“Nice to meet you, Flick,” I said, meaning every word, but there was a question gathering on the tip of my tongue that I couldn’t quell. “Is this why you left my mom? Because you were in love with someone else?”

Zadok’s smile faltered, and I cursed my complete lack of tact—even Flick flinched at the bluntness. “No,” he answered, voice laden with regret. “She was— At that time, she was my everything. I had no choice but to leave her.”

“Can I ask what happened?”

There was a pause, but he nodded. “How much do you know?”

“That you opened the portal.” I started counting on my fingers. “That you were the king’s adviser, but suddenly you were erased from everyone’s memories and disappeared without a trace. That’s about it, really.”

“That’s… something, I suppose.” Spinning around, he grabbed the spare chair from beside the door, placing it in the spot he’d been standing. If I said he collapsed into it, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration. “Where do I start?”

“At the beginning,” I suggested. “If you can.”

He rubbed at his thighs, taking a breath. “I was the king’s friend in childhood. We grew beside each other in the palace, and when I hit my majority, I became his adviser. I probably wouldn’t have if I wasn’t a mage, but…” He trailed off, shrugging dismissively. “After several hundred years of his reign, I opened the Veil. I was the official go-between for the Fae and humans for… oh, goodness, um, over four hundred and fifty years. Then I met Rosemary.”

Flick gave his shoulder a supportive squeeze, and for once, I remained silent.

“I don’t think I can ever tell you the story of how we met,” he admitted, voice cracking, and though I would have liked to hear about it, I wouldn’t pry for details he clearly wasn’t ready to divulge. I nodded in understanding. “But I can tell you that… she was my mate. We fell in love quickly, and we kept it a secret from the king because of his disapproval of such relationships.”

His gaze grew distant as he stared at an uninteresting spot on the floor, his fingers twitching in his lap. “Ultimately, he found out. I was already on thin ice for a number of deeds he considered disobedient—one of them being a suggestion to remove the ward to allow the monsters’ human mates to pass into the Otherworld. I was careless, growing complacent because I was so enthralled by love, and I didn’t fully consider the consequences. He banished me here, but not before ordering me to wipe all memory of myself from the Fae people so they wouldn’t come looking for me. He wanted me to suffer, helpless and alone in my punishment. I couldn’t even retaliate because he had threatened her life.”