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And all thy sons shall be unwrought

A boon in vain forever sought

Yer line unravels when sins be forgot

An’ each son will carry this curse of the Fae

Yer monstrous deeds be all for naught

For the end only comes with a daughter of MacKay

The book clatters to the floor, my thoughts of treating it gently forgotten in my shock. Seriously, how many times can a person’s world be turned upside down in one day? I hear a stirring behind me, but I don’t turn, too lost in my own thoughts.

Then I hear a sleepy-sounding “Key?”

“It’s me,” I say, feeling thoroughly stunned. I turn in my chair, meeting Lachlan’s confused expression. “I’m the daughter of MacKay.”

And what’s more than the mind-blowing revelation that I have a part to play in this, that everything that’s happening to me is apparentlyforetold—what guts me more thanallof that—is the look in Lachlan’s eyes at what I’ve said. Therecognitionthere. That’s when it hits me.

He knew all along.

30

Lachlan

I’m still trying to rouse myself from the dredges of sleep, but even in my drowsy state, it is impossible to miss the way Key’s expression morphs from shock to betrayal in only a matter of seconds.

She knows.

I don’t know what it is she read in that journal, but her eyes tell me everything I need to know. Whatever she found—it’s clear that she’s aware I haven’t told her everything.

“I can explain,” I blurt out, swinging my legs over the side of the bed, my body on autopilot as it tries to get closer to her.

She shoves out of my kitchen chair, backing away from me and crossing her arms over her chest as if to guard herself. Fromme. That one small action cuts me like a knife.

“Key,” I try again. “I don’t know what you found, but I promise it isn’t—”

“Isn’t what?” she interrupts with a hurt tone. “Isn’t true? Isn’t what I think? Youdidn’tconveniently forget to tell me that your creepy little poem had a second verse?”

I glance down at the fallen journal lying face down on the floor, stooping to gingerly pick it up. I lay it on the table with care, frowning at it. “So you know about the curse. All of it.”

“For the end only comes with a daughter of MacKay,” she recites, and I heave out a sigh. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I scrub my hands down my face, trying to resist the urge to move closer to her. “At first? Because I didn’t know you. I didn’t know what that part of the curse meant. Istilldon’t, I might add. And after…” I frown down at my feet, clenching my fists at my sides as guilt racks through me. “I didn’t know how to tell you. I thought maybe it would…hurt you.” I peek up at her, seeing the exact same hurt I’d been so afraid to inflict on her etched on her face. “I didn’t want to bring you any more pain, Key. You’ve had enough.”

“So what,” she huffs. “You just make my decisions now? You decide whether or not I’m capable of deciding whether you’re worth the risk, and now you decide whether or not I’m capable of handling the truth?”

“That’s not what I meant. I—”

She throws up her hands, fuming. “What if I’m making everything worse? Did you ever think of that? That damned curse says I’ll be theend. You don’t have any kids, Lachlan. If the curse takes you like it did your dad, the Greer line ends withyou. What if that’s the whole point of all of this?”

“I don’t think that’s the way of it,” I argue. “It doesn’t feel right.”

“Well, how could I know any better when youdidn’t fucking tell me everything?”

“Key.” I reach for her, unable to keep from doing so any longer. “I didn’t—”

She backs away, and again I feel the sensation not unlike being sliced by a knife. “Don’t,” she says, putting more distance between us. “Don’t touch me.”