“Hurry,” Aghen said as he pulled me by the arm. “I have a plan. We’ll get you out of this Maiden thing. Father will see reason, and name you Heir.”
“Aghen, wait.” I stopped, fighting his hold and he turned around, eyes pleading. “I’ve heard father and mother talk many times. She won’t let him. This is going to happen, we need to make our peace with it.”
“We don’thaveto! I’ve met this guy, and he said he could see the future. He sawyoubeing the Shard Carrier.”
I rolled my eyes. “Stop believing every person you meet. No one can see the future.”
He stepped closer to me, grabbing me by the shoulders, his face and eyes desperate as he said, “Trust me. We just need to talk to him. He’ll see reason.”
“What’s going on?” Dimitri said as he arrived behind me.
Aghen’s eyes widened before he pulled on my arms again. “Let’s go, Ania! You can bring him too. If you explain he’s your mate, they’ll have to accept it!”
The look on my mother’s face as we stepped inside and Aghen begged our father to change his mind said it all. She didn’t care. It wasn’t going to happen. They’d cast Dimitri out, send me to the Dragon Clan, and make Aghen the next Shard Carrier in the upcoming year.
But I saw something in my father’s eyes.
Regrets.
It was still here after the fury was gone. Still here when he impaled himself on the sword I took at Dimitri’s hip to protect him from my father’s attack. Still here as the light in his multicolored eyes died out and Aghen yelled as his whole body turned to ashes.
Our mother was screaming and I was frozen on my spot, Dimitri holding me from behind to prevent my legs from giving out.
I had killed my father. Murderedhim.
“Ania!”
My eyes widened and I cried as a flaring light dug into my chest, burning my skin, my lungs, my heart.
“No!” my mother screamed from the back of the room, but the sound was muffled by the ringing in my ears.
I fell to my knees, gasping for air as the light and pain slowly dimmed. My brother stood in front of me, eyes wide, before he whispered, “I’m so sorry,” and ran away, slamming the door behind him.
I looked down at myself as Dimitri moved to place himself in front of me, protecting me from my mother’s wrath.
Blood. So much of my father’s blood on my dress. On my hands. A burnt patch that looked like sizzling embers in the center of my chest.
What had I done?
My eyes blinked open and squinted, struggling to see through the thick smoke. Carter’s grunts of pain were unbearable and I forced my weak legs to stand up, wobbling my way blindly toward him.
“Carter,” I croaked, but even I struggled to hear my own voice.
A bloody hand came around my throat, preventing my fall and lifting me off the ground.
“What are you doing?” Dimitri growled, pushing me back against the wall, his eyes roaming my body furiously. “You’re not playingfair.”
I looked down at myself. Pale green dress. My father’s blood. Burnt chest. Long wavy auburn hair reaching my waist. I focused on getting back to my most recent appearance, but it made me feel even dizzier.
“What have I done…” I repeated, the memory playing vividly in my mind.
“Anastasia,” he whispered, searching my eyes.
Dimitri always struggled and took a long time to use my new names, choosing one of his many nicknames or my birth one most of the time. Before I changed to Lola, I was Lily, and it had taken him living with Blake and I for a couple of months before it took.
“Zhizn moya, please…Please, listen to me.”
It required a tremendous amount of effort to lift my head and stare into his eyes. He was terrified. Again. Was it what he feared then? When we talked last time? That I’d reject him because of what he was doing behind my back? Fortorturingmy mate, hisbrother?
