Chapter 30 #2
Sitting on the bed, I stared at Kane, his gaze focused on the ceiling, unblinking.
This isn’t what I wanted. Not anymore.
I stared at him, feeling helpless, desperate for the past few minutes to have been an awful nightmare, one where I’d wake up and not be the villain.
“Kane.” Leaning over, I touched his face, holding back tears.
He had truly wanted a future with me, to move past everything we had been through.
I saw it clearly in his eyes. Even though I hadn’t had a chance to ask him about the Lich King, I knew Kane would have done anything to protect me.
That’s what he had been doing since the moment I arrived at this castle.
Shame slithered through me. I’d kissed Kane because I wanted to, and now he lay paralyzed by my hand. A betrayal we could never heal from.
Gideon reached over and picked Kane up, slinging him over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” I slid off the bed, panicking that this was not the right course of action.
“We're going to the royal courtyard to finish this. I’ll turn us invisible.”
I stared ahead, unblinking. Frozen in time. I was a liar.
Our first kiss and I betrayed him with it.
“Remember, you have to be touching me,” Gideon said. “And don't let go. If anyone sees us, we're dead.”
“I won’t go through with this.”
“It’s too late. You’ve already committed treason by poisoning the king. You either come with me or die.”
In a daze, I followed Gideon out of the bedroom, gripping his arm, my body shaking.
My chest constricted, and my head swam.
This was a mistake. I knew it, yet how could I fix it?
When we got to the courtyard entrance, I pressed my hand against the rune like Kane had shown me. The stone was cool beneath my palm, but the moment the rune activated, warmth spread through my hand. The door opened, and we went inside, Gideon making sure it closed behind us.
“Good. Now no one can follow us in.”
We moved to the lilac tree. The courtyard was hushed, almost reverent, the scent of night-blooming wisteria heavy in the air.
Kane lay limp in Gideon’s arms, his wide gaze stuck on me.
Were we really going through with this?
Gideon laid Kane in front of the lilac tree and pulled a metal object out of his coat. “This will help us find the gem. We just need a little of this.”
He took a dagger and sliced it across Kane's arm.
“What are you doing?” I went to grab the knife, and Gideon elbowed me away.
“The tuning fork needs his blood to find the gem. Otherwise, we will never find it. How long were you in the Dryad Realm?”
“I don’t know. Not long, a few hours maybe. Kane didn't want to stay. There was a storm there and he was afraid that time was off.”
“We’ll have to be quick. We don't want to be in there too long because then he will come find us.”
“What's going to happen to him?”
“He’ll be fine. He'll wake up soon. Poisons don't work long on him, but I made this one extra strong.” Gideon stood, slipping the dagger back into a holder on his waist.
A loud bell chimed.
“It's happening earlier than I expected,” Gideon muttered.
“What's happening?”
The bell chimed again.
“Time to go.” Gideon grabbed my arm, and I ripped out of his hold.
“What's happening? What are those chimes?”
“I wasn’t lying when I told you the Lich King wants you. He gave an order that you were to be turned over to him within one week. That little escapade into the Dryad Realm cost you days. And now, well, the twisted are here.”
“We have to stay and help! There are innocent lives here.”
“No, we need to leave.”
“But your family’s here!”
“My family is gone. I sent them away.”
“That’s why you said it had to be tonight…”
Gideon dragged Kane closer to the tree.
“Stop, Gideon, we can’t leave them. We have to help!”
“Then what? The moment Kane can move, he will kill you for what you've done.”
“You don’t know that.”
But even as he said it, doubt crept into my throat. Only moments ago, Kane had reminded me of how he couldn’t trust humans. The image of him broken, furious on my bed, would forever haunt me.
How would he respond with an active betrayal? I had allied with Gideon, even if at some point I had changed my mind.
“He's never trusted humans,” Gideon reminded me. “That's why he never wanted to marry you. And after today, he will never let you live. If you don’t believe me, believe this.”
When he held out his palm, a blurry image of a village formed between us.
As the picture came into view, I recognized the female priestess.
“Madeline. But how do you know her?”
“Just watch,” Gideon said.
Madeline walked down an alley somewhere in the market. She clutched a bag to her chest, gaze darting around her as she moved in hurried steps.
Shadows crept into the alley, and she turned around just as a shadow blade pierced her chest.
“No!” I clamped a hand over my mouth in horror.
We never knew who killed Madeline, and there was only one fae who wielded such a weapon.
“Now you know how Kane truly feels about humans.”
This couldn’t be an illusion. Gideon didn’t know who Madeline was, which meant he must have been there the moment Kane killed her.
“Why would he kill her? She was nothing but kind.”
“The reason doesn’t matter.” Gideon took Kane's hand and pressed it against the bark, waiting for it to become malleable. “Say the phrase, and you will never have to fear the Deathless One again.”
Kane’s head lolled to the side. His dark hair covered his face.
I can’t leave him like this. Not when his people need him.
“Gideon, please, we—”
“Now!” he shouted, reaching over and grabbing me with his free arm. “Say the words.”
Crying, I ripped away from his grip. “This isn’t right.”
Gideon glared at me. “What help can you be to anyone if you're dead? You want to change the world, so stay alive to do it.”
The bell chimed again. This time shouting and the clang of metal followed.
“You can stay once I open this, but he will kill you. He can hear everything we say. He knows that we’ve been working together. Any hope you had of a future here left the moment you kissed him.”
I had committed treason.
Even if I wanted to stay and fight, I would be executed, and Kane’s fury would unleash on every human. My mistake could be the start of a war between our people, and I couldn’t let that happen.
I didn’t know how I would fix this, but maybe if we subdued Kane, I could make him listen, explain myself, and maybe that future we’d both glimpsed wasn’t gone.
With a nod, I repeated the ancient phrase, stumbling over the words. Gideon repeated it, much clearer than me, and the gate opened.
Gideon dropped Kane, rolling him away with the tip of his boot. I stared at Kane, regret and shame coursing through me like a wild vine.
“This isn't what I wanted,” I said, staring at the Deathless One who would surely never show me his real self again.
“No, but it is the choice you made.” Gideon held out his hand, urging me to take it and betray everything I was born to be.
Another loud chime, reminding me that Gideon hadn’t lied about the Lich King. At least if I went with Gideon, I’d be safe from whatever monsters were invading the castle. I didn’t know who was the bigger threat, Kane or the Lich King.
I took Gideon’s hand and stepped into the Dryad Realm, hoping Kane would wake in time before it was too late to save his home.