Alastor’s smile only widened, his shadows pressing harder into Eiran’s in what felt like a deliberate taunt. “Now”—Alastor laced his fingers together, tapping them idly—“what were we discussing?”
Finley shook her head, disbelief widening her silver eyes.
I froze. Those eyes. Always sharp enough to slice me open, bright enough to hold me captive. Unique among the fae. No one else bore silver eyes. No one else carried Death’s gift.
My gaze raced from her to Eiran, and my breath caught in my chest.
The same silver burned in his.
It wasn’t simply that, though. But the pointed cut of their chin. The dark hair that neither her mother nor her father wore.
Eiran’s gaze slid to mine, too knowing. His voice brushed against my mind.“Do not speak of this until I am ready to tell her.”
My jaw clenched.“I will not lie to her. I won’t betray her trust.”
“She is barely holding on,”Eiran said, his tone unwavering.“How will she feel to learn that Zaicha is her sister?”
“She is stronger than you know.”
“She has been stronger than she ever should have been.”A sense of rawness bled through the calm of his words.“I do not wish for her to carry more.”
I drew Finley closer, my thumb brushing over the pulse on her wrist.“Then you don’t see her. She would rather carry the truth than have it be hidden to spare her. She will not bear it alone. Not while I’m breathing. Not while our bond burns within me. Whatever comes, she faces it with me at her side.”
His mouth ticked up at the sides.“This is why you still breathe. Why I allowed Teddy to save you from death.”
His words echoed in my head, shifting and bending the air around me.
Finley’s brows knit as her gaze bounced from my face to Eiran’s, catching the tightness in my jaw, the faint curl at his mouth. Alastor stilled too, his shadows thinning around him, predator-sharp eyes following our exchange with a flicker of suspicion.
I held a palm out, waiting for Eiran to speak. When he didn’t, I ground the words through my teeth. “Will you tell her, or shall I?”
Eiran drew in a deep breath, his eyes flaring to a glacier white. The air thinned, brittle and sharp. Shadows swelled at his back, not striking but looming, yet I felt them as if they were squeezing my chest.
“You forget yourself.” Eiran’s voice threaded through the cold air.
“I forget nothing,” I said, keeping my voice steady despite the weight of his power pressing harder. “I am Finley’s soul-bound mate. I am devoted solely to her. Threaten me if you must, butthat truth remains. So I ask again, Eiran. Will you tell her, or will I?”
Finley’s eyes searched my face, wide and unblinking. She tipped her chin up, not just in defiance but as a warrior bracing for impact. Beneath the steel, I saw her, the hint of her unwavering trust. She wanted it from me. Whatever the blow was, she trusted me to deliver it.
“You tell me,” she said, her tone quiet but sure.
The world narrowed to us. To her trust in me. I’d raze every realm before I let that trust fracture.
I held her gaze, trying to soften words I knew would hurt her. “Eiran is your father.” The truth of those words left me raw, but I gave them to her simply, openly. Because she deserved nothing less.
For a breath, she only stared at me. Then a small laugh slipped from her lips, sharp and dismissive. “No, my father is the male who raised me. The male who bargained me away for a better life for himself and my mother.” Her words were cut from steel, but I felt the faint tremble in her hand that still held mine.
Eiran’s features softened, the white in his eyes dimming back to silver. “That male may have raised you,” he said, his voice too calm, “but he did not give you your blood.”
The air grew taut.
Finley stiffened. “What are you saying?”
“It is as your mate said. I am your father.” His gaze never left hers. “Your mother knew whose child she carried.”
Finley’s fingers tightened painfully around mine. “She chose this? You chose this?”
“I chose strength,” he said. “She chose legacy.”
