“When it comes to your other abilities, you don’t do well with it, but Iamsorry for having to keep you in the dark, T. Really.”
“Having to? So you still think the secrecy was necessary? That cutting me out was necessary?”
“Yes.”
Our eyes locked.
He sighed, then scrubbed his hand over his face. “Iam… difficult. With that. It’s a… a certain…”
“A survival mode reaction?” Zayn offered. Really nicely, his tone soft and understanding.
He was seeing some of the Torvek Titanus that I knew, not just the outburst version he’d already run into twice now.
T gave a nod, andalmostsmiled at him. “Yes.”
“You know, Winter spent eighteen years hidden away from the world. And when he was finally allowed to step out into it, the main response he got from people was fear. Just because of his powers, of what he is, of the way he was born. Not through one single fucking thing he did,” Zayn told him. “Temperance was even created just to take him down. A whole organization. So, I get it. All of us here get it. You hiding those two Celestial-based abilities, though, you think it’s sparing you from that, from being ostracized like Win was, but it seems to me that it’s breaking you. It’s definitely keeping you from the woman you love. It’s got you in a perpetual state of fear.”
“And you’re not you, T,” I added gently. “Only inside Vortimer Palace behind closed doors.”
He grimaced and started pacing. “When Ruxnoth outed Winter… I thought Winter was done. Ruxnoth made it seem like everyone’s worst nightmares about him were going to come true, destroy us all. But now the tide is turning. Draven told me about the Temperance stance altering, them calming—something you conveyed to him, and is now being spread throughout the Realm. And it’s calming a lot of the population. Not all, but alarge portion. And there’s also growing support for you being linked romantically to Winter, Evi. Yes, it’s about strategy—them seeing that him being tied to you will ensure he never acts against the Dracoryn Realm, that they’ll always be safe from him—but it’s still something.”
He took a beat, then told me, “My meeting with V just now… it was about him being invited back into the Dracoryn Realm. Invited back! After all this time. And it’s actually because of this situation. When you, Fanor, V, and Cornelius met, you created a proposal that Draven was able to run with and present to the Realm that was received very favorably—for V to be there and use his Primal Celestial Resonance to protect the Realm against Ruxnoth.”
“Yeah, it’s gonna stop them mobilizing against Winter’s family.” I shifted my weight. “Fanor is also putting something in place to protect you.”
He frowned.
Okay, so he only knew that she was aware of his abilities, not why she hadn’t told him. Then he was likely assuming it was because she wanted him to trust her with it and tell her himself. Like she’d said, though, it wasn’t about trust. But of course he thought that. Survival mode thinking, just like Zayn had clocked.
“You’re going to tell me?”
“Might as well, it’s all coming out now, isn’t it?” As his lips quirked, I went on. “This is just the last piece. Basically, she’s working on rigging the Crown Heir situation to create a safeguard where if it ever did come out about your other abilities, the Realm would have to rethink their biases, recognize that the severe fallout of ousting you would outweigh accepting you. She’s using backchannels to feed that narrative of your importance, your constant stability, your impact on the political scene… so that if it does come out,that’swhat they’ll see. Who you are, not what you are.”
He took an uneasy step back. “Oh, hell.”
“I know it’s a lot to digest, flame bite.”
“What she’s doing for me… what you’re doing for me… Vorzyr, too…”
“It’s okay, T. We love you.”
“It’s not. Not okay. This secrecy is causing pain now and trouble—and not just to me. Things are shifting.” He sighed. “Maybe it’s time.”
I started. “Really?”
“I… think so.” He tugged at the sleeves of his tailored black coat. “I need to sit with it.” He blinked, then I smiled inwardly as his eyes shone. “First, though, I’m going to tell Fanor that I know that she knows.”
I reached out and grasped his hand. “Good, T. Really fucking good.”
He smiled and squeezed my hand.
“Uh… you know that the love of your life is working with me via Exalt, right? That’s not an accidental secret on my end?”
He shook his head in dismay at me. “No, I’m aware of that. Although, how that’s going so well was more than a little surprising to me. Not Exalt going well—I know you, of course that’s progressing powerfully. Evira Vortimer and Fanor Seffalyn working alongside one another was what the shocking aspect was.”
Zayn gave me a squeeze. “Evira’s got a talent for dealing with problematic personalities.” He thumbed himself. “Case in point.”
“Aww,” I said, hugging him to me. “You’re not problematic, lovely.”
