“My father must have always suspected I wasn’t entirely trustful,” Orion murmured as he flipped through one ofthe files. “Otherwise, I think he would have revealed more to me about the High Council and their plans.”
“I doubt it,” I said, sitting back with a sigh as I felt the weight of not just his, but Ivy’s, eyes on me. “Dante kept everything low-key. Not even I could get a read on it.”
Across from me, Ivy stiffened, gaze shifting to where I sat at the other end of the table. “What does that mean?”
I went still, eyes widening. “Nothing,” I replied quickly with a shake of my head. “Don’t worry about it.”
Hurt and anger flashed across her eyes. “No,” she snapped. “I won’t leave this alone. No fucking secrets, remember? No hiding shit. Seriously.”
I flinched like I’d been slapped, but the others quietly held their tongues. It would be easy for them to jump in and tell her what I didn’t want her to know.
I swallowed hard, gaze steady on hers. I wanted to brush it off, but I also understood the damage that would cause. It would only make the rift between us bigger.
“Dante found a way into my head. Not just reading a thought here and there, but could actually control me,” I said, voice breaking. “I became an actual threat to everyone—especially you.”
Ivy stilled, the colour draining from her face. “What?”
I laughed darkly, scrubbing a hand down my face. Orion didn’t look too surprised by the admission, but then again, he’d walked through the Old World believing he had a living bomb inside his head that could go off at any moment because of his betrayal.
My eyes closed for a moment, and in the darkness, I saw my own cell. Felt the darkness in the back of my head again. “I had to be imprisoned for a while. Every so often, Dante would appear and mock me. Tell me shit. Especially about you.” I opened my eyes, tears filling them as I met her stare. “I was there when you escaped. Saw it all through his eyes. And that’s how I found out about…”
Ivy’s hand slipped beneath the table. “That’s how you all knew about the pregnancy.”
I gritted my teeth, looking away. I couldn’t hide my fear or my shame.
“I’m sorry,” I said, voice quiet. “But heusedme?—”
Ivy pushed out of her chair, the sound echoing through the living room. Everyone stilled as she hesitantly made her way around the table, only to stop beside me.
I knew Ivy couldn’t hold a grudge for long; it was one of the few things I did know about her. But in this moment, if she did choose to hold this against me, I would get it. The thought terrified me, but without our bond, I couldn’t tell what was running through her head right now.
In her position, I would wonder how much more had Dante seen. Had access to. What he knew because of me.
But none of those thoughts seemed to bother Ivy, not as she sat in my lap and wrapped her arms around me. “I’m so sorry that happened, and I wasn’t there for you,” she murmured, burying her face in my neck. “But you can’t hide something like that from me. I was starting to think you hated me. Which I know is dumb, but I’m hormonal times two.”
I released a shaky breath as my arms went around her. My heart raced from her words, from the way she held me. It took all my strength not to cry, but I bit down on the tears.
I didn’t need the others to see that again. Or her.
“Well, I have an unfinished list of names, if anyone cares,” Rhadamanthus announced, pushing the list towards Grey. “But there are more, you say?”
Ivy and I glanced at the paper Rhadamanthus gave Maeve, though it was Orion who leaned forward, eyes on the dark ink. “Yes,” he replied. “I guess you didn’t find the trunks in the basement.”
“We have a dungeon?” Ivy said, sounding sick. “No.”
Orion grinned. “Chains and all.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Ivy murmured, shaking her head, eyeing the Fae prince warily. “Anything else down there that we should be aware of?”
The male drummed his fingers on the table for a moment. “I left more supplies,” he said after a moment, looking down athis gloved hand. “Weapons. Charms for the island, marked with wards, illusions, glamours. Just in case.”
“We should get them out,” I said, for the first time sounding more confident and less afraid, less like I was going to break at any moment. “Set them up around the island. He’s getting desperate trying to find Ivy. He’ll be searching everywhere for her, and we can’t let him have her.”
Ivy visibly shuddered, the movement having all of us tensing. I could almost feel her shame, the torture going through her mind so vivid I didn’t need our bond to tell what she was thinking.
“He’s going to hurt so, so many creatures to find me,” she said, looking around the table dimly. “He won’t care who he kills—who gets in his way so long as he has me.”
“It won’t matter who he kills,” Hawk replied. “If he gets you, the world ends anyway.”
