She gasped like something had burned her, then snapped her neck up at him. A second later, a dark mist seeped from her feet. It almost looked as if it were comingfromher.
Nox glared down at her, his features shifting from suspicious to downright murderous as he let out a curse and yanked her closer to him.
“Who are you?” he shouted, a hint of his dragon form leaking through. His navy eyes held a storm while the veins at his forehead and neck pulsed.
“Nox!” Clarissa said in warning, pointing to the shadows now billowing between Nox and Devora. “What are you doing?”
“That’s not me,” he said. In the blink of an eye, Nox twisted Devora’s arm so her back was pressed into his chest, his arm held tight across her throat.
His voice came out a growl as he said, “It’s her. She’sVeridian.”
65
Clarissa
She’s Veridian.
My mouth opened, but no sound came out. I blinked to try and wipe away my shock, to make sense of the impossible. Because it wasimpossible.
“How do you know?” Thorne asked.
Nox strengthened his hold on Devora, who glared up at him and tried to pull away. “My magic,” he answered. “I still have some left from the island, and when I touched her, she siphoned it from me.” He turned so his nose grazed the side of Devora’s face, baring his fangs to her. “Tell me how you got to this kingdom,Shadow Wielder.”
She struggled against him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she snapped. “Letgoof me.”
“You’re lying,” Nox shot back.
“I’m not,” she seethed. “I never knew my family, okay? I don’t know what this,” she jerked her head toward the shadows dissipating at her feet, “is. Nothing like that has ever happened before. I’d never even met a—a Veridian until Clarissa.”
Her eyes found mine, and their voices melted away. All I could do was stare at Devora, at the familiar face of the woman I’d come to know these past few weeks. The woman I’d called myfriend. Ididn’t care where she came from. I didn’t care if she was Veridian or not.
She’d betrayed me.
Those blue-green eyes held my stare, and to her credit, she didn’t back down. She was never one to tuck her tail between her legs—this was the girl with daggers under her uniform and liquor hidden in her chest. Honest, authentic, unfiltered.
Except…it had all been a lie.
“How could you?” I whispered.
Her gaze fell to her feet.
I took a step forward, my voice rising. I could still see the charred red fur staked in the middle of that bonfire, only this time, Devora’s form flickered next to it. “The fox in the fire? Was that you?”
She swallowed. “I didn’t have a choice. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I was trying to protect you.”
“Protect me?” A chuckle full of mirth bubbled out of me. “That’s the best you’ve got? After trying to kill Galen and me, trapping us in the mines,humiliatingme?”
“I never tried to kill you,” she rushed out. “That wasn’t me, I promise.”
I paused, searching her features. When I gave a quick nod to Nox, he reluctantly released his grip as I stood toe-to-toe with her. My fingers itched to close around her throat, the violent streak of my dormant fox half longing to rise to the surface. “I trusted you. I let you into my life. I don’t know what she has on you, but I would have done anything to help you, Devora.”
“I know,” she said. “But Lady Reaux promised to give me information on my family. You have no idea how long I’ve been trying to find them, Rissa, and?—”
“Don’t,” I snarled. “Don’t you dare call me that.”
She blinked and rolled her lips together. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” she finally said. “I didn’t want any of it to happen this way. Lady Reaux threatened to have you killed, to make it easier for her to ruin the alliance. But after I met you, I knew I couldn’t letthat happen. I begged her not to. I—I told her I could get you to leave willingly, to abandon the marriage and go back to your empire. I didn’t want anyone to have to die.”
Her voice lowered, remorse shining in her guarded eyes. “Lady Reaux agreed. She told me to do what it took to convince you to leave.Whateverit took.”
