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And lastly…Will you take me away from here?

“Are you sure you won’t take Atlas’s offer?” she asked, her voice low.

“I can’t,” I whispered.I can’t survive out there on my own.

A pitiful, painful realization. It would do me more harm than good if I tried to outrun Father and Prince Icas. I might get away for a few days, but they would find me. Not only that, but I had no clue how to live on my own in the outside world.

That’swhy I needed to rely on the people I met throughout my years in the palace.

“Why is your father giving you to them?” she asked, her hand brushing across my lap in search of mine.

I let her take it, if only for the comfort it brought in the moment.

“Apparently, my father owes the Solei family,” I said. “Correction—hestolesomething. My guess is my mother, given how Icas’s father wants me as a broodmare.”

The flinch that traveled through Vesper was painful. Her hand gripped mine tightly, and her breathing hitched.

I knew the anger well, but instead of feeling the same, I felt…indifference.Acceptance.That was my future, after all.

“But if that wasn’t enough,” I said, letting myself lean into her even further, reveling in the warm body I felt against mine. “Prince Icas is offended. He hates how his father is using him, but he hates the way I’ve treated him even more. Someone he sees as weaker. Someone who belongs under his foot.”

“A scapegoat,” she added.

I nodded, my eyes traveling to the fountain just a few feet away. I didn’t want to say it here. Not with the last remnant of Mother so close. It was insulting. But what did I have left?

“He’s going to wage war,” I whispered. “He’s already recruiting those who pledged themselves to my family by using my name. Using my fucking handmaiden—that snake—to stand in as me during these negotiations as a symbol of my allegiance. He has promised things he can’t keep.”

I let the words settle between us. Did she understand the severity? Had it finally dawned on her why I needed her to kill Father?

Prince Icas had already doomed me. There was no way out, and Father wouldn’t cancel the engagement if I asked him to. Or even believe me with those stepbitches by his side.

They wanted me gone even more than Icas did. There was no telling what else they had planned.

“What is he promising?” she asked.

I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth.Who cares if I reveal a little more?It’s not like I had much time left before Father found out.

“Anything from housing, money, less work, to…dealingwith the witches.”

I didn’t know it was possible for Vesper to stiffen even further. Her heart raced at this.

I pushed myself up into a sitting position and turned to her, hoping to catch even a glimpse of understanding in her eyes.

“Do you see it now?” I questioned. Still searching her eyes for any hint that she was on my side.I need you.The words were on the tip of my tongue, but instead, what came out was something entirely different. “Do you see why you have to kill?—”

“What would you do if you could leave here?” she asked. The suddenness of her question was like a slap in the face. Even after everything was revealed to her, she had no intention of helping.

She is a hunter through and through.She grimaced at that word when Atlas used it. Like it was something dirty and shameful…but that’s all I could see in front of me.

A cold-blooded hunter who couldn’t care for anything other than the job she failed to complete.

“I’m trying to tell you why?—”

“Whatwould you do?” she asked again through gritted teeth. My eyes fell to the hand farthest away from me. I hadn’t seen it until that moment. How tightly she was balling it into a fist. The knuckles were completely white, the strength of her grip cutting off the blood flow.

“I want to paint,” I whispered and leaned back against the tree. An unknown emotion caused my throat to strain. “Not just paint. Sculpt. Craft. Make anything that could…”

My voice tapered off in the end.What difference does it make?What will saying any of this mean? But a part of me wasgrateful for the redirect. Even if it meant letting go of the last bit of hope I had been holding on to.