How had he forgotten she was in the room with them? Why couldn’t he sense her?
“That’s not what I meant,” Cason mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. “I just can’t separate the hallucinations from reality. I mean, my hallucination was watching you fight using shadow magic, which could have just been you darting around with your knives. The last thing I rememberclearlywas you walking away from me, the shield fading, and then the noglida attacking.”
Oh,gods.That wasn’t really the last thing he remembered clearly. He’d… he’d told her he loved her. He’d asked her to come back to Aelstow and he’d told her he loved her. Brela hadn’t responded how he thought she would. She’d said—
“I’m sorry,” Brela mumbled.
Cason blinked slowly as he leaned forward, hand resting over his stomach. This conversation was going to make him more sick than his wounds.
“Do you need me to stay?” Serill asked.
Confused, it took Cason a moment too long to realize the prince wasn’t talking to him anymore. He looked up to see Brela with her back to him. She’d opted for her normal, sleek black pants, with Night Carver sheathed at her thigh. Her corset belt was cinched around a loose white shirt—not his shirt—with the end of her braid hanging just above her hips. Tight and crisp, and nearly as tense as her shoulders.
“I can handle it,” she whispered. “Farrah and Elias should be in the garden out back.”
Brela kept her back to Cason as Serill squeezed her hand. He stopped at the couch, resting a hand on Cason’s shoulder before walking out of the living room.
Cason waited until he heard a door shut before speaking. “Brela, I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean to make this uncomfortable, I just—“
“You weren’t hallucinating.”
He stilled. “I know for a fact that it’s impossible for a vaarasuxa skeleton to fly, so I think Iwashallucinating.”
“I told you I could get us out of there,” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “I told you I would save all of us.”
“I get that, and I’m not doubting you because clearly we are here, but I can’t figure out how you did it. You had Night Carver and one throwing blade left.”
Brela’s shoulders lifted as she sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly. “Do you really think it was possible for someone without magic to escape those beasts?”
“No…” His heart stopped. “It’s not possible.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Cason. You weren’t hallucinating.”
No.
No, no, no.
“Brela,” Cason whispered. “Look at me.”
She turned, lifted her chin slowly, and opened her eyes.
Purple.
“No,” he gasped.
Not Brela. Not Brela. Not Brela.
He counted the bricks along the fireplace. Counted the floorboards between the couch and where she stood. Tried to ignore the urge to count her heartbeats and breaths. Failed. Then realized hecouldn’tcount them, because he couldn’t sense them.
Fire crept up his throat. He swallowed it.
“Case—“
“Don’t call me that.”
The words burned. Swirled with smoke and flame and fury. And he watched them shred through her features. Every muscle in her body went rigid. And thoseeyes. Those eyes that had once been so fascinating to look into only revealed the gods-damned manipulative, evil magic that he despised.
He couldn’t deny it. Couldn’t hide from it.
