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Tessa smiled gently, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Do you?” she asked.

“Do I what?”

“Do you feel lucky to be alive?”

The air rushed from my lungs. My life had been the furthest thing fromlucky. I had been bartered away to the fae prince, who now tortured humans in the dungeons of his own castle. I had nearly been killed by assassins, a tiger, a kraken, multiple deadlings, andmy own husband. The only reason I had for surviving at the beginning of all this was Tessa. I wanted to make sure she lived a long, happy life.

But Tessa grew up. She survived without me. She didn’t need me anymore. She was no longer the ignorant girl I once viewed her as.

Without Tessa forcing me to keep fighting, to keep living, what did I have left?

Malachi?

Was Isupposedto feel lucky? Was any of this supposed to make me feel lucky for not being dead?

I couldn’t tell her that. I couldn’t tell her any of it. She wouldn’t understand what it was like to feel this endless pit of numbness. This welcoming emptiness.

“I think I do feel lucky,” I lied. I lifted my chin and rolled my shoulders back. “Rewyth is a great home. I think soon enough, you’ll be feeling pretty lucky, too.”

Her expression changed entirely. “We’re staying here?” she asked. I noted the small trace of panic that laced her words. “Forever?”

“It’s not safe for you back home right now,” I stated. “There are people who want me. They would find you and use you to get what they want.”

“Who? The fae?”

My father began to stir in the corner. I wanted to explain, I really did. I wanted to tell Tessa everything that had happened so she would understand. So she would trust me again.

I saw the hesitation in her eyes. I saw the doubt.

But confronting my father right now was not in my best interest.

“I’ll tell you everything,” I said. “I’ll come find you later and I’ll explain it all.” My father moved again and began mumbling words incoherently. “I just…I have to go.”

I backed up, stepping closer and closer to the door I had entered from. “No,” Tessa argued, stepping forward after me. “Don’t leave.”

“I promise I’ll come for you, Tessa. I promise.”

My father said something again, finally beginning to understand where he was and what was going on, as I slipped into the dark hallway and sealed the large door behind me.

I didn’t look back.

CHAPTER5

Malachi

“Get up,” I barked.

Eli draped himself over a bench in the gardens of the castle, passed out, with an empty bottle lying next to him.

When he didn’t respond to my words, I kicked his foot. Not hard, just enough to wake him up.

His eyes blinked a few times before opening completely. And as soon as he saw who stood before him, he groaned and tossed his head back.

“I said get up,” I repeated.

“What for?” he replied. “Are we at war so soon?”

I took a deep breath. I felt horribly for Eli, I did. He had lost his twin. His other half.