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There was no mention of the way she’d left him or those few kisses they had shared, the promises she had made that she never intended to keep.

I’ll get some rest, and then we can talk.

But that had been a lie. Just one of many.

His anger must’ve shown because she started babbling, circling back around whenever she seemed to remember a point.

The relay, Vaughn, how she had come to meet the Queen and the year that came after—she explained it all.

It was dark when she finally stopped explaining.

The food had gone cold, the dishes still covered and forgotten on the table. He needed to eat. So did Taly—she had used a lot of magictoday, and her movements were sluggish, her skin too pale.

Neither of them reached for their plates.

In the distance, explosions growled, and light flickered beyond the windows like lightning. She had told him about that too, how this single day had been carved out and set aside, cursed to replay the same set of tragic events night after night.

He still wasn’t sure how that made him feel. Wasn’t sure how he felt knowing that was the Schism or that she had been here long enough to catalog each blast.

“So,” he said finally, “I guess I’ll just come right out and say it. You fucked up.”

“Hilarious,” Taly muttered from across the table.

“I mean it. You fucked up so badly, you redefined the standard by which we will judge all other fuckups from now until the end of time.”

She snorted into her wine glass. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Really? You wouldn’t go that far?” He pinned her with a disbelieving stare. “Vaughn and his master didn’t know about you before you basically walked right into their base and said,‘Hey, here I am! A time mage. You needed one of those, right?’”

She took another sip of wine. “You don’t know that.”

“Idoknow that,” he said as he pushed himself to stand. “I know because how else would Vaughn have known about you? How would he have known about your magic? Ivain and I lived with you for 15 years, and we never sensed a damn thing.”

“Kato knew.”

“Kato didn’t know. He thought you were a traitor, not a time mage. He discovered a glamourand a little bit of magic underneath. Just enough to make him suspicious.”

She didn’t reply. Just pursed her lips in that way she always did when she’d been proven wrong but didn’t want to admit it.

Skye began to pace. His body protested every step, but he was too restless to stay in one place. “You gave yourself up,” he said. “You ran away. You hid one of the most important parts of yourself from the people you pretended to call family, and you gave yourself up.”

Tipping her head back, Taly finished off her wine, setting the glass to the side. When she looked up, it wasn’t shame or remorse simmering behind those bright Highborn eyes.

It was anger.

He’d hit a nerve.

“I wasprotectingyou,” she said through her teeth. “I protected my family.”

“You’re a fool if you believe that.”

“And you’re a fool if you believe anything different.”

The words were said with such conviction—Skye hesitated.

Long enough for her to say, “Leaving Ebondrift was the right decision.” She rose from her place at the table, and even the way she moved was different now. More fluid. More sure. She stepped in front of him, halting his pacing. “You said it yourself. You would’ve died at the canyon if Ivain didn’t know to come.Imade that happen.”

“That was a decision we should’ve made together.”