A rustling noise breaks out to my right, raising the hair on the back of my neck and sending a spike of adrenaline rushing through my veins. My muscles tense, preparing for a fight—but then Malice’s smirking face peeks out from the branches of the tree on my right, and irritation replaces every ounce of anxiety in my body.

What do you want?

“So rude,” he grumbles, climbing to the top of the welwig and positioning his body in the same way as mine. “If you didn’t want me to follow, you shouldn’t have made such a ruckus when you were leaving the lair.”

I wasn’t aware I did.

Malice nods. “You’re heavy-footed, dear Kaebl. It’s your burden to bestow on the rest of the world.”

A puff of vapor billows out from my nose with my scoff. If you came to mock me, I suggest you find another spot to perch.

Malice shrugs. “I just thought you might like some company.”

I don’t.

“Pity.” He shrugs again but refuses to leave. He does, however, remain silent—a small mercy after all he’s put me through.

We sit in silence for a long while, listening to the tinkling of the welwig leaves as we breathe in the fresh night air. But being in his presence brings up those awful memories, and before I can stop, I ask the question I swore I never would.

Why did you do it?

Malice stares out at the horizon, refusing to look despite my stare boring a hole into his profile. “Do what?”

Any of it. All of it. I blow out a breath, attempting to keep my anger in check. Why spare us? Why do any of it at all?

He turns his head to the side slowly, a knowing gleam in his glowing red eye. “After all these years, all that logic you possess, and you fail to understand. The irony has never been lost on me.” He shakes his head sadly. “It doesn’t matter… The reason I originally started this all ceases to matter. It all changed the moment I saw her, the moment I knew she was real.” He laughs softly. “The fates really are cruel. Offering her when I had already set it into motion—when there was no going back.”

You could have told me what was happening. You could have shown me where you buried Abaddon’s heart so we could reverse the sundering and stop Slaine⁠—

“And that is exactly why I couldn’t tell you. I didn’t want to reverse the sundering. I couldn’t—wouldn’t—forfeit my life just to kill that misty-eyed freak. Not when we could do it without Abaddon. Not when we still can.”

You’re a fool, then.