But Barrett was watching me with a worrying crease between his brow.
“There’s more?” I asked.
“It wasn’t only lore. It was paired with a concerning amount of information about you, Ophelia. I don’t know how it ties together, but I think it’syoushe wants. The last war, the coming attack, it’s all for you.”
“Me?”
Barrett nodded, and that one motion pulled the mountains out from under me.
Was it possible Kakias knew about the Angelblood? The Angelcurse? Was that why she had been after me this entire time and tried to kill me in the volcano?
All of this precious blood wasted in a worthless girl. That’s what she’d said to me.
Her blade was at my neck again, her fingers dug into my skin, and that inexplicable power of hers steeled my bones.
Looking the prince over, trying to collect my warring emotions, I asked, “Is that all?” I slipped past him, leaving the cave behind, and fought to pace my steps. But the sad smile he flashed told me he saw through the facade.
“That’s everything I know. Let me know if I can help figure it out.” He brushed a hand through his hair again, sigil ring catching the light.
“If any of this is a trap, it will be the last regret of your life.” His throat bobbed as my threat settled. “Let’s go back.”
When we returned, I watched Barrett walk to Dax, the two exchanging quiet words on the outskirts of the group.
With dread forming a vise around my stomach, I strode for my pack and pulled out the parchment and Mystique ink I’d thought topack. It was supposed to be for emergency messages to Damenal. But this?—
Thiswasimportant. I couldn’t keep waiting for allies to decide they wanted me. I had enough evidence to prove that a threat was building. I needed to act.
Pressing the pen against the parchment, I watched as one bud of black crawled from the tip, staining the paper, as dark as my future was.
I think it’s you she wants.
“She can’t have me,” I growled.
I wrote the letters.
Chapter Sixteen
Ophelia
The next day,I cornered Dax while passing through a narrow stretch of craggy mountain peaks, their jagged edges reaching into the clouds. I waited until he’d been switched onto Cypherion’s mare, Erini, to ride with him—which was comical considering how large the two of them were—since I didn’t want others overhearing.
“We haven’t spoken much,” I began, inhaling the crisp air and letting Sapphire’s easy pace relax me.
“You’ve been busy with your interrogations.” There was heated defense in those words, mirrored in Dax’s hooded hazel eyes.
That made me like him more.
“Should I have done otherwise?”
Dax thought for a moment, then ran a hand over his shaved brown hair in defeat. “I suppose not.”
Cypherion exchanged a silent smile with me, cataloging every movement of this Engrossian.
“Dax, I’ll be honest with you?—”
“Why?” he interrupted, and I balked. “I don’t mean to discount the offer, but I have to ask. Why be honest with us? Barrett has a wishful heart—hard to believe after the life he’s faced—but I’m a skeptic. So I have to know—why bring us with you at all? Why trust us?”
“I don’t trust you,” I reaffirmed. “But I want to. I want to believe that while a lot of unfair fates have befallen me, there is still good in the world. I want to hope.”
