Netanel mussed his hair. “Well, that may be the first wise choice you have made since becoming king. I’m proud of you.”
Cassiel grunted halfheartedly, warmed by the gentle praise. “I don’t know if I can go on, let alone be a wise king, but maybe I can, as long as you’re here. You will stay with me forever … won’t you?”
Netanel’s smile saddened. He didn’t reply, but Cassiel already knew what he would say.
Nothing lasts forever.
“Cassiel?”
He jumped at the sound of Dyna’s voice behind him. She looked at him strangely, and searched the garden, but Netanel had already slipped into the foliage without making so much as a sound.
Her eyes returned to him. Cautious. Concerned. “Who were you speaking to?”
Cassiel’s first instinct was to lie. It came out of habit now. But he had built a mountain of them, and it was about time he was finally honest.
“Netanel,” he called. “It’s fine. Come out and greet Dyna.”
Her brow furrowed with confusion. “Who?”
Bracing himself with a deep breath, Cassiel got to his feet. “That’s the name he goes by now. Please don’t be angry. I should have told you about him before, but I didn’t want to give you another reason to fear me.”
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean? Who is Netanel?”
He took another breath. “…My father.”
Dyna stilled. “What…?”
He scratched the back of his neck uneasily. “Well, it was best to keep it a secret. I needed him to work for me from the shadows. Only a few know about him…” Cassiel trailed off when her shock hit his chest like the sudden splash of ice-cold water. It hovered between them for a moment, chilling his skin. Sorrow filled its place.
Dyna stared at him with dismay. “Oh, Gods … I think…”
He frowned. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
She took his hand. “Cassiel … I think you erased your memories after all.”
He blinked at her, because he didn’t understand. The ache in his skull returned, and it made his ears ring. Suddenly, everything seemed jumbled.
Tears gathered on her lashes. “Cassiel, your father is dead.”
He dropped her hand, putting several steps between them. “No, he’s not,” he said defensively. “I saved him. I stopped his soul from passing through the Gates and gave him half my lifetime.”
Her voice became muffled, trapped behind a curtain. “You couldn’t have.”
“You weren’t there.”
Dyna took a careful step toward him, as if she worried he would bolt. “That’s not possible.”
“You’rewrong,” he retorted. They were all wrong. She tried to approach him again, but he backed away. “Yoel is here, Dyna. I brought him back. He’s been with me all this time.” Cassiel spun toward the bushes. “Father, come out and show her.”
Only the wind answered with a gentle rustling of the still trees.
His chest heaved with the breath he struggled to inhale. “I don’t find this amusing,” he said shakily. “Where did you go?”
Dyna reached for his arm. “Cassiel?—”
“Don’t.” He moved closer to the bushes, waiting for the one who had held him together for the past three months to appear. “Father, please come out. I need you to come out.” But no winged shadows came forward, and his hands shook. “He-he was right here. He’salive. He didn’t leave me. He didn’t.”
Dyna covered her mouth as more tears welled in her eyes. Zev, Lucenna, and the others came outside. They all looked at him in that same strange way. The same way his Valkyrie had.
