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“Do you think I don’t see how you're acting lately?” Jesper cocked his head to the side, analyzing me. “I know something happened. Did you speak with Cassius?”

“Of course not,” I said to him like he was an idiot.

“Your father is too blinded by greed to see how much you hate it here. He doesn’t see the way you recoil when he says you will fight for Cerithia. But make no mistake, Thea, I see everything you do, and I know that you hate this kingdom, your family, even me. You can’t fool me.”

“You’re right. I fucking hate you, I hate my family, and I hate the fae of Cerithia. But that does not mean I will not fight against Crimson. I hate them more.” My darkness hissed at my lie.

The rustling sound in the woods caught my attention again. I focused once again on the darkness. This time, my eyes landed on the silhouette of a man standing at the edge of the woods, just in the shadows. The man was too short to be Cassius, but it was clear that he was watching Jesper and I.

“I don’t trust you,” Jesper scoffed.

“I don’t fucking care.” I turned to him. My magic was ready to reach out and burn him alive.

“There is a meeting in a few days that the king and I will have to attend. You will need to be there too, as the captain of the Cerithian army. You will be on your best behavior.”

I needed to kill them before that meeting. The stars would fall from the heavens before I married Jesper.

My focus, however, was now elsewhere. I only nodded in response, not truly listening anymore. My eyes were fixated on the shadow in the tree line. Maybe I should tell Jesper we were being watched. Immediately, I dismissed that thought. Hopefully, whoever it was, was here to kill Jesper.

My attention refocused on Jesper and what he was babbling about, but a freezing gust of wind came through, chilling me instantly.

“I’m going to bed.” Jesper stood. “Guards are watching you, so don’t even think about taking off,” he snapped.

My eyes drifted back to where the shadow had been, but I didn’t see the man anymore.

Jesper waited for me to respond but turned in a huff and left when he realized I wouldn’t be. As soon as his steps faded away, I headed straight for the woods.

“Hello?” I called out into the now silent woods. “I saw you... Who are you?”

Nothing responded. But as I looked around, I noticed that there was frost clinging to the nearby trees. Only one fae that I knew of had the power to do that.

“Haden?” I whispered harshly for him, but he was long gone.

I waited in the woods for a few minutes, but he never showed up, so I headed back to the castle, trying to understand why Haden would be here. He was from Crimson. Was he spying on Cerithia? I continuously glanced over my shoulder all the way to the castle just in case he came back, but he didn’t.

Near the end of my walk, I turned around to see Wisp hovering in front of me. She was flashing black and red in front of me, almost as if in warning. I paused, puzzled. Was she warning me from Haden or was something else out here?

Feeling uneasy, I hurried into the castle, realizing only too late that it was an ambush she had been warning me about. As soon as I entered the doors, guards grabbed me and restrained me. One of them punched directly against my temple, making me dazed for a moment. Before I could even evaporate everyone with my fire, Jesper stepped forward and twisted magic binding barbs into my wrists, making me cry out in pain. Jesper, Luren, and Gwyn all stood against the far wall and watched what was happening.

My darkness and magic simmered inside of me, wanting desperately to kill all of them. Once I was bound by Jesper, theguards quickly let me go. Before they could stop me, though, I grabbed my dagger and plunged it into the neck of the closest one to me, then stood, full of rage, and headed for Jesper. I was still lethal, even without my magic.

“If you harm him or us, we will kill everyone in Exile,” Gwyn sneered at me. Her threat made me stop heading for Jesper and turn towards her instead. By this time, my eyes had turned red, and my skin glowed with swirls of red and orange.

“What did you just say?” I demanded an answer.

“We will kill every elite magic fae in Exile if you do not cooperate with us,” Luren said so casually.

“I should gut each one of you right now. I do not need my magic to kill everyone standing here.”

Gwyn stepped back at my promise.

“They will be dead before you can ever reach them,” Jesper scoffed. “If you harm any of us, the guards in Exile have orders to kill them—painfully.”

Relief filled me that Sybil and the twins were alive. I knew I hadn't made them up. But gods, I had failed them over and over again. I lowered my dagger.

“Very good,” Jesper said with a smile. “I told you she was acting weird.” He glared at the king and queen.

Seething with hatred, I stared each of them down in turn. “I should have gutted all of you tonight instead of Jeb.”