned that gold to ash. He’d harmed everything he touched.
I swore to myself the day I left that I would never become the man he was.
And if that meant protecting Pericius from a man like Cornelius, I would do everything in my power to stop him.
