And now this bitch wants me to believe she touched him first.
She’s lying. She has to be lying.
But what if she isn’t? Fae can’t lie.
The thought alone makes me want to vomit.
My eyes drop to my wrist before I can stop them.
Finnian’s gold band still glows. Steady. Warm.
It doesn’t prove anything. Bonds don’t care about history. They only care about now.
But I stare at it anyway. Willing it to tell me she’s lying.
It doesn’t.
Logically, I know she is baiting me. And I’m letting her do it.
“Kestra!” Moros shouts. “Fucking imbecile. Amarantha, leave at once.”
Amarantha slowly stands, smiling. For a moment her glamour falls and I can see through it, deep down into the beast that sleeps just beneath her flesh.
She isn’t just ugly. She’s ugly all the way down.
We both silently watch her leave with a petty smile on her face.
“Amarantha,” Moros begins.
“Don’t. Don’t you dare make excuses for that woman.” I see Kestra’s outline, just barely at the door.
I’m done with this breakfast.
Done with this room. Done with these monsters wearing Fae skin.
There are a thousand things I want to say. A thousand thorns I want to bury in Amarantha’s chest. But if I open my mouth right now I will burn this entire court to the ground and my mother is still somewhere in it.
So I swallow it all down. Every word. Every scream. Every thorn.
Without looking back, I leave the dining room.
My hands shake the entire way out.
7
Ash
“Ash,”Kestra rushes to catch up beside me as I begin to march down the hall.
I have no idea where I’m going. Only that I need to see my mom. And one way or another I’m going to find her in this forsaken castle.
“Ash, wait,” Kestra rushes beside me, her nails digging into my arm.
“Did you know he had my mom?” I swing to her, staring at this beautiful woman who has Kieran’s face looking at me with hurt.
Logically she didn’t capture my mom. Drag her here from Earth. But someone did.
“Nimah?”
