Not her . . . He would trade her mother. Luna inhaled sharply; the words were like steel slicing through flesh. “How would—Why?”
“Unable to stray far, and unable to trace Nina, thanks to the protection ceremonies, he needed someone to do the dirty work of tracking her down. I was to collect her and bring her to him.”
Her fingers drifted to the spot where the king’s men had shot her during her capture. She pressed her thumb to the phantom ache. “You only came to Ghelvina to kidnap my birth mother?”
He nodded stiffly; the admission was blunt, unapologetic.
Luna ground her teeth together. Who was he to decide whose life could be bartered for another’s? Nina had already lost so much.
If he’d been in King Hendrix’s place, would he have chosen Luna too? Offered her up in Nina’s stead, just to keep someone he loved safe?
She clenched her hands into fists and, for a moment, she imagined knocking his head clean off, but she swallowed the urge. “How did you find her?”
“The protection she cast only works against those who want to cause her harm. And since I truly believe she’ll come to none, I was able to trace her down.” He leaned forward slightly, voice low. “From everything I’ve heard, she’s wickedly smart. I believe she’ll give the Darkened One what he wants—freedom from his curse—but it’s going to cost him far more than he realizes.”
Luna’s head pounded. Nina. Arleen. The Darkened One. It was too much.
“Okay, fine,” she muttered, rubbing her temples. “I get why you’re working for him, and why you’re delivering Nina. But why rescue me? Are you bringing me to him as well?” She locked eyes with him, her voice sharp. “Tell me the truth.”
“No. The deal is just Nina. He doesn’t even know about you, and I intend to keep it that way.” He met her gaze, expression earnest, vulnerable even. “I rescued you because I couldn’t leave you with those savages. Those humans.” He frowned. “I wouldn’t wish that fate on anyone, least of all a unicorn. The humans . . . They’re greedy for magic. They’re willing to do just about anything to get their hands on it.”
“Is that why you knocked my guard out?”
He nodded. “The trace magic my shaman used led me to you instead of Nina. I think the unicornbane dust surrounding Nina was half of the reason I couldn’t find her, and the other half was you. The magic recognized your bloodline and led me to the closest thing to her.” He paused and drew in a breath. “The first time I met you . . . You were talking to flowers.” His lips curled up slightly at the memory. “You seemed so innocent.”
Luna’s expression tightened as he continued. “Then I saw that disgusting human you called a guard, and I saw red. My first instinct was to get you out of there. When you ran to his defense, I realized I’d made a mistake.”
Her shoulders slumped forward from both the weight of his words and the memories they stirred. If only she’d known Clyde’s true heart back then, how different things could have been.
“The next time we met,” Damien said, his voice softer, “you were running away from the palace. You seemed so scared. When you got hurt climbing the wall and couldn’t heal yourself, I wanted nothing more than to take you away from there.”
Luna looked down at her hands as he spoke, recalling how confused she’d been the first time she had seen her blood of light. “And that’s when you decided to stalk me?”
“That’s when I decided I wanted to help you,” he corrected, humour crinkling the corner of his eyes, “but you didn’t trust me, so I had my friends keep an eye on you. After we said our goodbyes at the palace wall, I went to Marion, Corey, and Gregory. I told them what happened. I asked Marion to follow you around the market, to make sure you wouldn’t get hurt again. You stopped by Corey’s stall and after you left, she told me which tavern Marion was taking you to. I don’t really know why or what I thought would happen, but I went anyway. I suppose I might’ve just wanted to see you again.”
Heat crawled up the back of Luna’s neck. He must truly desire her trust, because he was laying out all his cards. From now on, there’d be no secrets between them—she was confident in that. At some point, Luna let go of the table behind her; her fingers now rubbed the petals along her skirts as she listened.
“I didn’t know Marion would take your necklace. I think when she did, it triggered your first transformation. Your body was finally free of the unicornbane dust, and you became your true form.”
Her heart dropped. Marion’s betrayal hit like a punch to the gut, leaving her breathless. How could she? Marion was supposed to be her friend.
“Why would she—” Luna couldn’t bear to finish asking the question.
There was truly no one she could trust.
She shoved the thought aside, believing it would break her. There had to be at least one person . . . and she hoped to the skies above that someone was Damien.
“She was trying to help you, in her own screwed up way.”
“Wouldn’t the necklace have hurt me if it contained unicornbane dust?”
Damien shook his head. “No. It was a very small amount, sealed within the pendant. It never made direct contact with your skin, but I think wearing it for so long dulled your magic.”
Luna narrowed her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me all of this sooner? Why the secrets? The lies?”
Damien exhaled deeply, running his hand through his hair, his face heavy with guilt. “After the ballroom massacre . . . When you agreed to come with me, I was scared to tell you anything. You were having nightmares. You were terrified.” His voice dropped, almost a whisper. “You looked at me like I was the hero from a storybook. I knew the day this was all revealed to you, you’d stop looking at me like that and start seeing me as the man I am.”
“And who’s that?”
