“After you.” He gestures. Carved wooden planks, like steps to a ladder, lead up to the top of the platform.
~
It’s another world out here, overlooking the tops of the forest trees, like heads of broccoli. The sun burning in flames as it falls toward the horizon, and the wind, strong and refreshing as if it flows more powerfully through the treehouse.
Kane sits against the wall of uneven wooden panels, watching me as I dangle my legs from the edge, observing our new hideout.
“I’ve workedsohard to meet you, Kane.” My voice breaks, cracking around the edges. “I deserve answers.” But I can already tell that he’s been sifting through what he can tell me and what he can’t.
I don’t look back at him. I can’t. The anticipation for more secrets and more unanswered questions is hard to bear.
“I was there. I saw how much of yourself you put into helping him. Helping me.” He shifts against the wall. “I’ll tell you as much as I possibly can—but there are some pieces that have to wait.Hewon’t let me share them.”
I blow out a frustrated breath. Dessin, of course, loves his secrets.
“Where would you like me to start?” he offers.
“The day Jack died. The day I almost died after he beat me.” My voice scratches from my throat harshly.
“I escaped from Demechnef often when I was younger. One of the days I freed myself, I wandered into the Bear Traps, and—I heard you—screaming.” It’s the wince that is almost audible in his voice.Screaming. The pain, tangible.
But I keep my focus on the horizon, even as the bright-orange light makes my eyes water.
“I followed your cries until I found your father’s house and saw you in a puddle of blood on the floor through the window.” He clears his throat. Takes a long pause. “I broke down the door and tackled Jack to the ground, throwing him off your body. And that’s when I carefully picked you up and carried you out of there.”
That confirms it, then. When I woke up in the infirmary days later, they told me the person who rescued me… also killed my father.
“Did he suffer?” I can hardly push out the thought. I’m not sure I want his answer.
“Skylenna—” He moves closer to the edge, a silent plea for me to look at him. I hold my hand up and shake my head.
“Just tell me.”
“Jack—he—slit his own throat.”
My heart stops—no—that’s not what they told me—
“I tried to stop him.” A thunderstorm in his tone, dark and remorseful.
I turn to him now, my tears blurring his hard edges. “You saw it happen?”
He nods. “I had you in my arms when he did it. I begged him to put the knife down. But—he asked me to tell you that he was sorry and that he’ll always love you.”
I use both of my hands to cover my mouth and try to hold back the broken sobs that shake my shoulders.He killed himself.
“Oh my God,” I cry. Everyone I’ve ever loved—all gone—allchoseto leave.
Kane doesn’t wait for permission. He moves around me swiftly. Wraps his strong arms around me as I cry. “What is wrong with me?”
“They were sick, sweet Skylenna. That wasn’t your fault. None of this is your fault.”
Ignorance is bliss.Dessin must have known the secrets I would uncover would be ugly ones. Nasty ones. The kind that are better off rotting alone.
“And you ran with me in your arms for miles. You’re the reason I’m alive.” He could have left me there. I was as good as dead anyway. But—the math—that was four years ago.
“Kane, they told me when you admitted yourself in the asylum, that was one of the worst breakdowns of yours they had ever seen.” I twist in his arms to get a better look at his face. His features fall, and that longing turns to torment.
“Yes, I remember,” he says stiffly.
