“Why would you know what it’s like there, Opal?” The question is cautious even as I press for an answer, hoping she’ll laugh and tell me this is all a misunderstanding.
But she just smiles. “Because it’s where I was born. Even now, it’s the only way I can visit my mother. You see, she’s a good friend of Vidaris’s, and together, they ensured I wasn’t a boring, weak human.”
The kitsune…this creature she’s saying she invited into her body… If her mother is fae, then she could’ve had this thing inside of her foryears.Humans may not be able to withstand magic, but half-fae? They might.
“Ah, there it is.” Opal’s nose crinkles in delight—an expression I once found endearing. “You’re starting to realize this hasalwaysbeen me, aren’t you? That this didn’t magically happen after you left for Penyth.” A harsh laugh. “You’ve always prided yourself in being smart, but you never did see that your only friend was using you this entire time.”
The air in my lungs stalls as panic crawls up my chest.
I think back to how long I’ve known Opal, to the days she accompanied me to the market, the time she helped mend my wound after I tried to escape from camp.
“Even when we were children, you—” I can’t say it. Can’t admit aloud that the oldest friend I’ve had was playing me all along.
She nods, a flash of sadness in her gaze. But it’s gone so quickly that I could’ve imagined it—hoping she feelssomething.
“My mother has always had a very specific plan for me,” Opal states. “A plan that’s required me to keep an eye on a girl who wassupposedto be delivered to Vidaris the moment her magic surfaced.
“Only, the girl’s magic never came.” Her jaw ticks. “Because her human father found a way to keep her Essence hidden—which in turn caused Vidaris to lose interest. Butthen the girl, brave andwise, ran off to a faraway land—bringing what was thought to be dead back to life.”
My mind begins to race, and my palms grow slick with sweat.
The girl is me, that much is clear. Opal was placed in my life like a pawn on a chessboard, watching over me only to give me to Vidaris the moment I showed any signs of having magic.
Then it dawns on me.
Opal called Reichardt my father. They don’t know my real father is not only fae, but the Lord of Shadows.
Why wouldn’t Daimon reveal that if he was working with Vidaris?
A tremble works its way through my body.
Unless he hasn’t been working with her this entire time.
Unless thereissome good in him, after all.
Opaltsks, bringing my focus back to her. She’s always been this way—eager for the attention to be on her.
“Why would my father do that?” The question could point at more than one man, so I clarify: “Hide my magic?”
Opal shrugs and picks at her nails as if she’s in danger of growing bored. “I suppose he had a soft spot for you.” She snorts. “Never trust amanto do a woman’s job.” She smirks and adds, “At least you got rid of him for me. Youwerealways smart.”
I hardly hear her last words.
Reichardt did something toprotectme?
My thoughts feel like a spider’s web, words sticking together and jumbled up in all different directions.
Reichardt was an evil, selfish man—that I know. In his own twisted way, he might’ve thought what he was doing protected me. But he still stole me away from my mother and home, still kept my background hidden from me.
I won’t forgive him for that.
But that leaves Daimon, someone I thought was on the same level as Reichardt.
What are his motivations? He’s kept me a secret from the Goddess of Vengeance, let me go free with Graylen,andreturned the shard to me. He almost killed us outside of the Shadow Realm, but he didn’t—as if he wanted to prove he could but wasn’t actually going to do it.
In fact, it wasn’t just me he chose to let live; it was everyone with me.
But he also told me he was the only one who could move in and out of the Vale. Did he know about Opal? Or was Vidaris able to keep that hidden from him somehow?
