Chapter 40
CHAPTER 40
I t doesn’t take long.
He corners me in the forest, blocking my path just like he did the day we first met.
And just like that day, the shadows seem to darken the air around him. The sight of him steals my breath, the beauty and the terror of him as overwhelming as ever.
His eyes lock on me, cold and certain. “You’re not getting away, not without answering my questions. I recognize the feel of your mind, but I can’t read your thoughts. I’m not a telepath. So, you’re going to do something new for you and actually tell me the truth.”
I take a step back, eyeing Talan warily. My fingers twitch, and my legs are still shaking, giving me away. My whole body is charged with panic and something more corrosive. Heartbreak, maybe.
Months of deception have made lying second nature, and my mind offers up a whole garden of falsehoods, pretty little blossoms of deceit waiting to be plucked. Should I offer him another rotten bloom while I hide a knife behind my back?
The question is which lie to pick…
Am I a scared farm girl blackmailed by enemies? An agent conspiring with Fey nobles to put him on the throne? Am I a wide-eyed innocent, a blank slate? An idiot?
Maybe a politician’s trick—I could just lie, lie, lie, flood him with lies until he’s too exhausted to bother with the truth.
But the lies feel brittle now, dried roses ready to crumble at the slightest touch. I can’t bring myself to lie again. And Talan won’t fall for it anymore.
So, I say nothing, because that’s all I’ve got left—silence.
The wind toys with Talan’s hair, lifting dark strands. “I’ve been inside your mind before.” His voice is cold as midwinter frost. “Isn’t that right, little telepath?”
I nod, just once.
My mind churns wildly like a raging storm.
He knows I stole from him. He just doesn’t know why.
He steps closer, slowly, like he has all the time in the world to destroy me. All the warmth leeches from the air around us. In my thin nightgown, I shiver.
“And why did you steal that map from me?”
My mind starts to flick through the calculations again.
“Careful,” he purrs, and I know there’s danger in the softness of his voice. “Lie to me again, and I will know. I’m watching you closely now. Tell me, little telepath—who are you? Why did you steal from me, and why did you seek me out?”
I look up, my voice barely a whisper. “You might not realize it, but I’m your ally now. I wasn’t at first, but I am now.”
He smiles faintly, a dark curve of lips. “I don’t think so, Nia. But you’re very good at faking it. I know better than anyone how easy it is to fake an entire life. So, what’s your real name?”
I clear my throat. “Nia. That part is real. Not my last name, but that’s not important.”
He narrows his eyes. “Months ago, in the Chateau des Rêves, you took a map from me. I vowed to find you again, but I lost track of you. By the time you returned to me, you’d figured out how to shield your mind. You found your way into my castle in Brocéliande. What are you after? Why did you seek me out and let me think that I was the one who found you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t. Lie.” His eyes glitter like dark ice, cold and beautiful. “You stole a map from me. It had important information on it. Important places that I was working to protect.”
Yes. Fey military bases. At least, that’s what Avalon Tower thought. “The Blue Dragon Project. The sanctuary for the war orphans.”
“The map you stole identified their home, and your worthless Pendragon allies attacked it.”
I swallow hard, a sickening feeling opening in the pit of my gut. “What’s your connection to that place?”
The power of his magic raises goosebumps on my skin. “I built it because they needed someone to protect them, and no one else would. But of course, the Pendragons have a brutal tendency to attack without the correct information, don’t they? They’re relentlessly evil but not very bright.”
My breath quickens. “I’m not a Pendragon.”
“Of course not.” His voice drips with quiet venom. “They’d never sully their precious bloodline with a half-Fey mongrel. But you are an Agent of Avalon, a plague to our kingdom. The traitor I’ve been looking for all along. Isn’t that right, darling wife ?”
Wife. He wields the word like a sharp weapon.
“I’m not an agent anymore.” My voice breaks. “At least, I don’t think so. I refused a direct command. Nivene returned to Camelot without me, and now I’ve gone rogue. I tried to get you away from their bomb attack, you know. Don’t you remember how I pulled you out of the room?”
Talan’s dark laugh makes me wither inside.
“Such fickle loyalty. How very human of you. You’re as consistent as a leaf caught in the wind.”
My jaw tightens. “You and I both want your father dead. We both hate the Pendragons. We’re on the same side.”
