“They do.” He shut the door firmly.
“Then they don’t understand what the wordlostmeans, do they?” The words came out far more harshly than I wanted.
“Why are we locked here in S’Kir?” he asked. “Why are we divided from the vampires? Why is the gate forbidden? Haven’t you ever wondered about any of this? I know some stories and legends kept us occupied as children, but the more I’ve spoken to Drez, the more I realize we have been lied to.”
I opened my mouth to yell at him, but he put a finger to my lips. “No, Kimber. I think we have been lied to—but I do not believe it was wrong of them to keep the truth from us. I am with the temple. I am with you. I just want you to know what we are facing now.
“Mistress Danai died, and you were nearly kidnapped because there are people out there who know there are lies and want the liars exposed.”
My breath hissed out as I shook my head. “Shouldn’t they be?”
“What would the consequences be if we revealed the liars and exposed the lies? That’s what they, the rebels, aren’t thinking about.”
“Lying is bad.”
“Lies are necessary. The temple must sometimes do things that aren’t always clean and good. That is the way of politics, the way government runs. Our Lost God is lost, but what happened?”
“He went on a noble quest—”
Elex’s noises of disgust filled the room as he turned away from me. “Children’s stories! Kimber, those are children’s stories. We all know they are meant to placate the little ones to keep them from having terrible nightmares.”
“Iteachchildren, Elex. I teach those stories.”
“And you never doubted them?”
My protest died on my lips. Of course, I had doubted them. I had doubted them since I was little. They were twisted and filled with plot holes and bad reasoning.
But I didn’t feel that they were lies. “They were stories for children. Do adults still believe in the infallibility of childhood fairy tales?”
“If they stick their head in the sand.”
I was astonished.
I dropped to his couch, exhausted. “How long have you been plotting with Drez?”
Sitting down next to me, Elex took my hand. “Kimber. I’m not plotting. He’s not plotting. There’s nothing bad about what he and his family does. They want to protect the templeandthe people.
“I only found about Drez’s association with them after you were taken from the dance. He talked to Jallina and me. Apparently, Arik already knew and filled in his mate.”
“Milgran…”
His hand clutched mine. “No. Never. Don’t ever speak to Milgran about anything. Don’t ever speak to anyone but us about this… Not any of the temple masters, no one.”
“So I am truly this naïve?”
Dropping a sweet kiss on my forehead. “You are goodness personified, Kimber. We all wanted you to keep that goodness. But the magic… Well, I guess it has other ideas. Drez broke his own ‘don’t tell Kimber’ rule, so I’m free to bring you in on this now.”
“You really wanted to protect me this much?”
His big, warm hand touched my cheek and turned my head to catch my gaze. “Yes, I do. I don’t think you know how much I have always wanted to protect you.”
My insides liquefied instantly. He was so overwhelmingly sincere, and his eyes lit with desire in the next moment. He dropped his head, and his lips brushed against mine—
Bang! Bang!
The urgent knock on the door broke the spell.
“Shit.” Elex spat the word. He stood and adjusted himself—he was already turned on.
