Cami tried to tell me. When she jerked her head at him, it was because she knew. I thought she was reminding me of how his power might help us if only he could get free, but that wasn’t it at all. She was trying to warn me.

She was trying to tell me that he betrayed us—betrayed me.

“I have to admit, I’m disappointed,” Kael tells me, moving to stand beside the man. Beside his dad.

Jeremiah.

I’m looking at Jeremiah Roscave right now.

“You’re supposed to be dead,” I croak out as I stare at him, unable to say anything else, unable to think anything else.

Jeremiah glances pointedly at my brother then back to me. “Some people would say the same about you.”

I summon the courage to look at Kael. “You told me he was dead.”

He shakes his head. “No, I didn’t. I only said he was no longer with us. That he was gone. And that was true. Dad left the catacombs years ago. Most of the Remnants assumed he was dead, just like Lengard, but that was never the case. You jumped to your own conclusions, like you always do. I never lied to you.” He pauses, then a hint of a dark smile touches his lips. “Well, not about that.”

It’s the smile that does it, that has me lunging forward, leaping at him with my blood-covered hands raised before me, ready to claw at his face, at his body, at any part of him I can reach. I’m so angry, so hurt, that I’m beyond reason. I can’t process this; it’s too big, too—too painful.

“Restrain her.”

I’m barely a foot from colliding with Kael when two strong arms wrap around my middle, hauling me back into a warm, powerful chest. I struggle against Ward, writhing in his grip, but he doesn’t release me, doesn’t offer so much as an inch of wiggle room for me to slip through.

“That wasn’t very nice, dearest Alyssa,” Jeremiah tuts. “Not after everything my son has done for you. He’s been watching over you for years, you know. Following your progress within Lengard, waiting patiently for you to reveal your Creator ability. He’s the one who set all this in motion, confronting you that day at the zoo only so that you would ultimately end up in Vanik’s clutches, which is where I needed you to be all along.”

My breaths are like shards of ice piercing my lungs.

All along—Kael was playing me all along.