“I’ve known you my whole life, Anxo. Don’t tell me it didn’t tear you apart to watch her leave. It’s like you wanted to push her away with that crap you said.” Seiji takes a breath, his voice softening. “Look at you, man. You look like a pathetic, heartbroken puppy. Anyone can see you didn’t want her gone, so what the fuck happened?”
He sounds sympathetic, but his eyes hold a clear warning. I know this is the last time he’s asking nicely.
I lean back in my chair with a long sigh, scratching the stubble I haven’t bothered to shave in days.
“We gave you a week to get your shit together,” Seiji continues, his face twisting in disgust. “But all you do is mope and stalk warriors like some creepy ex-boyfriend. It’s time to spill.”
They’re at the end of their patience, and I know dragging this out will only earn me another punch to the face.
I rub my temple, trying to ease the headache that won’t quit, and finally tell them everything. The fumbling nurse, the two-timing council members, someone tampering with the portals, and the coup of our lifetime.
The only piece I still can’t solve is how we ended up back in our realm the night Anisha attacked us. When I ask if they know, they don’t have a clue either.
“So that was your plan? Get Nevaeh to leave, and then what, sit around and wait for the traitors to come to you?” Grace interrogates us. Harvey and Hazel both drop their gazes, hiding from her wrath.
“No, I thought… I thought—” the words stumble out, useless.
“Whathaveyou figured out then?” she presses, leaning forward. “Who else is involved in this coup besides your treacherous parents? I still don’t understand why they’re doing this. What’s the endgame? If it’s about power, why just target Nevaeh? Why not Harvey or Seiji? And what about the coven—”
Her questions are the same ones that gnaw at me every waking moment, but I don’t have the answers. I can’t even say that breaking Nevaeh’s heart saved her because all I really did was delay the threat and buy myself a little time.
But I couldn’t think then.I just needed her to be far away from this place. My mind stopped working the second the amount of danger she was in settled into my bones.
Blinking fast, I keep my head down, sifting through the mountain of papers that now sport a few teardrops.
Get your head straight, Anxo. You don’t have time to drown in your pain. There’s too much work left to do.
“I don’t have answers to any of that. I just know she wasn’t safe here,” I clear my throat, sliding a file across the desk. I need them to know I’ve made arrangements to keep my sweetheart safe. “They still have protection. My best and most trusted warriors are guarding them around the clock.”
Grace exhales hard. “This is a mess. It would make sense if the soul twins cooked this up, but I can’t believeyoucame up with this plan. What were you thinking, Anxo?”
The repeated jabs about my epic failure grate against my already frayed nerves. My brain is too scrambled to untangle the overwhelming guilt and the pressure that’s been building up for days.
I’ve been running myself ragged trying to identify the traitors, running two kingdoms, overseeing security, tracking the coven, and defending my decision to adopt August to strangers every damn day, who probably won’t think twice before betraying me again if I don’t send a message written inblood.
Something inside me finally snaps.
“Nevaeh was going todieif she stayed here!” My fist slams on the desk, but I keep my glare directed at the papers below. “She was being hunted, and I had no fucking idea by who. I had to get her out before it was too late. Did any of you stop to think what would’ve happened if I started sniffing out traitors while she was still here? What if someone—” I break off, fisting my hair and dragging in a sharp breath that feels like glass in my lungs.
For once, I don’t know what to do or where to even start.
I always have a plan. I’m always ten steps ahead. But this caught me completely off guard. It’s not just the traitors inside the kingdom. I’m worried the portals could glitch again. And if the coven finds out and attacks, can I even trust our army not to turn against us?
“I don’t have all the answers,” I admit, “but I wasn’t going to gamble with my mate’s life. Who knows what Visha has planned next? We saw the lengths she’s willing to go. Letting Nevaeh stay here meant telling her that her home wasn’t safe anymore, and I couldn’t do that to her, okay?”
Grace opens her mouth to argue, but I cut in. “Can you honestly tell me you would’ve done anything different if Harvey was the target?”
She bites the inside of her cheek, eyes narrowing in thought before slowly shaking her head. If just the idea of being in my shoes hurts her, she’d hate to live in my head.
The pain of knowing I hurt my mate even to protect her, only to then massively fail at protecting her heart, is gut-wrenching.
I understand Grace’s frustration. It was torture to set aside my love for Nevaeh and August and approach this logically. And even if it hurts right now, I know removing them from the equation was the safest play.”
Looking my family in the eye, I try to convince them I’m doing my best… because I honestly am. “Ineededher safebefore I could turn this place upside down.”
Grace takes my hand, squeezing once. I know she doesn’t agree with the way I went about things; I don’t either, but knowing your mate is in danger messes with your head in a way I hope she never relates to.
Seiji pushes off his chair, grabs a map from the corner, and sweeps everything off my desk in one dramatic move. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”
