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He sighed brusquely. “Where’s the trust?”

“You dropped it in Dante’s Bookstore,” I snapped.

“Okay, fair. We need to find your father because I have a theory I’d like to test.”

Morgoya frowned at him. “That’s not any clearer.”

“The truth, remember?” I prompted, climbing off the bed.

Lucais’s eyes were apologetic, but he put his hand on my shoulder and shoved me back down onto the bed. “Sit,” he said. “I think I know what happened to Blythe.”

The High Lady of the Court of Darkness.

“What?” Morgoya demanded.

He looked down at me and traced his fingertips over the side of my face. “She was finally ousted by her heir.”

“You can’t be serious.”

Lucais ignored her and crouched down in front of me. He took both of my hands in one of his and used his other to draw soothing lines across my palms. “I tasted something else in your blood,” he murmured, slowly lifting his eyes to mine. “Aura… I don’t think your father was from the Court of Light, my love. I don’t think your magic is dormant, either. I think your power is very much alive, and it has chained itself up to protect you from it.”

My body was deprived of oxygen.

“I think you were born to the Court of Darkness,” he went on, “and I think you are Blythe’s heir.”

“That’s impossible,” Morgoya breathed. “Not just a human mate, but one descended from a different Court. It’sunheardof.”

We both ignored her.

Lucais noted the fear in my eyes and let go of my hands, baring his palms to me. His gaze was stern, irises a solid and brilliant shade of gold. I was paralysed by his train of thought.

“Fuck the Oracle,” he said. “You have my permission to take whatever you need from me, and leave the rest.”

I reached for one of his hands.

I had a theory of my own to test.

Holding Lucais’s gaze, I offered up a thought to the tether between us. The link I had felt since the moment I’d walked into him, growing stronger and more surreal with every passing day.

I’m scared.

His gaze softened, and I heard his voice in my mind like an echo down a phone line. I’d heard it before, I realised—but now it was clear, a sound I could identify and follow to safety through a blinding storm.No, you’re powerful. Don’t confuse the two.

You realise fear is a feeling, right?

Fear is a state of being, and so is power.

I looked away, breaking our stare, but kept my hand in his.

This doesn’t mean that I forgive you.

Good. I like it better when you hate me. It makes you bold.

I kicked his ankle as he rose to his feet, his fingers still linked with mine.

“The body downstairs,” he began, turning his head towards Morgoya. “One of Enyd’s?”

The High Lady nodded, all the colour drained from her cheeks.