The loophole holds. But she let another small detail slip. One that I won’t allow to go unnoticed.
“Tatiana’s daughter.” I taste the words. “The histories say she had no children. No heirs.”
“The histories say what my mother wanted them to say.” Tiana’s mouth twists. “She never trusted Amarantha. Even before the coup, she saw what her cousin was becoming. So she hid me. Sent me out to find the loyal among the Seelie, those who would stand against Amarantha when the time came.”
“And?”
“And I failed.” The words are flat. She says them as though she’s accepted that fate. “I found a few. Not enough. By the time I’d gathered any kind of force, my mother was dead and Amarantha had consolidated power. The loyal Seelie I’didentified were executed one by one. I’ve spent the last century running.”
Her hands are clenched at her sides. Her jaw is too tight.
I file that away. Everyone’s pain is leverage eventually.
“You kept her alive,” Tiana says to Whispen, something like respect in her voice. “All those years in the human world.”
“Keptheralive.” Whispen’s glow pulses possessive gold. “The scholar was incidental.”
“Charming as always,” I mutter about the whisp.
“I don’t do charm, I am soul keeper of thorns. I do truth.”
Through the bond, I feel Ash. Distant but present. A flicker of something. Fury, satisfaction, grief all tangled together. Something is happening at the tavern. Something significant.
Whispen’s glow flares gold. Then violet. Then something between a sickly amber that makes my stomach turn.
“She’s burning,” he whispers, and for once there’s no riddle in it. “Burning and blooming and becoming.”
I should go to her. The pull is almost painful.
But Tiana is before me and there is something keeping me here. Even if it’s just for a moment.
So, I stay.
I tell myself she’d understand. That she’d make the same choice.
“The scholar needs to learn before he loves.” Whispen’s voice has gone cold. Blue light pulsing with each word. “The scholar needs to know before he goes.” His glow dims further. “She doesn’t need your knowledge, Finnian Willowheart. She needs your presence. But you’ve never understood the difference, have you?”
Why is he saying this right now? Like he’s reading my damn thoughts. I squint at him. He is likely reading my thoughts.
“Why are you telling me this?” I ask Tiana, forcing my attention back to the conversation that matters. The one I’m choosing over the woman I love.
“Because I need the Summer Sword.” Tiana stands, brushing dirt from her traveling clothes. “And you need a reason to use it for something other than Amarantha’s errands.”
“I don’t have a choice about Amarantha’s errands. The binding?—”
“The binding commands you to kill the secrets of the Seelie Court.” She cuts me off with a hand through the air. “Amarantha’s secrets. Her hidden operations. Her covert alliances. Her genocide.” She meets my eyes. “I know about the encampments, Finnian. I know what she’s been doing to the Wild Court.”
My stomach turns.
“You’ve seen them.”
“I’ve been stalking one for the past three days.” She gestures into the darkness beyond our fire. “Half a mile north. Mixed team. Seelie, Unseelie, mercenaries. And humans. Military humans directing the operations.”
Humans.
What are the odds those are Ash’s people?
“What do you want me to do?”
