“Fine.” I brush past him. Harper and I will need to return to Carterhaugh as quickly as possible. I only hope we have not lost too much time to Under—months or, dare I think, years.
“Wait,” Zephyrus calls.
There was the old Brielle, the green, narrow-minded novitiate of Thornbrook. But the Brielle of today is a much wiser creature. She understands the difference between choice and obligation.
Slowly, I pivot to face the Bringer of Spring. His features have altered in such a way that they bear little resemblance to the man I rescued in Carterhaugh. The skin is smoother, the bone structure sharper, with an agreeable symmetry that wasn’t previously present.
“If it is a fight you seek,” I clip out, trying to mask my surprise, “you will have to look elsewhere. I earned Meirlach fairly.”
“You did,” he concedes. I do not fail to notice how his attention fixates on the weapon. “You fought well.”
I already know this. Ten years ago, Mother Mabel put a blade in my hand. I have not wasted that time languishing. “What do you want, Zephyrus? Be honest, for once.”
A muscle flutters in his jaw. Anger? Not quite. It is somethingdecidedly more deadly. “Why did you leave for the Stallion alone?” He searches my face. “You are not usually so rash.”
It seems I will have to spell it out for him. “Ask me what I learned, Zephyrus. Go on.”
His pupils dilate, swimming against the mossy rings surrounding them. A hare, I think, caught in the eye of a snake. “What did you learn?”
Admittedly, I’d believed myself capable of civil conversation. In my mind, I would lay everything out, every hardened fact. Information would be picked over, torn apart, arranged in its proper location, where all made sense.
But it cannot be done. Between one heartbeat and the next, tears sting my eyes, and my breath comes short.
“The Orchid King told me of your plan. How you would lead us to the Grotto. How you would use my blood to gain Meirlach for yourself. How you would then kill Pierus, thus breaking the curse that binds you to him.”How you would betray me.
“You sought him out?” Zephyrus seems frightened—for me, I think. “Pierus is dangerous.”
“How dangerous can he be when he speaks the truth?” The words grow broken and coarse. “Do you deny it?”
He steps forward, palms lifted in repentance. “I can explain.”
“You lied to me.” The accusation spews out, thick and sour enough to choke me. “You lied, and you lied, and you lied! I trusted you.”
For that is the true hurt, after all. I warned Harper of Zephyrus’ motives. I reminded myself to maintain distance. Daily, I thought,Do not trust him.Yet I could have sworn I’d witnessed change in him. I believed, truly believed, my feelings for Zephyrus were reciprocated. If I cannot trust my own heart, what can I trust?
“All this time I thought you were here to aid us in our quest, to repay your debt, to gain yourownprize. But you weren’t, were you?” I weep openly. “You wanted Meirlach. It didn’t matter that we wanted it, too.Neededit. Everything was for your own gain.”
For the first time, I see the West Wind clearly. The promises that break, the vows that bind. “I have given you every opportunity to showyour true self,” I whisper. “Why—” My throat closes as I stare into his eyes. “What kind of person manipulates someone who has only ever been kind to them?”
His expression falls slack. Mourning something that will never come to pass? It matters not. Meirlach will remain in my possession until I present it to Mother Mabel. Zephyrus will have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers before I ever let him touch it.
“Nothing to say?” I demand. “I want the truth. Tell me that the only reason you agreed to help us was to acquire Meirlach for yourself.”
“It’s not—”
“Say it!”
He looks physically ill as he replies, “Initially, that was my intention. When I learned you sought Meirlach, I planned to go along until the opportunity presented itself. But as time went on, as I came to know you, I began to question what was right.”
A likely story. “It didn’t stop you, though.”
“You have to understand my dilemma. I have been captive for centuries. I would have done anything to free myself.”
“And whose fault is that?” I fire back. While I do not know the reason for his captivity, I am almost certain it is justified. “You have only yourself to blame.”
“I know.” His voice has never been smaller. “But Meirlach was my last hope. Only a god-touched weapon can fell a god.”
“You’re saying you have no access to any other god-touched weapon? What of your dagger?”
