“Stones and sky, you’re bleeding like a human,” my father muttered, his jaw tightening. Then in one violent motion, he rose to his feet and threw the pitcher against the wall in an explosion of glass. Going to the cold fireplace, he rested his arms on the mantle, head bowed.

And his back to me.

I inched my fingers down to the hidden knife, moving slowly so as not to catch his attention. I’d known without magic that he’d discount me as a threat, would lower his guard. And now was my chance.

Do it!

My hand closed around the hilt, slowly pulling it free.

“You should’ve told me about the debt,” he said. “I could’ve bargained with her. Given her what she wanted in exchange for letting you be.”

I froze.

“Though I suppose I can’t blame you for not trusting me. It was how you were raised.” He sighed deeply. “And now the Winter trickster is free to run around the Isle, slaughtering her enemy’s people at will with no one to stand in her way.”

She wasn’t free, but I’d made sure to make it to Trollus before any of his spies could bring word that she was trapped. It wouldn’t be long now, though, and as soon as he knew, I was sure he’d see through my plot.

Kill him.

I swallowed, my hand still gripping the hilt. “You could stand in her way. You have all of Trollus at your command.”

“I think we both know that’s not the case.”

I bit the inside of my cheeks, unsure of whether he doubted his capacity or his control.

“Besides,” he said. “I can’t leave. You aren’t the only one who’s had to pay the price of a desperate bargain, Tristan.”

Even with the curse broken, he was bound to Trollus. Knowing it was so was like the last piece of the puzzle falling into place, explaining why he hadn’t taken Trianon, why he hadn’t moved to stop Roland and the Duke, and why, given they finally had freedom in their grasp, that he’d locked the citizens of Trollus back in their underground cage. “Who holds this bargain?”

“Your aunt,” he said. “She threatened to drown your mother if I didn’t give my word never to leave Trollus, and for obvious reasons, I can’t kill her to free myself. No one plays the game better than her, and no one is less trusting.”

“Can you blame her?” Pain ricocheted through me as I climbed to my feet, using his desk as leverage. “No one forced you to be a tyrant. That was your choice, and these are the consequences.”

Laughing, he picked up a bottle of liquor sitting on the mantle and drank from it directly. “You remind me of myself at your age. Idealistic.” He took another swallow and grimaced. “So certain you know everything.”