The word hit like a brand against my skin.
“What sort of power do you think I have?”I asked warily.
Varyth didn’t answer immediately. He studied me for a beat longer before setting down his goblet.
“I don’t know,”he admitted. “Truly.”
That should have reassured me. But it didn’t. Because it meant that whatever I carried—whatever had called to me through the Veil—was a magic even he had never seen before.
And that was worse.
That was so much worse.
Varyth shifted in his seat slightly. “But what I sensed. It was… powerful.”
I let my fingers move, idle and practiced, masking the way my pulse clawed at my throat. “You’re a High Lord,”I said. “Surely you’re already powerful enough on your own.”
A ghost of amusement, or perhaps calculation, passed over his face.
“You were a noble before,”he countered. “You know the game. Power doesn’t grow in solitude, it’s curated.”
I pursed my lips.
He had a point.
But I wouldn’t acknowledge it aloud.
“I’ll give you a few days to settle in.”Varyth’s tone returned to one ofcool indifference. “After that, you’ll need to decide. If you stay, you train.”
“And my children?” I asked. The idea turned my stomach. That he might look at them and see potential instead of people. “Do you wish for them to be weapons too?”
For thefirst time, his expression shifted. It was subtle, so fast it could have been a trick of the light. For just a moment, I swore there wasa trace of anger. But it was gone before I could be sure.
“They will be given access to the castle’s school,”he said. “They will receive an education, as all fae children here do.”
“That’s very generous of you,” A muscle in my jaw twitched as I held his gaze. “An education, a place in your court… and all for what? My supposedpotential?”
Varyth sighed, long and slow, my scepticism apparently exhausting him. “I don’t offer generosity, Isara. I offer practicality. Purpose brings order. Order protects those within.”
I arched a brow. “A purpose that serves you.”
“Of course,”he said, unbothered by the accusation. “That is the foundation of any well-run court, is it not?”
He studied me, waiting for my response, but I merely stared back, refusing to give him even the slightest hint of agreement.
“You have a choice,”he said finally. “You can train. Discover what lies within you. If the power I sensed is as strong as I believe, you will become a formidable force.”
“And if I want to leave?”
“Then you leave. If you think the world beyond is safer, then by all means, walk back into it. Do you truly believe the soldiers who chased you have forgotten? That they aren’t waiting?” His voice lowered. “And what of your children? Will you drag them back to a life of running, of fear?”
The ghosts of those months clawing at my mind. Mireth’s hollow eyes, the way she bit her lip raw to keep from cryingwhen she was starving. Eryx’s tiny body, so fevered I thought—I thought I would lose him. Hiding in that damp, stinking cave, holding him, waiting for the moment he would stop breathing. And the fear,gods, the fear that every night would be our last.
“My children are mine to protect.”
“Perhaps,” Varyth replied smoothly, “but you do know, don’t you?”
He was waiting for me to crack, to say it aloud.
