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Leaping off the couch, I back a few paces away. What the hell is happening right now? I feel my hands begin to shake while I stare at the two of them in shock. Somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered, but I never gave the thoughts the time to really sink in because it seemed so far-fetched. Completely too coincidental to have even a nugget of truth.

In every lie there is truth. Logically I know the best lies hold pieces of the truth, easy to remember, easy to reiterate to people over and over again. Suddenly my entire life since leaving Tellus feels like one big trick.

“You didn’t know,” Samuel frowns. “I thought you knew.”

“It wasn’t pertinent,” Zeke grunts.

Angrily, I draw my sword from my side and point it at him. “You don’t get to talk anymore. I’m tired of you and your Lord playing mind games where I’m concerned.”

Zeke’s eyes blaze, but he clamps his mouth shut.

The ground beneath us begins to shake and I wonder if the realm is reacting to my emotions. But when I turn to look out the picturesque window, I see the waves from the sea gather back towards Aïdes, a crackling of blue magic thundering like lightning as it lights the sky in a spider web of magic before the waves rush towards Tellus at an alarming rate.

“It would appear your mate is aware of where you are,” Samuel says, swallowing roughly as his nervousness becomes palpable.

“That’s Rowan?” I ask in disbelief. When Samuel meekly nods his head, I have to fight the urge to gape in shock. “What is he?”

Samuel leans further into the cushions, trying to become one with the couch as he pales.

Zeke stands, ignoring the tip of my blade pointed at his chest. “I warned you he would do anything to keep you safe, including killing the realm and all who inhabit it.”

“What is he?” I demand again.

The dragon sighs, “He is born from creation.”

What does that even mean? “Now isn’t the time to fuck with me,” I warn Zeke.

“He’s not,” Samuel interrupts, standing and pushing my sword away from the dragon’s body. “When Sereia wanted children, she wanted ones who would outlive her and be strong enough to never endure what her people went through before coming through the portal to this realm. She buried herself in the ground here, allowing the magic to create two children. A balance.”

“Both boys survived.”

“Life and death are not the only way for balance to be maintained,” Samuel says. “The Lord of Shadows was created to blend in and understand the people, to protect the population. The Lord of Monsters was created to protect the creatures and the land.”

I shake my head as thoughts bombard me about Rowan’s intent to be both in the Blood City and the Wraithlands. How he wants to honor his brother by being amongst the creatures he protected before dying in war. I barely manage to choke the wounds out, “So he can tear the realm apart because he’s made from it.”

“Yes,” Samuel agrees. “It's imperative you return soon to avoid a cataclysmic event where very few will be able to survive. Allow me to remove the immortal souls so that you may leave.”

What other choice is there? I came all this way determined to free myself from this hellhole I found myself in. Finally, it’s within reach. But unlike when I was in the Cliff of Embers, no euphoria or peace comes over me as Samuel’s hand transforms into talons, curling through my chest.

Pain erupts throughout my body. A red hot agony sliding through all of my veins, burning them bright enough to glow through my clothing.

There’s no lightning strike to prevent Samuel from gathering the souls. I feel them inside of me, struggling to hold onto my body as a vessel before Samuel’s hand suddenly falls back, four glowing orbs all connected by a string floating in his hand. With a twist of his wrist, they vanish. Extinguished into the ether.

I stare at his empty hand for several long seconds. The pain fades, but I’m left with an oddly empty feeling. My body is mine again. My mind is free of Lady Gwenyth’s evil clutches.

This is everything I wanted except I am still here. The godlike soul preventing me from dying as the newfound power begins to work its way through my body. I can feel it, like a slow trickle of awareness easing through my veins.

I am free.

I can live.

But there is no peace.

The entire world has shifted in a millisecond. Rowan isn’t who I thought he was. Even knowing we’re still bound together by magic, I grow angry thinking about all the lies and mistruths he’s spoken.

Are we even mates? Or is it because he knows a piece of his soul is inside of me that he wants to keep me around? Does he know who the other fragment went into and is protecting them by trying to sway me into joining his side?

Too many unanswered questions swirl in my mind. I need to know what’s happening here and the only person forthcoming with answers is the High Lord looking a little worse for wear after aiding me.