He cocks his head. “I think you kept me alive because you weren’t done mining me for information, and because you could use me to take down Father. One less monarch to kill.”
My throat is dry, and I swallow hard. “No, that’s not what happened.”
He lets out a long, agonized sigh. “I should have known. I had some suspicions, of course. That prisoner who disappeared from the dungeons around the time you showed up. And that night, you got hurt, mysteriously attacked, and two guards went missing. But then Arwenna shot you with an iron arrow that she got from Pendragon allies. And the night of the assassination. And that strange sense that I knew…” Something unreadable flashes across his features briefly before his perfect features harden again. “Well, it’s over.”
He retrieves something from his pocket, a silver whistle that glints like a blade. It catches in the light, blinding me. As he blows into it, the whistle emits an otherworldly keening sound.
“What is that?” My voice sounds far away.
“It summons Tarasque.”
Panic claws at my chest. “The dragon used to kill traitors.” I breathe. “You wouldn’t.”
He doesn’t answer.
Would he?
“Is it true, then?” I whisper. “Are you the Butcher of Brittany, like they said all along? Maybe you built your orphanage, and maybe you even cared, but you wanted to kill all those people in Scotland. My friend Viviane is dead because of you.”
His dark expression sends a cold shiver licking up my spine. “You were there? At that battle?”
“I was.” My voice sharpens. “So, now you know who I am. Who are you , Talan?”
He raises an eyebrow. “Scotland. My, my, Nia. You really know your way through a portal, don’t you? Popping in and out. Stealing maps. Freeing prisoners. Reporting to the Pendragons. Killing anyone who gets in your way. Ruining my plans. Planning my ruin.”
“I wanted to stop you from destroying the British military. Of course, I did.”
I feel my heart splintering, cracking open so sharply, it’s unbearable. But it was always going to end like this, wasn’t it? We had a perfect, golden moment, something close to love. A bright, burning ember that drifted through the dark. Then gone, snuffed out. Ash drifting on the wind.
A lump rises in my throat. “Well, nothing lasts forever, I guess.” The words come out sounding flat and empty.
He stares at me like I’m a book he can’t read. “Not when it’s fake, no.”
I feel this moment cracking me down the center.
“You came here to kill me.” His low voice rings with disbelief. “You told the Pendragons exactly where I’d be attacking. You broke into my castle on a mission to slaughter the Butcher of Brittany. The Dream Stalker. You’ve been lying for months.”
“I was doing my job.”
He scrubs a hand over his jaw, his eyes glinting with hurt and anger. “Who was that man I buried by Nimu??”
I swallow hard. Somehow, this is the worst part. I shake my head. “Not my father.” I don’t say anything else.
I’m not willing to give him any more information about the resistance. He’d have to torture it out of me. My mind flicks to the hemlock I’ve been carrying with me, but it’s back in my cloak, left behind in the hunting lodge. Too late for that way out.
Talan takes a step closer. “You came here to kill a monster. But how many have you killed, Nia? You’re not such an innocent little thing, are you? Six bodies today alone. Very impressive. The little farm girl has claws.”
My breath quickens with panic. How does this end? A slit throat?
I’m not going to wait around to find out.
My fingers curl into fists. Slowly, my power starts to churn inside me—not as much as the energy that flowed in me before, but maybe enough to surprise him. Maybe enough to get away to freedom.
“You’re right. I’m not as innocent as I look. You spend your life pretending to be evil, and I spend mine pretending to be nice. We both lie. It’s what we do. I give people what they want, you do the opposite. And you? You wanted to be hated. You craved it, and I was the only one to give it to you. It made you feel something, didn’t it? So, that’s what I gave you. Insults.”
“And all you are is a mirror to people’s desires.” His voice cuts like broken glass. “Empty inside.”
I smile at him. Maybe that used to be true. Not anymore.
“You said that I hunger for chaos and adventure, and that I put out fires, but sometimes I want to watch the world burn. You were right about that, too. Most people think I’m a harmless little sweetheart. They have no idea what I’m capable of. But you came close. You almost saw me for what I am. And you know what? I’m done playing all my roles. It’s freeing, Talan, to be yourself. Let it all burn down. You should try it someday.”
At that, I summon the power of the three. It crashes into me, violent and erratic.
I lunge for him.