Ward was right. Whether he was warning me or gloating, I don’t know. But he was right.

And he wasn’t the only one.

Answers will come, Alyssa Scott. When they do, you will wish you’d never sought them.

Liana’s whimsical voice echoes in my ears. I know now that she wasn’t lying about never seeing the vision of me killing my parents—Kael made that up, deceiving me even then.

My lips tremble as I hold his gaze, as I wait for his response.

He only shrugs. “Sorry, princess. It wasn’t personal.”

It wasn’t personal.

It wasn’t personal.

It … wasn’t … personal.

My entire being focuses on those three words, a haze of red flashing across my vision. Moments ago, I feared I was about to fall apart, to break down and cry a flood of tears. But now …

“It wasn’t personal?” I screech, repeating his words as fury blinds me.

My reaction is automatic, even rabid. I slam my elbow into Ward’s stomach and stomp down on his foot, my surprise attack making him loosen his hold on me enough that I can fly forward and tackle Kael to the ground.

“YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!” I scream. But I only get one hit in—a punch to his face that knocks his head to the side and prompts a burst of satisfying pain in my knuckles—before Ward is hauling me off him.

“LET ME GO!” I demand, straining in his arms, fighting like never before. He grunts when I get a hand free and slam it into his kidney—payback for what he did to me earlier—but he renews his grip until I feel like I’m wrapped in a vise.

“You have your answers now. You should be happy,” Kael taunts as he gets back up, rubbing his cheek where a red mark is already beginning to bloom. “Isn’t that what you’ve wanted all along?”

My chest is heaving, my blood roaring in my ears, but despite my desperation to make him pay for what he’s done, I can’t help realizing how hopeless this situation is. With Kael working with his dad and Ward under Jeremiah’s control, with Smith still unconscious and Cami, Arryn, and Riley unable to move, we’re out of options. I can’t see any way for us to stop Jeremiah, to stop Kael, to free Ward, to free ourselves.

A tear slips out of my eye, then another, as I look at my friends, at my brother. I hate feeling so weak, so useless. But even if I could still Speak, I would have no chance against a Creator, a Destroyer, and a Protector. No words could save us from all three of them.

It was n-never your words, Alyssa Scott.

Vanik’s dying voice flits across my memory.

Your t-tongue was only a tool.