Chapter 26 Ivy
IVY
The Council dispersed once Ivy's testimony concluded, Elder Varric promising a thorough investigation and protective measures while Sebastian remained in the area. Emmett and the other Council members filed away into the darkness, leaving only Dorian lingering.
Ivy gathered her jacket and prepared to leave, but his voice stopped her.
"Ivy. Wait."
She turned, noting how he stood with careful distance between them, his hands loose at his sides like he was approaching something wild that might bolt. The consideration should have been comforting. Instead, it felt like confirmation of her worst suspicions.
"What?"
"We need to talk."
"Do we? I think I said everything that needed saying to the Council."
"That's not what I mean, and you know it."
She studied his face in the moonlight filtering through the trees. He looked tired, guilty, and completely unsurprised by anything that had happened tonight. Not by Sebastian's presence, not by the magical attack, not by any of it.
"You knew," she said quietly.
"Ivy—"
"You knew he was here. When you found me at the lake tonight, when you comforted me. You already knew Sebastian was in Hollow Oak."
Dorian's jaw tightened, but he didn't deny it. "Yes."
The simple admission hit harder than she'd expected. "How long?"
"A few days. I found magical residue near the stage and had Lucien identify it."
"A few days." She repeated the words like they tasted bitter. "So when we had dinner at the inn, when we talked about trust and choice, when we—" She broke off, unable to finish.
"When we what?"
"When we slept together. When I told you about my past, about the contracts and the bindings. You already knew I was in danger."
"Yes."
"And you said nothing."
"I was trying to protect you."
The words sparked something hot and sharp in her chest. "Protect me? By lying to me?"
"I didn't lie. I just didn't tell you everything."
"Same thing." She took a step back, needing distance from his earnest expression and careful tone. "You made choices for me. About what I could handle, about what I deserved to know about my own life."
"I made choices about how to keep you safe."
"Safe." She laughed, but there was no humor in it. "How did that work out? Did I look safe up there tonight when my voice disappeared? Did I look protected when I fled the stage in front of every single person who matters to me in this town?"
Dorian flinched like she'd struck him. "Sebastian's attack wasn't your fault."
"Maybe if I'd known he was here, I could have prepared. Maybe I could have warded myself better, or avoided performing until the Council could act."
"Or maybe you would have run, and we'd never have had the chance to help you break free permanently."
"So you decided for me. Took away my choice about how to handle my own stalker because you thought you knew better."
"I thought I could handle him before he became a threat to you."
"You thought." She shook her head, anger building like pressure behind her ribs. "Just like Sebastian thought he knew what was best for my career. Just like everyone who's ever controlled my life thought they were protecting me from something."
"That's not the same thing."
"Isn't it? You both made decisions about my life without consulting me. You both kept me in the dark because you decided I couldn't be trusted with the truth."
"I was trying to give you time to heal, to feel safe before you had to face him again."
"By lying to me."
"By not burdening you with threats you couldn't control."
"My threats. My life. My choice about how to handle them." Her voice was rising despite her efforts to keep it level. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe I'd rather face the truth than live in a fantasy built on secrets?"
Dorian was silent for a long moment, his green eyes reflecting the moonlight as he studied her face. "No," he said finally. "It didn't."
The honesty should have been refreshing. Instead, it felt like the final nail in whatever trust had been building between them.
"When we were together last night," she said, her voice dropping to barely above a whisper. "When I told you about Sebastian's control, about how he made choices for me. You knew exactly what I was talking about, didn't you? Because you were already doing the same thing."
"It's not the same thing."
"You're right. It's worse. Because Sebastian never pretended to care about my feelings. He never made me think I was choosing freely when really I was just following a script he'd written."
"Ivy, that's not—"
"Last night, when I thought I was finally making my own choices about who to trust, who to be intimate with. Was any of that real? Or was it just part of your plan to keep me calm and compliant until you could handle Sebastian yourself?"
Dorian's face went pale in the moonlight, and for a moment she thought he might actually flinch away from her words.
"It was real," he said quietly. "Whatever else you think about my choices, what happened between us was real."
"How can I believe that? How can I believe anything you say when you've proven you'll keep secrets about things that directly affect my safety?"
"Because I'm telling you the truth now."
"Now. After I figured it out myself. After Sebastian humiliated me in front of the whole town." She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold despite the warm evening air. "Too little, too late."
"What do you want me to say?"
"I want you to say you understand why I can't trust you. I want you to admit that you took away my agency just like Sebastian did, even if you had better intentions."
Dorian was quiet for so long that Ivy thought he might not answer at all. When he finally spoke, his voice was rough with something that might have been self-recrimination.
"I understand why you can't trust me."
"Do you?"
"You trusted me with your body, your story, your heart. And I had already proven I'd keep secrets about your safety if I thought it was for your own good." He met her eyes directly. "I betrayed that trust before you even knew you'd given it."
It was everything she'd wanted to hear and somehow made everything worse. Because now she had to face the fact that she'd fallen for someone who would make the same choices Sebastian had made, just with better justification.
"I can't do this," she said finally. "I can't be with someone who thinks they know what's best for me better than I do."
"Where will you go?"
"I don't know. Somewhere that isn't compromised by either of you."
She turned to leave, but his voice stopped her.
"Ivy."
"What?"
"I'm sorry. For all of it."
She looked back at him, standing alone in the moonlight with guilt written across every line of his body. "I know you are. That's what makes this so much worse."
The inn loomed ahead, warm and welcoming, but the thought of returning to the room where she'd trusted Dorian with everything made her stomach clench.
She couldn't go back there. Not tonight, maybe not ever.
Instead, she found herself at the Book Nook, where a light still burned in the back room despite the late hour. Moira answered her knock immediately, as if she'd been expecting it.
"Can I sleep here tonight?" Ivy asked without preamble. "I know it's an imposition, but—"
"Of course." Moira stepped aside to let her enter. "The back room has a comfortable pallet, and you'll be safe here."
Safe. The word felt hollow after everything that had happened, but at least here she wouldn't have to face memories of trust betrayed along with everything else.
As Moira showed her to the small back room with its simple furnishings and walls lined with protective texts, Ivy tried not to think about how Sebastian had won after all.
He hadn't just stolen her voice tonight. He'd stolen her faith in her own judgment, her belief that she could tell the difference between control and protection.
And the worst part was, she wasn't sure he was wrong.