Wilder clamps a hand on the back of Bennett’s neck like he’s subduing a puppy, and I gape at him. “What are you doing?”
“Bennett has something he wants to tell you,” Wilder growls.
I shake my head. I need to act while Alden is still napping. “Can it wait?”
“I’m Stellan’s source,” Bennett bursts out.
I blink once, then twice, my thoughts scrambling. Not Bennett, not again. He had already proven he wasn’t the person I thought he was when he sided with Eos in October to get me an audience with the Magician. Then, he lied about Corvina, and now, he admits to being Stellan’s fucking source. If this is a dream, somebody better fucking pinch me because I don’t know how Bennett and I will get past this. We barely managed to do so before.
“Explain. Now.”
“Corvina and I aren’t dating. We work together,” Bennett begins. His gaze flicks to Wilder, who frowns. Hisdisappointment in Bennett mirrors mine. “Shortly after you rejected my proposal, she and I started talking.” He pauses, swallowing hard. “We bonded over the sting of rejection from you and your brother. But later I discovered she sought my friendship because of Stellan.”
I freeze, and each of my muscles tenses like a snake.
“Corvina introduced me to Stellan,” Bennett continues in a rush. “They work in the same field, and she started feeding him pieces of information her editors passed on that were deemed too salacious for print. But they needed someone to corroborate their stories about the Council—someone whose word could not be doubted, so Corvina came to me. She told me working with Stellan would be worth my while. I swear, Leigh, I never intended to hurt you.”
“But?” I prompt through gritted teeth.
“I’ve tried to talk to you about this before, but you never listen to me.” Bennett’s voice is so dense with emotion that chills brush over my skin. He tried to tell me? “When the guilt of helping Stellan became too much, I wanted to confess everything to you. The night of the blackout, I was ready to tell you the truth, but you were too focused on your problems to hear me out.”
He inhales a deep breath, trying to compose himself. “I’ve been having nightmares about what would happen if you were deposed, and it terrified me. I wanted to come clean, to tell you what I’d done, but you never gave me a chance. When you asked me to spy on Janus, I agreed because I knew there was no getting through to you otherwise. It was a way for me to watch you without raising suspicion. It eased my guilt about lying to you.”
My hands ball into fists. He told me he wanted to talk at the Council meeting before the blackout. Did he intend to come clean about Stellan then, only to be scared back into submission by Corvina’s text? I should have pushed him to talk to me.Instead, I’d been consumed by that text from Corvina. I let it bother me more than it should. Still, I was right to suspect foul play. Corvina pushed him to become Stellan’s source. But I pushed him into hiding it from me. If I had listened, maybe we could have avoided this mess.
“What did Stellan promise you?” Something he says sparks an idea. He’s been having nightmares about me. Could those nightmares end with me getting my brains scrambled by a leucotome? I shudder, remembering the dream I’d fallen into last week. I thought it was Janus’s, but what if it was Bennett’s? That would explain why I had trouble entering it again; I’d been focusing my efforts on the wrong person.
Anguish swirls in his ocean eyes. “He told me he’d reveal the truth about how my parents died.”
“I’m confused. You know ho?—”
“Stellan told me it wasn’t an accident. They were murdered,” Bennett admits, tears rolling down his cheeks. He removes his glasses to wipe his eyes with his sleeve.
My anger dissipates like steam. The anniversary of Bennett’s parents’ death just passed, and from all the years I’ve known him and his grandparents, I know the pain of losing them was still raw for the entire family. The news of their passing had been in all the papers; Coral and Duke Grey died in a boating accident on rough seas.
I can’t help but wonder if Stellan is taking advantage of Bennett’s vulnerability, but at the same time, everything Stellan has written so far has been true. Why would this be any different?
“What has Stellan told you?”
“Nothing yet. That’s why I wanted to accompany you to Aurora. I’ve given him everything he’s asked for, but he hasn’t returned the favor.”
I nod. It makes perfect sense why Bennett agreed to Janus’s request for him to travel with me. I bet he would have volunteered if Janus hadn’t asked. But he isn’t here to act on behalf of the Council. He is here to get the answers Stellan owes him. It’s why he was so angry about missing the meeting at Furies. Bennett likely had plans to ambush Stellan there. But now, Stellan is with the wolves, and Bennett may have sold his soul for a second time with nothing to show for it.
I want to shake him, scream at him, throw him out for this betrayal. It hurts to know he’d stab me like this again. But as I look at him in his tear-filled eyes, I see Ravi hurting over his sister. I see myself withholding information from Wilder because sharing would be a burden.
Bennett is not my enemy. He is a man in pain. This wouldn’t have happened had I paid attention to that earlier and listened to him, rather than used him for my own schemes.
“I need answers, Leigh. They were the people I loved most in the world. They didn’t drown in that accident; they wereSea Witches, and I need to know the truth. I am not sorry that I made a deal with Stellan, but I am sorry you got caught in the crossfires,” Bennett says. “Do you think you could ever forgive me?”
More tears stream down Bennett’s cheeks, and though he lied to me, manipulated the situation with Stellan, and threw my brother under the bus, I still understand why he did it. I’ve been on my quest for the truth.
“How did you know about Fynn?” I ask.
Bennett wrings his hands. “I didn’t. Fynn confessed to Corvina.”
I gasp from the sudden, jarring clarity. It all makes sense now. Fynn must have deeply loved her to entrust her with such a dangerous secret. Could that be why he broke things off so suddenly and rushed into a marriage with Gianna? Was hetrying to escape the truth and bury it under the pretense of a new beginning?
I shift toward Bennett, leaving Wilder gaping at my side. He tenses as if he will pull me back but remains still as I wrap my arms around Bennett. He stiffens at first, then crumbles. I let him cry on my shoulder, his tears soaking through my shirt as I hold back my own. I’ve been on my quest for the truth, and though his methods, once again, were deplorable, I can still emphasize his need for answers.
