“You were dying,” he said, almost gently. “But you should be fine now.”
I gripped the fabric of my dress and dragged it up. The charred edges, the black veins spidering across my skin—gone. The rune sat on my abdomen, completely healed.
I swayed on my feet.
“Good,” Vaeris murmured.
“No, it’s not.” My head snapped up. “You never mentioned that the deal wouldkillme if I didn’t go to you!”
His lips flattened. “That was…an oversight.”
I laughed once. “I’m so glad my life means so little to you.”
“Aelie, I don’t want to fight,” he said tightly. “I’ve missed you.”
Vaeris drew me into his embrace before I could stop him. His arms locked around me like a cage, and then he pressed his lips to the top of my head.
I cringed, my insides screaming to shove him off. Even his scent pitted my stomach with nausea. Wrong. Everything about this was wrong.
I tried to pull back, but he held firm. “Vaeris.”
“I was terrified,” he whispered. “When I heard he’d taken you, I thought he’d kill you.”
My hands pushed against his chest. “He hasn’t hurt me.Youdid.”
His grip loosened. “That’s not fair.”
“You left me for dead. You didn’t show up to my execution. You made a deal that was killing me and never warned me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“How? By leaving me to die?”
“I didn’t,” Vaeris snapped. “Why do you think I put that savage in the same dungeon as you?”
I gaped at him. “What did you just say?”
His eyes gleamed. “Come on, Aelie. You’re smarter than this.”
My heart started pounding. “What did you do?”
“He was an enemy of the Crown, imprisoned for decades with a rune only you could break. I knew you’d try to run, that you’d notice his rune.” He stepped closer. “And I knew what chaos he’d unleash.”
No.
“You actually expect me to believe…you planned my escape?”
“I ordered the guards to lock you in that cell. Made sure you were desperate enough to take the risk. That’s why I couldn’t be there.”
“You didn’t come because?—”
“He would’ve killed me. Had to maintain plausible deniability. The grieving son, powerless to stop the massacre.”
I didn’t even recognize him anymore.
“You let all those people die?”
He shrugged. “I needed them gone. My father, the queen, the entire court. Kairos was perfect. A hundred years of rage, waiting to be unshackled.” His smile widened. “And you were the key to setting him free.”
