He wrapped his hand around the sword at his own waist. “Things I was glad my grandmother was no longer alive to learn I had done. And through it all, I was not happy. Kortan is— He’s staying with his dying Gran, and they’re happy. And I want that simplicity back. I want to return to my island and see if it survived.”
I tipped my head. “You never went back to stop it from dying? After you became so powerful the Sun King himself feared you?”
His gaze fell to the ground. “No. I was too angry about Gran dying. I didn’t care about anyone else at that point. I was already obsessed with more power.”
I shrugged. This wasn’t as big a problem as he was making it sound. “So help me find the humans, and then I’ll come check on your island with you.”
His eyes shot up to mine again, hopeful. He stepped closer and lifted his hands as if he wanted to hold mine.
I pointed the dagger at him. “First, tell me you’re keeping your promise.”
He dropped his hands. “I learned something else from Kortan. Well, remembered it anyway. Gran used to talk about it.”
I lowered the dagger. These confessions weren’t about me at all. I’d seen his worry and assumed it was tied to me, but it was just him sorting through his own traumatic past.
He stared at his hands, not talking.
“Well?” I waved my dagger like an extension of my hand, encouraging him to finish. “What was it?”
“Destroying Brintontoven won’t make me happy.”
I almost rolled my eyes. “So find something else that will.” Like me. Stay with me. “There are worse things than being a villain.”
That caught his attention. He raised a brow. “Like what?”
“Like being alone.” My own words echoed against my head. I didn’t want to be alone. It was the worst part of my existence.
He shook his head. “The revenge I wanted won’t make me happy. It won’t bring back Gran or undo the centuries of misery I had. It won’t help anyone. As much as I dislike Brintontoven, he’s not even a threat to anyone. He only tricked me because I was—” He stared at the ground. “Destroying people.”
“Andar.” I waved my dagger at him. “Again. Not a problem. You can—”
“The revenge you want won’t make you happy either.” He cut me off, and I froze. This is what he was leading up to. It wasn’t about him.
He wasn’t coming with me.
Fury built inside my chest, and I opened my mouth to let it out, but he interrupted again. “Your Majesty, I said I wanted to help, and I truly do. I admire so many things about you, and I want you to be happy. I also want to be a better person. Killing the humans won’t help either of us.”
Oh, no. It was my turn to speak over him. “It will help me. It will make me very happy. I have done nothing but dream about my revenge for forty years. I even left Kalshana to Prince Bylur because this was more important to take care of first. And you— you promised to help!”
His eyes turned hard. “I have helped.”
I took a step away from him, edging toward the outside of the rainforest. This was worse than I expected. “You said you would use your power to help me kill them.”
He gripped his hands behind his back. “I said my power could accomplish nearly anything, and I would support your quest for vengeance. I did not say how long I would support it.”
My stomach tightened into a knot, and my next words trembled in accusation. “You said you would bring the world to its knees.”
He rolled his shoulders back. “I am not proud of the fae I was when we first met. At the time, the only thing I cared about in the world was myself. When I said those words, I meant I would kneel in front of you.”
He dropped to his knees, bowed his head to the ground, and then straightened his back so he was kneeling with his head nearly as tall as my waist. “I intended to use it as a gesture to procure my freedom, but now— I am bowing at your feet because you are more important to me than the world, than anyone in theworld, including myself. I would give up anything for your happiness, including your good opinion of me.”
My good opinion? He’d had it until this moment.
But he hadn’t just had a change of heart when he met Kortan. He’d chosen those words when he’d first asked me to free him.
My heart plummeted at this realization. He’d tricked me into freeing him. “Did you ever intend to accompany me all the way to the humans?” I had to know, had to be sure that I wasn’t assuming anything now.
“No.”
