My tone was hard. “Vara could be the one betraying us to Gabby.”
Emma turned to me. “I refuse to believe it. She’s ourfriend, Ethan.”
“And we know one of our friends has betrayed us. Don’t you think how Vara spoke to the Spring Princess was… strange?”
“No,” Emma quipped harshly.
“Well, I do. It was nearly as if she knew the Spring Princess personally. Like they’d met before, and her anger with her was justified.”
Emma paused. “Itdoesbother me that she knew the island so well… maybe a changeling also took her to the Spring Queen’s land when she was a child, like Lucien.”
“Then she must’ve told Arthur about it, and he’s keeping secrets from us, too,” I insisted.
“No! He would tell me!” Emma took a step back, like the idea of her twin keeping secrets was repulsive.
“People don’t come back from the Spring Princess’s island, remember? How can she and Lucien havebothescaped?”
“It might not be as hard as the legends say. After all, we came back,” Emma pointed out.
“But it wasn’t easy. We nearly lost Arthur while doing so.” I shoved my hands in my pockets, because there were just too many coincidences for this not to line up. “Vara was awfully calm when we were sailing to the island. She jumped into the whirlpool first of her own accord, before any of us. Sheknewhow to get there.”
“It has to be something innocent. Fae crossbreed all the time. What if she’s partvila, and that’s how she knows the Spring Princess?” Emma suggested.
“The Spring Princess said hervilawere all virgins. That can’t be it.”
“One could’ve run off with a shifter.”
“I hardly believe the Spring Princess would allow such a thing to happen,” I growled. “I know you don’t want to face facts, but the evidence all points to Vara. We need to imprison her, before she hurts anyone else.”
“This is my twin’s mate you’re talking about,” Emma said, an edge of hardness to her voice.
“We know the traitor is in our inner circle. Vara’s your handmaiden. Shevolunteeredto take the job, and lower her station in the eyes of the court. What do you think that means?”
“That she wants to help us,” Emma growled.
“No. She has access toallof our rooms. She’s one of the few people who does. It wouldn’t be strange to think that she planted the doll in Kiara’s chamber. More than that, she’s always around whenever we have important conversations about the war. She could’ve slipped information about Pruska’s siege to Gabby easily. Tie that in with the fact she had more information about the Spring Princess than we did, and it’s a certainty she’s hiding something.”
“She’s so sweet and kind. I refuse to believe it,” Emma insisted.
“Kindness can be faked. Her friendship could be a ruse to get our guard down,” I said.
“Arthur is loyal to us. It’s hard to keep things from your mate. If Vara is betraying us, he would know, and he’d tell me,” Emma said.
“They might not have a choice,” I reasoned. “What if Gabby is threatening their children, saying she’ll hurt them once they’re born if Vara doesn’t do what she says? Vara might notwantto betray us, but what if she’s being coerced?”
“We don’t have any real proof. I’m not accusing my brother’s mate of something that vile unless we know for sure,” Emma insisted.
I scowled. “We need to talk to them about it, at the very least.”
“Like hell! That’s going to start a war between me and my brother,” Emma said. “Arthur’s been vital to our mission so far. He’s helped us out so much. We wouldn’t have found the Seelie stone without him. I’m not pissing him off now when we’re this close to uniting the Crystals.”
“Then we need to keep an eye on her,” I said. “As the saying goes, we keep our friends close, but our enemies closer. We watch her every move, and now that we’re on to her, we just have to catch her in the act.”
“I still think there’s more to the story,” Emma grumbled, turning away.
“There might be. But until we know for sure, we can’t take any chances.”
Something about Vara just didn’t add up. Emma wasn’t convinced, but I was all but certain Vara was ferrying information to the enemy. She was the traitor. She had betrayed us, and taken Gabby’s side.
