Chapter 34 #2
I don’t have to confirm it this time. I know that was Dane.
Weston told me he came to Dawnlin the right way, for someone he cared about.
Dane said he sought Dawnlin for his sister, but now I know that was a lie.
It all was. I should have known the moment I found out he lied about who he was, when I laid eyes on him as the Guardian.
Sig continues.
“Everyone was stunned, the Guardian included. He confronted Dane, telling him his actions cheated the magic, and he needed to return immediately. Dane refused, only yelling he needed to be here. The Guardian reached into his pouch for more dust, and Dane pulled a knife, stabbing the poor man and killing him right in front of us.”
A gasp rips from my lips as tears well in my eyes. I’m stunned, unable to move or do anything but listen as Sig keeps recounting her first experience in Dawnlin.
“Before I could do anything, even react, Weston punched him in the face and tackled him. Weston was already at a disadvantage, his sword useless when they were fighting on the ground, and Dane already had his knife. I watched Dane slice him open, heard Weston cry out as Dane rolled his body off him and watched as blood seeped through his clothes.”
A sob wracks my body, and the tears that welled in my eyes stream down my face. I’ve seen that scar, seen how jagged and mangled it is. Weston hadn’t lied to me. He told me Dane gave him that scar, and I assumed he did something to deserve it.
How wrong I had been.
Dane attacked Weston after committing a heinous act, all in the name of needing the magic of the island.
“Dane left Weston for dead, bleeding into the grass. He didn’t even notice me standing there watching everything.
He stole the pouch of dust off the Guardian’s body, and ran, disappearing into the forest. I tied up Weston’s injury and got us out of there as fast as I could, dragging him through the island until we found a cave that was hidden enough we couldn’t be seen from the outside.
“We holed up there for weeks, and I was shocked when food magically appeared for us.
It was rough for a while, but once he made it through, we were in this together.
We got to know the island, mainly at night until the ship appeared.
It was like Dawnlin knew where I was from, and the best way to hide us, just offshore.
“Eventually, we found the healing waters, and when we both weren’t worthy, we had no way to get back. We’ve been watching and waiting ever since, trying to take innocent Voyagers out of Dane’s clutches and find all of us a way home.”
My legs threaten to give out underneath me, and I almost fall to the ground. My head spins and I stagger to the side, catching myself on the edge of her bed. I suck in deep breaths and try to blink away the dark spots that appear in my vision.
Lies.
Everything that I learned from Dane, all lies.
Dane killed the last Guardian, not Weston.
Dane didn’t come to the island for genuine reasons, and snuck in after Weston called the Guardian.
Dane tried to kill Weston.
That last sliver of hope I held onto tightly, that everything I had experienced with Dane was real, splintered, cutting me deeply like a blade of truth.
Dane has been the one manipulating me all along, not Weston.
“If all of this is true, why didn’t Weston just kill Dane? Why, after all this time, didn’t he end him?”
Sig smiles softly. “We aren’t like him, you know that by now. Weston won’t kill him unless there’s a reason. But…” she trails off, biting her lip nervously.
“What, Sig? Just tell me.” I don’t know if I can handle being shocked by anything more. I just need her to tell me everything, now, all at once.
“We think if someone kills the Guardian, they become the Guardian. Neither of us wanted to be tied to Dawnlin for eternity, so Dane lives.”
“But now you’re trapped here, anyway. You can’t go back to him to go home, not after that.”
She nods. “That’s why we search every day for a way home, one without him.”
My stomach rolls and I double over, bile burning the back of my throat as I heave and gag.
I thought I loved this man. I thought he was everything I ever wanted, and it turns out it was all a lie, concocted by a murderer to keep control of everyone on the island.
Sig’s hand strokes circles on my back as my body heaves and sobs.
“I didn’t know,” I choke out.
“There’s no way you could have.”
I sit back on my heels and look at Sig, only to find sympathy written all over her face.
“It’s Dane that wants the healing waters for himself, isn’t it?” I murmur.
She nods, her eyes softening. “It’s why Cap won’t let any of us go back to him. Dane can’t find out where the waters are hidden.”
“How could I be so stupid?” I sob, running my fingers through my hair.
“You aren’t stupid, Lennox. An evil person weaponizes love and affection.
They use it to blind someone, and get them to believe it is all true, while tearing them down and making them dependent.
Just because Dane did this to you doesn’t mean it’s your fault.
It’s hard to see it when you are immersed in it.
Sometimes, we need someone to help us see through it, to show us that the reality we know isn’t the only one. ”
Tears cascade down my cheeks as emotions crash through me. My shoulders shake and my face is swollen, but Sig stays beside me the entire time, letting me know I’m not alone.
“He let me hate him, all for what Dane did to him,” I say, choking on the words.
“He tends to do that,” Sig says with a soft smile. “He doesn’t like to see other people suffer. He’d rather do that himself.”
I scrub my hands over my face, trying to push away the pain that is overwhelming my body.
“You never answered my question,” I say, once I’m finally able to catch my breath again. “Why does Weston have a ring with the Blackwood seal on it?”
“You’ll have to ask him that.”
I hold her gaze, trying to read what she isn’t telling me, the part that she can’t tell me.
Because he told her not to.
“You know who I am, don’t you?”
“I—” she starts, then stops, her eyes widening.
I jump to my feet. “Don’t lie to me, Sig! You know who I am, don’t you? Does he know too?” I point behind me, toward the main deck.
“Lennox...” She pushes to her feet, her voice pleading, but I don’t hear if she says anything more.
My head spins and rifles through every detail, every conversation, every word ever spoken between us.
The panic on his face when I almost died, his demands that I eat, his orders to confine me to the ship, to be in his presence, his constant protectiveness.
His regret after kissing me.
Princess.
It isn’t just a stupid nickname he uses to irritate me.
Weston knows who I am. He forced Sig to keep it a secret.
I need to find out how.
Just when I think my world feels stable, something rips that feeling away from me. Everything has changed, and it all started with Mara attacking. I didn’t expect the avalanche that would come after it and I feel like I’m drowning, and something tells me it isn’t over.
I almost know everything I need to make my own choices, to see things in my own way, not just how others tell me. Dane took that ability away from me, just as my father has always done, but now I’m taking it back.
After all the chaos, the change, the feelings and emotions, there’s one thing I know for certain.
I’m a Castaway now, and I need the truth from my captain.