Skye made her way through the winding corridors toward her father’s private chambers. Each step echoed against the ancient walls, seeming to mock her naiveté. The words from the book Taran took back to Paige echoed in her mind.
Pediatric Oncology: A Comprehensive Guide. Published 2021.
Impossible to ignore, impossible to rationalize away. She’d spent the better part of an hour after she’d sent Noah back to his family trying to find another explanation, any explanation that would preserve the careful structure of everything she’d known. Everything she’d been told or taught. But the truth had lain in her hands, undeniable and damning.
Her father had lied to her.
About everything.
Guards straightened as she passed, their expressions carefully neutral, but she felt their eyes following her progress. Did they know? Had they always known what she was only now discovering? Had they been laughing behind her back all these years? Or worse, had they pitied her? The thought made her stomach churn.
She reached the heavy oak door that led to her father’s study and paused, pressing her palm against the cool wood. For a moment, she considered turning back, returning to the library, losing herself in the familiar comfort of books and pretending she hadn’t learned the truth.
But Emily’s pale face rose in her mind. The child’s labored breathing. And the trust in Noah’s eyes when he’d taken her hand and pressed it to his chest.
They’re as real as I am. As what I feel for you.
She pushed the door open without knocking.
There were times she’d approached the man sitting behind his massive desk and sentiment would flow over her, and she’d think of him asfather.And there were times she’d encountered him and the only name she could conjure wasTheKeeper.She wondered now how he’d acquired that title and what it truly represented. Right now, he appeared fully in his authoritarian Keeper persona.
His head was slightly lowered as he sorted through a collection of strange artifacts. She noted the sly, possessive smile on his face. He held a thin, sleek device with a glowing screen and scattered across his desk lay several small rectangular objects with numbered buttons. Things she now admitted wouldn’t exist here, couldn’t exist here, unless?—
The folds of her gown rustled as she stepped forward, drawing his attention.
“Skye,” he exclaimed, his pale eyes narrowing at her unannounced entrance. “I wasn’t expecting you. I thought you were occupied with our guests.”
“I need to speak with you.” Her voice came out steadier than she’d expected, though her hands trembled as she clasped them together at her waist.
He set the object down he’d been examining and leaned back in his chair with practiced ease. “Of course. Though I do have business to attend to before I?—”
“Is any of it true?” The words burst from her before she could stop them. “Anything you’ve ever told me?”
Silence stretched between them. Her father’s expression didn’t change, but something flickered behind his eyes. Calculation, perhaps. Or annoyance at being questioned.
“That’s rather vague, my dear. You’ll need to be more specific.”
“We can begin with those.” She moved closer to his desk and indicated the unfamiliar objects scattered there. “These and all the other strange things you’ve collected, many of which are displayed throughout the Citadel—and who knows how many that are not. And then we can discuss some of the books in the library. And we both know there’s so much more beyond that.” She forced back tears of betrayal and fury. “All the stories over the years about distant lands and traveling merchants you’ve traded with to acquire it all. Were any of them true?”
Something hard flickered in his eyes before he slid behind a confused expression. “Whatever are you talking about?”
“I found the medical books stored deep in the library. Books I’m sure you thought I’d never pay attention to. Many with strange covers, printed on unusual paper. Some with copyright dates centuries into the future. So please don’t insult me by pretending to be confused, or default to your usual tactic of trying to convince me I’m mistaken.”
His snort was somewhere between humor and derision. “Ah. I see you’ve been doing some exploring.”
“Answer the question.”
“Mind your tone.” The warning was quiet but unmistakable. “You forget yourself.”
“Do I?” Skye’s hands curled into fists as she dropped them to her sides. “Or am I finally seeing clearly for the first time in my life?”
The Keeper rose from his chair with deliberate slowness, his tall frame casting an ominous shadow across the desk. “You’re overwrought, my dear. Understandable, I suppose, given the circumstances. That Wheeler boy and his wretched family have clearly gotten into your head?—”
“This has nothing to do with Noah.”
“Doesn’t it?” He moved around the desk toward her, and Skye had to force herself not to step back. “You’ve barely met these people, and suddenly you’re questioning everything I’ve built for you? Done for you? Given you?”
“You’ve lied to me.” Her voice broke slightly, betraying the hurt beneath her anger. “About the existence of portals. About where all of this comes from.” She gestured to the surrounding room, to the fortress beyond. “As far as I know, abouteverything.”
