Toryn watched from his seat directly across from Nellie. His face was impassive, but his jaw faintly twitched. His fingers tightened against the table. But then he sighed and folded his arms, doing his best to appear unbothered. I wasn’t certain if my sister noticed these two men hanging on her every word. Nothing in her expression seemed to indicate she did.
I cleared my throat. “I appreciate your dedication, Nellie.” I turned to Ruari. “And I appreciate what you’ve done for my sister.” Then I addressed everyone else, including Kalen, with his strange expression of suspicion. “But no, I don’t want to risk my sister. We have Callisto’s essence in a gemstone. The beasts I encountered after trapping her acted strangely docile around me. Some attacked me when I found Kalen, but then they ran off. I think we might be able to use her essence to control the beasts. We can turn them against the gods. Their claws and fangs will do the same thing to them that Nellie’s did.”
A deafening silence blanketed the hall. Everyone at the table stared at me. I suddenly wished I could take it all back. It was a monstrous idea. I never should have suggested it. Using the gods’ power had doomed Oberon. The last thing I wanted was for one of us—or all of us—to end up like him.
Fenella cracked first. “What a ridiculously terrible idea. I love it.”
I blinked. “You do?”
“Well…lovemight be the wrong word. But I definitely think you’re on to something, and it might be the only way to save the world. Though, I’ll admit, I’m disappointed we can’t just kill them all.”
“If there was a way to do that,” I said, “I’d agree. But they’re indestructible. I truly believe there’s no way to wipe them from existence.”
“So that’s what we must do,” Ruari said tiredly, though a smile played across his face. He was clearly relieved he wouldn’t have to battle with me to keep Nellie safe.
But I looked at Kalen. His opinion mattered most. He massaged his jaw, his gaze locked on the far wall. He shook his head, and my stomach dropped.
“Andromeda’s power corrupted my mother. It led to her death, Oberon’s death, Morgan’s death, and countless others. I would not sacrifice any of you to that kind of power, just so we could win. It is the worst fate I can imagine, and I cannot believe we’re even considering this.”
“In every war, there is loss, Kal,” Fenella argued. “No matter what plan we conjure, someone will die. It is inevitable.”
He thumped his fist on the table. Dishes rattled. Fenella arched her brow at him, but took it all in stride. The Mist Guard knew their king better than he knew himself and had likely braced themselves for this reaction.
“I don’t accept it. We need a better plan.”
After taking a long, slow sip of his ale, Gaven said, “Tessa could do it without risking her soul. She’s had Andromeda’s power running through her veins her entire life, and she’s doing just fine.”
Kalen flinched. “No.”
It wasn’t a bad idea. Gaven was right. I’d been able to resist her so far. Perhaps I could resist Callisto, too.
As if reading my mind, Kalen pinned his torturous gaze on me. “No. I won’t lose you like that. I’m not afraid to admit to everyone here that it would destroy me. I would become a shell of the man you see now.”
I loosed a breath, thorny vines slithering around my heart and scraping me right where it hurt. When I’d made the marriage bond with Kalen, I hadn’t truly understood what it meant for him if I died. But I knew now. If he lost me, he’d lose himself, too. Fenella often wore a wicked smile, but the ghost of her pain lingered in her eyes. She’d never fully healed from losing her husband.
“Gaven is right, though,” I tried to explain. “I can feel the darkness of Andromeda’s power inside of me. I always have. But I also know how to withstand it now. I’ve fought against it. Being here with everyone in this room, being in Endir now, it’s proof of that. She did everything in her power to bring me over to her side and rip away my humanity. But I rejected it as surely as I say to you now that I can do it. This could be how we win.”
Ruari reached out and squeezed my hand, nodding. “My father ordered me to watch you for most of your life. I’ve seen the battle you’ve faced, and I’ve seen you fight back. If anyone could do this, it’s you. I truly believe that.”
I looked at him, surprised. He’d never mentioned that before. “He had youwatchme?”
“Well, yes, and…” He winced, then pulled back his hand. “He knew about your power, of course. I watched Nellie, too. I suppose I feel a bit responsible for you both.”
That explained a lot.
Kalen shoved up from the table and walked away. His shoulders were tight as he strode the length of the Great Hall, his back facing us. I started to follow, but Fenella shook her head in warning.
Toryn sighed. “Give him a moment. He’s grieving for his mother, even if she was no longer herself in the end. To him, it likely feels as if he’s losing her all over again, and the first time he lost her…”
“He started a war,” I finished for him.
“And now he’s worried he’ll lose you, too,” Gaven supplied in a quiet voice. “To the same thing, in fact. The manipulation and corruption of the gods.”
Ruari suddenly coughed. I turned to him with a frown. Fae never coughed, though he was part human. His face had gone ghostly pale. Even his horns looked ashen compared to their usual midnight black. He rubbed his chest, shaking his head. His lips were quivering like he was seconds away from a sob.
“Are you all right?” I asked, leaning toward him.
He scooted further down the bench, away from me. “My stomach aches.”
