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“You really defend him a lot, you know.”

“Yes, I do. And it’s not just because I love him. He’s right. He is strong and gracious, yet terrifying and merciless. You can trust him, Jade. You can forgive him.”

I finally looked Adeline in the eye. “If I forgive him, then what am I? How will Tessa look at me then? How will my father?”

Adeline huffed and propped her hands onto her hips. “I’m not going to pretend for one second that I give two shits about your father, Jade. But Tessa? She loves you, too. As long as you’re okay, she’ll find a way to forgive you for anything.”

* * *

Ispent the rest of the evening thinking about my time with Adeline. Saints, I hated how she was always right. Her and Malachi, both.

I needed to forgive him. If not for his sake, then for my own.

I laid in bed, staring at the dark ceiling above me. The castle was just as beautiful as I had remembered, I had to admit that much. Green vines looped in and out of the stones, creating a maze of nature that kept my mind at bay.

Until I heard a small knock on my door.

It wasn’t Malachi. The knocking was too light.

I got out of bed and padded silently over to the door. Before I could say anything, my visitor knocked again.

More desperate this time.

“Who is it?” I asked.

“Jade!” Tessa’s voice whispered through the night. “Jade, let me in!”

Saints.

I grabbed my door and flung it open. Tessa stumbled in, out of breath.

“What’s going on?” I asked, scanning her body from head to toe in the darkness. “Are you hurt?”

“No, no,” she ushered. “I’m fine. I came to see you.”

“How did you find me here?”

“Please,” she shrugged. “You have to give me some credit.”

I huffed, placing my hands on my hips. “You can’t be wandering around the fae castle at night, Tessa. It isn’t safe.”

“I wasn’t going to stay locked up like a prisoner with him any more, Jade. I couldn’t!”

She was talking about our father.

“What did you do to him?” she asked. “He was practically carried back to our room, completely disheveled.”

I turned and walked to my open window. “You mean more than the usual?” I asked.

Tessa walked in and sat on my bed as if she lived there, too. “He’s completely lost his mind, Jade. He’s been mumbling on and on about mother.”

My heart stopped. “Our mother?”

“Yes!”

I moved to sit next to her, fighting to keep any signs of alarm off my face.

“What’s he been saying?”