He didn’t look up again. “Anyone who ever questioned anything.”
My stare shot to Ford, sitting on the ground with his arm around Nezra’s shoulders. Her grey eyes bore through me, but I asked anyway, “Ford?”
He met my stare. The sound leaving him a rasp of truth tearing free. “No.”
“Wells?”
Callum looked up and nodded.
My throat went dry. “Wells, who could barely stand in a crowded room after his parents died, he was part of this?” My hand drifted to my dagger, to the ruby embedded in its hilt.
Callum said, “Wells served his purpose.”
Ford flinched, Nezra’s head bowing until curls hid her face.
My blood froze. “He was a child.”
“He knew what he agreed to long before any of this began, Verena. We all did.” Callum pulled his shirt up, showcasing the scar over his heart. “I swore a blood oath to Kairos. Wells’ parents did the same. When they died, it passed to him, and he accepted it. Willingly.”
I shook my head, the world collapsing into the sound of my own heartbeat, fury tasting so sweet on our tongue. “He was a child,” I repeated, softer this time. “You should’ve stopped him.”
Callum drew a slow breath, embers sputtering behind his eyes. “Kairos and my own father’s paths ran side by side for years. When he learned of the kingdom’s betrayal, he made a desperate choice.”
Anger took hold in every cell of my being, and I wondered if that was the curse or a trait from my bloodline as Nezra’s memory slipped unbidden into my thoughts. “Give me some truth then,” I said to him. “Is Orion, the God of war, my father?”
His stare shot to me. “No.”
The word hit harder than I expected. Not because it was a relief, because it wasn’t.
“Then who—” I pressed. “Who is?” He didn’t answer. Just stood there, a dying fire shadowing his face. “Why can’t you just fucking tell me?”
His jaw worked once. Twice. The vein in his neck jumped. “It’s part of the blood oath. I can’t tell you.”
When I reached back inside me for control, for the power that had surfaced, it reached back, restored, and held tighter. “That oath,” I whispered, “is killing more than it’s protecting.”
Guilt swam in his eyes, deep, endless. He didn’t deny it. “Gemma loved you like her own, Verena. That part was always real.”
Something in me cracked, right as Ronan’s panic slammed against my mind, pounding on the sealed walls. I shut him out, harder.
“Everyone had a hand in deciding my fate,” the calm was worse than a scream, “except me.” Power climbed up my spine like a warning gathering its breath. “You made me completely unaware. Of everything.”
Callum’s gaze darted to the movement, but he kept going. “We had a plan to save the realms. But then you—”
“Was led by love, straight into betrayal?” I cut in, laughing under my breath. “Go on, say it. You hoped I would die in that dungeon.” I stepped closer; he stepped back. “Don’t look so surprised, I saw the look on your face when you realized I’d survived. You weren’t broken by what they did to me. You were disappointed. Because if I’d died in that cell, you wouldn’t have to live with the blood on your hands.”
“That’s not—”
“And when Ididn’tdie, you prayed I’d come back wrong. That the Viper would have already devoured whatever was left of me so you could call it mercy instead of murder.” I broke, rage and grief twisting through it. “But I was still me when they rescued us. Still me, but fuckingbroken, Callum.” My hands glowed, trembling at my sides. “And you pushed me away anyway.”
The light flared between my fingers, hot enough to burn. And for the first time, Callum looked afraid of me.
Killian moved until he stood beside me, a wordless promise settling in the space between us, sure as loyalty. Ronan’s snarl split the air.
“And the cruelest truth is you believing I didn’t know.” I spoke. “As if I couldn’t feel what I was becoming, couldn’t feel what woke inside me the night they threw me in that cell. The thing that drew breath when Ronan saved me from death.” Power sparked down my fingers, tiny bolts threading my veins. “You might’ve deceived Verena Vale, but you can never betray what I am.” Another stride, bolts licking the air.
A pulse cracked from my hand, lighting the space between us. I didn’t stop. “I went back into your office before we left.” I looked at Ronan, the current crawling down my arms, teeth gritted to keep steady. “I looked in that drawer, right beside that picture of you as a boy.” The next bolt hissed past his cheek, but he didn’t move. “Do you want to know what I found?”
He said nothing. Not even a twitch.
