He briefly covered his mouth with his hand as if deep in thought, but when he met my gaze once more, I saw that I had spoken truth.

“Clem . . .”

“Tell me the truth, Phelan,” I said. “I’m sick of people lying to me. And if you can’t be honest . . . you and I are done being partners.”

He drew a sharp breath. “Then let there be no more lies between us, Clem. I knew she wanted to keep tabs on you and your father after you left Hereswith. She told me to find you. I didn’t know why and I didn’t question her. But I should have. I didn’t know she wanted to harm you, not until she told me the entirety of her plans.”

“When you came home and trashed the library.”

“You’ll never let me forget it, will you?” he countered with a slight smile. But the mirth faded as he continued, “I couldn’t bear to see anything happen to you. Yes, I told you to hold the act, and I’ve been carrying it alongside you, because I don’t care for my mother’s plans.”

His voice held a tremor, one that made me think his heart was beating in his throat. He slid off the bed and sank to his knees.

“You told me to get on my knees before you and apologize,” he said. “This is me saying I’m sorry, for all that I have done to you, for all the heartache I have caused, for giving you no choice but to resort to the wildest of plans to ease the pain I wrought. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but this one thing I seek, so that I may remain near you.”

I must have stared at him for a long, excruciating moment, because he whispered my name. I shifted across the mattress, sitting on the edge of the bed before him, my feet touching the floor. I still was afraid to speak—even his name might break me—and I took his face in my hands.

Phelan’s arms came around me. “Tell me what you want me to do,” he said. “Tell me to leave, and I will.”

My fingers slid into his hair. “Stay,” I whispered.

He kissed the shine of scars on my neck. His fingers traced the curve of my back as he kissed my collarbones, down to where my heart pounded a stilted dance of flesh trying to break away from stone, and stone determined to hold fast.

Whatever came tonight, I hoped it ushered the end. For I didn’t know how much longer I could withstand this veneer.

“Why does your mother want to kill me?” I asked, to dampen the embers flaring between us.

Phelan leaned back so he could look up at me. His hands drifted to my hips, a warm, possessive touch. “You’re a threat to her.”

“In what way?”