“I will offer you anything,” I say quickly, the words tumbling out. “Alana and her family can come live with us. I know how much your friend means to you. And I will offer you revenge. I will kill my father for you and for what he did to Brandon. I’vebeen poisoning him for years, but I never had the courage to end him. But I will do it now. For you.”
Tressa is taken aback and presses her hand to her chest.
I’m mortified. This is it. I just messed up, as I knew I would. I’ve gone too far, and she’ll leave after all.
“I don’t want that,” she whispers.
“You can do it yourself, if you want,” I whisper, unable to stop myself. “You deserve to make him suffer.” I might be digging my own grave, but I need to offer her this.
“No,” she says firmly. “The poisoning needs to stop.” She looks at me with those big, green eyes. “I’ve forgiven you, and I’ve forgiven Lord Varrick. I’ve forgiven everything that happened to Brandon. We can start a new life.”
“We don’t deserve your forgiveness.”
She kisses me gently.
“I am giving it to you anyway.”
Chapter Seventeen
Tressa
Our faces are close enough that I can see every flicker of fear in Altair’s eyes.
My heart is racing so hard that I’m certain he can hear it. He just confessed to poisoning his father, and I need to calm down before I cause a scene. I can’t let him know how shocked I am, or it will shatter whatever fragile thing we built last night.
His shoulders are slumped forward, and there’s a pleading look in his eyes that makes him seem younger than he is, like a boy waiting to be punished.
Last night was amazing. I meant it when I said that I forgive Lord Varrick for what happened to Brandon. But this thing between us is so new and frail that one wrong word can break it.
“Would you like me to heal him?” I ask.
“No.”
“Why not?”
He shifts his weight slightly.
“Because my father was slowly destroying House Aurellion. When our first human queen was crowned, Queen Ruby, she started making changes. She asked the big houses in Aurumveil to give up old traditions that were harmful. The queen gave an edict that no menageries would be kept by the royal family or the wealthy houses of the kingdom.”
“I know what a menagerie is,” I say. “I remember from when I was a child.”
A menagerie is a sort of zoo where fantastical animals are kept, most of them dragon species that cannot shift into human form. They’re seen as lesser creatures, even though they often possess immense power. I remember seeing the cages when I was very young. The sounds those creatures made at night used to terrify me.
“My father refused to release them,” Altair says. “He started opposing the queen openly. He was discussing the possibility of a riot with other lords in the kingdom, maybe even a revolution. I had to remove him from the equation before he destroyed everything.”
I’m starting to understand. He poisoned his father to prevent a revolt against the human queen. To protect the changes that are making life better for those who can’t protect themselves. And for people like me.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to help him get better?”
“Even if I’m in charge now, if he recovers his health, he can still do damage. He could destroy everything I’ve built.”
But I can’t hide my distress. Even though what Altair is saying makes sense, I don’t believe poisoning is the answer.
My face must show what I’m feeling, because Altair’s expression changes.
“All right,” he says. “I’ll take you to see him. But first, you need to do something.”
He stands and pulls me to my feet, then leads me back to the vault door with the blade-embedded lock. He positions my hand over the blades.
