“Kane.” Leaning over, I touched his face, holding back tears.
He had truly wanted a future with me, to move past everything we had been through. I saw it clearly in his eyes. Even though I hadn’t had a chance to ask him about the Lich King, I knew Kane would have done anything to protect me. That’swhat he had been doing since the moment I arrived at this castle.
Shame slithered through me. I’d kissed Kane because I wanted to, and now he lay paralyzed by my hand. A betrayal we could never heal from.
Gideon reached over and picked Kane up, slinging him over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” I slid off the bed, panicking that this was not the right course of action.
“We're going to the royal courtyard to finish this. I’ll turn us invisible.”
I stared ahead, unblinking. Frozen in time. I was a liar.
Our first kiss and I betrayed him with it.
“Remember, you have to be touching me,” Gideon said. “And don't let go. If anyone sees us, we're dead.”
“I won’t go through with this.”
“It’s too late. You’ve already committed treason by poisoning the king. You either come with me or die.”
In a daze, I followed Gideon out of the bedroom, gripping his arm, my body shaking.
My chest constricted, and my head swam.
This was a mistake. I knew it, yet how could I fix it?
When we got to the courtyard entrance, I pressed my hand against the rune like Kane had shown me. The stone was cool beneath my palm, but the moment the rune activated, warmth spread through my hand. The door opened, and we went inside, Gideon making sure it closed behind us.
“Good. Now no one can follow us in.”
We moved to the lilac tree. The courtyard was hushed, almost reverent, the scent of night-blooming wisteria heavy in the air.
Kane lay limp in Gideon’s arms, his wide gaze stuck on me.
Were we really going through with this?
Gideon laid Kane in front of the lilac tree and pulled a metalobject out of his coat. “This will help us find the gem. We just need a little of this.”
He took a dagger and sliced it across Kane's arm.
“What are you doing?” I went to grab the knife, and Gideon elbowed me away.
“The tuning fork needs his blood to find the gem. Otherwise, we will never find it. How long were you in the Dryad Realm?”
“I don’t know. Not long, a few hours maybe. Kane didn't want to stay. There was a storm there and he was afraid that time was off.”
“We’ll have to be quick. We don't want to be in there too long because then he will come find us.”
“What's going to happen to him?”
“He’ll be fine. He'll wake up soon. Poisons don't work long on him, but I made this one extra strong.” Gideon stood, slipping the dagger back into a holder on his waist.
A loud bell chimed.
“It's happening earlier than I expected,” Gideon muttered.
“What's happening?”
