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I turned to run—Cali hissing at me to stop and moving after me—but then I froze.

She thought I’d stopped because she told me to. And she gave a watery smile, her eyes welling with unshed tears.

“Please, Vane. I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. I’m trying to help you! Your mother—”

“I know what my mother is,” I growled. “And I know you work for her. Why would you want to help me—especially to find another woman?”

Her brows pinched and her expression crumpled, but her eyes locked on mine, shining with tears, and accusation.

I took one step closer. “Why, Cali?”

“I never lied to you,” she whimpered. I snorted, but her jaw tightened. “Not about how I felt. That was never untrue.”

I stared. It was surreal to be standing there with her. To see her face again. I was strangely torn by the sight of her—remembering the way she’d once made me feel, the peace and purpose she’d given me for so long. And just as intensely, the pain she’d caused.

“It’s been a lot of years since we talked about anything. And you lied to me a great deal.”

My head spun. It was entirely possible she’d only been put here to keep me talking, to distract me, to give Breckon more time to move ahead. But I knew my mother. She wasn’t one to set the same trap twice. She’d already diverted me with an unexpected appearance of Cali. It wasn’t her style to use the same trick.

Which meant it was far more likely Breckon had set this up, copying her, since he lacked any capacity for original thought.

“I’m not lying,” she hissed, the tears finally falling to trickle down her cheeks. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you about the flowers. They told me to send you to the bridge.”

“They?”

“The king and queen. They… they know I have… that you and I had… history.”

I grimaced. “You want me to believe you were sent here to turn me away, but you’re… what? Rebelling?”

She swallowed hard. “Breckon’s running that way on his horse,” she pointed out. “He knows you’ll go after him. He plans to run the horse to the water, use it to cover his tracks, then he’ll go find her. If you go to her directly, they’ll know I told you. I’m trusting you.”

I wanted to bite back. Wanted to punish her. Again. But there was no time.

Her words had the ring of truth. The nervous tension that came with being uncertain of your safety. I knew that look. I knew her.

God, I wished I didn’t though.

Kham’s words over the years—grace, patience, forgiveness, letting go of the poison of bitterness… it all came rushing back at the same time my senses screamed at me to keep moving, to keep searching.

But my instincts… those senses I’d relied on so many times, that had always been proven right… they said she was telling the truth.

I looked past the tree line, in the direction she’d said that Breckon traveled, then back to her.

There were only two options—either she was right, and helping me. Or this was the trap. And I’d likely meet Breckon and still have an opportunity to defeat him. Chances leaned in my favor, either way.

“Thank you,” I said tightly.

She blinked.

“I’m… I’m sorry for the ways I hurt you,” I said. “I don’t trust you, so I won’t be helping you. But… I listened.”

Her face crumpled and her tears returned as I ran off, but I couldn’t go back. I couldn’t trust her.

Instead, I ran toward the bridge, and back to the creek which, ironically, I’d been following earlier.

I considered what I would do if Breckon’s plan had been mine.

I would deflect, just as she said. Try to get myself positioned without my adversary knowing the direction I’d gone—setting a false trail on the way, just as I already had.