“Red hair,” I gasped as the ward collapsed and the first memory broke free. “A woman with red hair.”
“What else?” Trew asked. “Is it Kira?”
I strained to see. “I don’t… She’s turned away. I can’t see her face.” I pushed past her, seeking more, and images and sensations flooded through me, including the torture chamber in vivid, horrific detail. Cruelty blazed in burning scarlet threads, while desperation manifested as gold strands that refused to break.
Fenmark was there, his love for Addie a fierce barrier between her and their captors. He told them he alone had the information they wanted. He took blow after blow meant for Addie.
The love between them shone through everything in golden threads that the torturers couldn’t sever despite their best efforts.
Addie’s scream became my scream. Her pain became mine.
Blood ran from both our noses, twin streams of crimson. But I couldn’t stop now. I was too deep in the weave, too invested in seeing it dissolved. And it clung to her mind much too hard.
With a final, desperate twist, I tore through the corrupt magic.
We both collapsed backward, gasping, clutching each other like drowning women finding a raft. Blood covered our faces, and our bodies trembled as reality reasserted itself.
Trew was there, steadying us both, fury and protective rage radiating from him. Our friends surged forward, but his raised hand stopped them, silently asking them to give us this moment to process what had happened.
“What else did you see?” Addie whispered, her face bone-white beneath the blood.
Horror crashed through me as the pieces fell into place. The plans I’d glimpsed in Addie’s stolen memories aligned perfectly with what we’d found in the west tower and with the attempts on my life back in Syllavar.
I looked around at everyone I loved, realizing how close death had come to claiming us all.
Pride and fierce satisfaction blazed in Trew’s golden eyes. I’d broken through impossible wards, torn apart mental barriers that shouldn’t have yielded to anyone, and he was looking at me like I’d conquered kingdoms.
“My veil-seer,” he said quietly, his low voice making my pulse race. “Did you see whohewas?”
I met his gaze, dropping the word like stones into still water. “Lord Alfred.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
ISI
He.
Eva had used the same term in the dungeon, never naming the person who visited her. I’d assumed my father, but…
What if it had been Lord Alfred all along?
Tell the king we won’t run,one of the prisoners had said. He told me because he hadn’t seen the king himself, only Lord Alfred.
Silence echoed in the parlor. Even the fire seemed to freeze mid-flicker, flames suspended in shock. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, so loud I wondered if everyone could hear it.
Then the world erupted.
“Notour father,” Addie said.
Still stunned, I shook my head. He was paranoid, looking for attacks from all directions.
Was Lord Alfred manipulating him as well and he sensed it?
“That smug ass,” Lexie snarled, surging to her feet. Levar’s scales rippled across his small form on her shoulder, shifting through shades of violent crimson.
Derren’s hand went to his sword hilt, his knuckles white. “The fuckin’ prick stood at the altar. He watched her walk down the aisle to marry him while knowing?—”
He didn’t finish. He didn’t need to.