“No, Kaebl—you are. And if not a fool, then willingly blind to anything that doesn’t fit within your narrow-minded view of how things should be. Things are hardly black or white, no matter how much you wish it to be. There were alternatives to getting what you wanted—what we both wanted—and when you and the others failed to accept that, I had to move on alone. I had to find a way to survive.”

Kaebl’s gaze narrows, though his expression remains stony. And you had to betray the rest of us to do it.

“Yes.”

And if Dagny never came along?

He shrugs. “You and the others would be rotting in Slaine’s dungeons. He would be dead, and I would be ruling his wretched kingdom. That, and searching the world over for my mate.” He looks off into the distance, a wry smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “You know it’s funny… just how much seeing her for the first time changed everything.”

Why change the plan at all? Seems like you’d still get everything you wanted, plus Dagny all to yourself.

He shrugs. “Maybe it’s because I don't really want to be a king. Perhaps it's because I was afraid I would fail. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t ambitious enough to do it on my own.”

You’re lying.

He chuckles softly. “I guess I am. When you lie to others so often and for so long, it becomes a comfort to lie to yourself as well.” He stares into the distance, his eyes glossing. “Truthfully… it’s because I knew she’d never forgive me.”

His eyes find mine across the distance, and I’m struck with an overwhelming flood of devastation down the bond we share. “She would never forgive me if I left you to die or I ripped her away from any of her other mates. This path—the one where I save you—is the one where I have a chance. A possibility of her mercy, no matter how small.”

You love her.

“I worship her,” he answers.

The absolution in his tone strikes me to my core, and I tip my head to the side, seeing Malice in a brand-new light. Then we are not so different after all.

His gaze cuts to the side, shining with a secret shared between just us two.

“I guess not.”

18. Dagny

18

Dagny

This is not where I fell asleep.

Panic floods my system as I stare at the dark brown furs I’m currently nestled in—a completely different shade from the beige ones I remember Lir putting me to sleep in. The smell of burning firewood clings to the pelts, warm and smoky and subtle enough to be pleasant. It covers my skin, fills my lungs, and blankets me in calm, similar to the sensation I experience with my mates.