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Air stops moving in my lungs. “You knew what I was telling you.”

“I suspected. You confirmed.” His smile holds no warmth, only calculated precision that makes my blood turn to ice water. “Your whispered intelligence allowed me to expose the human manipulation in the most politically advantageous manner possible.”

Understanding settles into my stomach like swallowed glass. “You used the information to save her.”

“I used the information to serve Unseelie interests.” His ice-blue eyes meet mine with clinical detachment that could freeze hellfire itself. “Exposing human deception while appearing reasonable. Demonstrating Unseelie superiority in recognizing truth while building political capital.”

“You saved her to control the narrative.”

“I saved her to control you. Just as I did with Kestra twenty years ago.”

The words hit like a physical blow. Twenty years. The contract. The bargain I made to save my sister’s life, trading my freedom for her safety. My hands clench at my sides, shadows writhing The geometric designs scream my emotional state to the empty throne room, but I can’t control them. Can’t hide the way his words are tearing me apart.

“My contract expires in weeks,” I say through a throat gone tight. “Not months. Weeks. You are running out of time to own me.”

His smile turns predatory. “Am I? How fortunate that I have found new... motivation for your continued service.”

Breath abandons my lungs in a violent rush. The Spear flares with such violent heat that sweat breaks across my forehead despite the arctic air. Twenty years of careful maneuvering, ofthinking I was protecting her through intelligence gathering, and I’ve been his weapon all along.

Father rises, moving to a window that shows the Academy grounds below. Even his movement carries calculated grace designed to intimidate. “Three centuries of perfect obedience, and suddenly my heir develops unauthorized emotional attachments. Fascinating timing.”

“The attachment is not unauthorized if you helped facilitate it.”

“Precisely.” His laugh could freeze blood in living veins, and I watch frost form on the window glass where his breath touches it. “By appearing to support her, I gain leverage over your choices. By exposing human manipulation, I become the reasonable party who acts in her best interests.”

The Spear’s heat settles into steady warmth—ancient power recognizing injustice.

“What do you want?” I ask.

Father turns from the window. Shadows flee to the corners like living things seeking escape.

“Your continued service. Your absolute loyalty.” He settles onto his throne with the satisfaction of a predator who’s cornered his prey. “Twenty years of perfect obedience, and you thought you had earned freedom? How naive.”

Ice spreads across the floor from my feet. Understanding crystallizes with brutal clarity. “You orchestrated this. The timing, her arrival, everything—you knew my contract was ending.”

“I orchestrated an opportunity. You provided the attachment.” His smile could freeze hellfire itself. “Everything you feel for her exists because I permitted it.”

“Now, let us discuss what the Truth Stone actually revealed,” Father continues, settling back onto his throne like a predator savoring captured prey. “Your changeling’s confessionto systematic deception. Her admission of giving each of you carefully curated pieces of her authentic self.”

Ice daggers pierce directly through whatever defenses I thought I had left. Even though he helped her, he still absorbed every devastating revelation for future use. The clinical way he catalogs her pain makes the Spear burn so hot I’m surprised it doesn’t sear through my shirt.

“She killed that boy without hesitation,” he observes with clinical detachment that makes my skin crawl. “Eliminated a family member because authority figures commanded it. Classic weapon conditioning.”

“She had reasons?—”

“I am sure she did. Weapons always justify their programming.” His voice carries deadly amusement that freezes my protests in my throat. “The fascinating part is watching you defend someone who confessed to manipulating your emotions through selective truth.”

“The Truth Stone validated our bonds?—”

“The Truth Stone revealed a woman trained to form strategic attachments while concealing anything that might drive those attachments away.” Father leans forward, ice-blue eyes burning with satisfaction. “Tell me, my heir—what part of yourself has she never seen?”

Logic sinks into my gut like a blade finding soft flesh because he’s right, and we both know it. Ash has never seen me in full royal mode—the political calculations that come as naturally as breathing, the casual cruelty court life demands, the things I do to maintain power that would horrify her gentle conscience. The Spear’s heat turns scorching, as if the ancient weapon is trying to burn the doubt from my mind.

“You understand now,” Father observes with the satisfaction of a chess master revealing checkmate. “She gives you pieceswhile withholding pieces. Exactly what she confessed to doing. You are as manipulated as those humans you pity.”

The truth cuts deeper than any blade because there’s logic in it, terrible and inescapable. But the Spear’s burning intensity suggests otherwise, ancient power recognizing something my conscious mind can’t grasp.

“But here is what makes it perfect,” he continues, rising again. “I saved her. Exposed her tormentors. Proved Unseelie courts act in her best interests when all others fail. She owes me a life debt.”