‘Again, I had some training in combat, but not enough to face an assassin. The dagger was on my bedside table, and I managed to retrieve it and get a few swipes in. But my powers were unruly, and I was being threatened. It took control, similar to what happened in that alleyway. The assassin was reduced to ash. My mother was proud, not worried for me. And I found out that it was Sabien. I still didn’t know if it was a test or if he actually wanted to kill me. But he told my mother that it was part of my training.’

Bethan couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She knew the fae were brutal but not like that. She couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to kill a child, which is what Kellan was at fourteen.

‘Were there consequences?’

Kellan shook his head.

‘Sabien was seventeen and the golden child. I took training more seriously after that, hence the dagger.’ He laughed. ‘In fact, it was the only thing I took seriously. I wasn’t smart or good at politics. But I liked to fight, and drink.’

‘You’re such a savage.’

Her plan worked, her mind wasn’t full of images of Lenovik, or Canden or glimpses of her past with Tharin.

‘It is the father’s role in the family to protect their children, especially within the nobility. The twins’ father was like that. You could tell everything he did. Every scheme he concocted was to get them into the graces of my mother. He forbade them from talking to me so I wouldn’t rub off on them. I wanted that protection.’

‘Do you miss it?’

‘What?’

‘The dagger.’

He sighed, a small crease wrinkling on his forehead the same time something flashed over his green eyes.

‘It feels like I lost a limb or something. I go to reach for it even when I know it’s not there.’

He shrugged, and Bethan listened on with keen interest. It wasn’t often Kellan spoke about himself. In the months she spent with him, deflection was common.

‘I shouldn’t have such a strong connection with it. But perhaps it’s because it is the only slither I have of my father. And the only protection he ever gave me. The only token he left for me. I’ve read the inscription over and over again, just to see if it would give me some sort of clue as to where he is, or who he is.’

Kellan shook his head.

‘Of course, there was nothing.’ He massaged his temples. ‘It was valuable as well, so he must have been from some sort of fae nobility. Not many weapons are forged with Aegean steel. Unless you’re a fae in Gaea of course.’