34. CHAPTER 34
Aveline
Kallias was in Gothryn.
I couldn’t wrap my head around it. That he was standing here before me, in the flesh. He gripped me by the shoulders and pulled me against him fiercely, the heat of him soaking through my still damp clothing.
“Aveline, I cannot begin to express how much I have missed you.” He pulled back only enough to place a kiss against the corner of my mouth.
I wasn’t sure what to say.
“I missed you too,” I managed, though the words felt somewhat disingenuous having kissed Sorin mere hours ago.
A flush rose to my cheeks as he gazed down at me.
“I’ve come to take you home.”
Home.
But the problem was…it didn’t feel like home anymore, did it?
Everything they had told me about Gothryn had been a lie.
The way they treated their humans, the true nature of the Vireth, the blood trade.
Even their reason for the start of the war between our kingdoms had been a lie.
Twisted and turned for their own benefit.
How could I trust them? Trust him?
“You know that your mother sent me here?” I asked, voice barely above a whisper.
He nodded. “I received a missive from an anonymous source here in Gothryn. The truth of your whereabouts became clear to me only days past. The moment I discovered you were sent into this den of vipers; I made arrangements to get you back. Despite my mother’s strong objections.”
“Where did she tell you I was?” I asked.
“That you were traveling to Emberfell to visit an uncle. That the pass over the mountains north of the Bloodmoon Highlands was too treacherous, and the journey was better made by sea.”
“I do not have an uncle.” The words were bitter on my tongue.
Did Kallias know me at all? I had envisioned my reunion with him many times before, but it had never gone like this. In my dreams, I had fallen into his arms and we had kissed.
Instead, I inched away from him. A seed of doubt had been planted by the lies his family had spun. How easily he had believed them. Was he a liar, too? Or merely na?ve, like me?
“We don’t have time to waste. We must get you—” His words cut off as he assessed me. “Why are you wet?”
Did I bother explaining my magic to him? That I wasn’t human at all, and that I had been poisoning myself all these years to suppress the power that had now flourished in Gothryn?
He shook his head. “It’s of no matter, we don’t have time. We must get you to the shore. We have a boat waiting among the rocks north of Scaldrithor.”
I couldn’t leave.
Not yet.
Not like this.
Things had changed irreparably in the weeks since I had last seen him. I had left Myros on the summer solstice, but the seasons had begun to turn. Autumn was almost upon us.
If he were truly the compassionate and gentle prince I knew him to be, he would understand.
“Kallias…I can’t. I—”
His brow furrowed, and he interrupted me. “I sailed across the sea to save you, Aveline. I took great risk. I am the only prince of the Ashbourne line. The only heir. My mother would be furious—”
“Enough about your mother!” My voice was a strained whisper. “I cannot—and will not—leave without Enora and Quinnick. I—”
“We will come back for them,” he assured me.
I shook my head fervently. “I am not in danger here. You shouldn’t have come...”
Kallias reeled back. “Shouldn’t have come? What did you expect me to do when I discovered my future wife was in the clutches of my greatest enemy? Simply…leave her there?”
He had a point. “No, but—”
“Aveline, we don’t have time for this. If I am caught, they will assassinate me. The princes of Blackwater have been lured to Southgate, but they are fast. They could return at any moment.”
“The princes aren’t here?”
Sorin wasn’t here.
Nausea climbed up the back of my throat.
I needed to see him. See if I could make sense of everything that was happening—
Kallias gripped my arm and tugged me toward the next pillar, making our way toward a side entrance of the palace that led to one of the elaborate gardens. I cast a glance over my shoulder—toward where I believed Enora resided beyond the library doors—as he dragged me along.
I ripped my arm out of his grip. “Do not handle me with such brutality, Kallias.”
“You don’t understand. If we are to escape, we need to leave now!” His voice was dangerously loud; his anger barely tethered.
“Am I to understand that you mean to take me against my will if I do not choose to go?”
He raised a brow at me but did not answer. If only I could wait for Sorin to return—
“Did you retrieve the relic?” he asked.
My stomach dropped. “The relic?”
He nodded fervently. “The relic my mother sent you to steal from the prince. Do you have it?”
“Is that what this is truly about?” I asked, taking a step back from him.
Kallias shook his head. “Aveline, my dear. You misunderstand me.”
I shook my head, a flush of anger rising up my throat. “I’m not sure I’ve misunderstood anything, My Prince.” The words seethed out of me.
My newfound magic was barely shackled in my core, begging to be freed. The mist rose to my skin, beads of water collecting against the fabric of my already soaked dress.
“I need to see Enora. I need to see Sorin.”
“Sorin?” This made Kallias laugh. Really, truly laugh. He threw his head back, not even attempting to mask his booming voice as it echoed off the vaulted ceiling. “Is that why you won’t come with me? You’re enamored with the princeling?”
Kallias reached for me once more, but I flinched back as if burned.
This wasn’t Kallias. This wasn’t the prince I knew. The prince I fell in love with. What had happened to him in the mere weeks I had been gone from Myros? Or was I simply seeing him unmasked for the very first time?
If that were the case…he was more like his mother than I ever imagined.
I turned back toward the library. I needed to find Enora.
Kallias’s hand came around my mouth to silence me. He held a cloth to my skin, forcing me to inhale the sickly sweet vapors.
“You’ll thank me for this one day,” he whispered into my ear as I fell to the floor.
Kallias…how could he…
A silhouette against the wall caught my attention as my vision blurred. As the figure came into view, I immediately recognized the strawberry blonde hair. Her pink dress was covered in soot; her fingernails digging into the stone column as she watched on in silence.
The pungent smell of the divarica flower was the last thing I remembered before I descended into darkness.