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“What are you doing out here?” I asked. “You should be hiding away. The castle is going to be attacked soon. You’ll be safe in your rooms.”

He held his hands up to stop me from talking. Not in a disrespectful way, though. I could practically feel the desperation of this man boiling off of him.

“I can’t,” he said.

“Can’t what?”

“I can’t hide while your enemies come for my daughter. Let me help you.”

Both shock and disbelief washed over me. If only Jade could see this now. Would she laugh in his face? Or give the man a chance?

Surely, in a fight against a fae, this man would lose. Not only was he human, he was barely alive. A strong gust of wind would knock him off his feet.

If he stayed away from the liquor that long.

“I understand you want to help,” I started with caution, “but I can guarantee you we have this covered.”

I began turning back toward Adeline’s bedroom when he closed the distance between us and grabbed ahold of my arm.

“Please,” he begged. “I lost one daughter. I know I do not deserve this. I know you have no reason to trust me. But…I have to do something. Give me a sword and I’ll fight. I’ll protect the women and children. Anything.”

I could have snapped his neck right there for laying a hand on his king.

Jade’s father deserved no mercy. No kindness.

But if he wanted to lose his life fighting for his daughter, who was I to stop him?

“Okay,” I admitted. “The front door has been nailed shut already. Follow this hall to the servant’s entrance, and let them know I sent you. They’ll give you a weapon there.”

A flicker of something lit up his dark eyes. “Thank you,” he said, bowing his head and holding his hands together. “Thank you, Malachi. You will not regret this.”

“No, I won’t,” I said. “But you might.”

I watched as Jade’s father half-ran down the hallway, toward the servants’ entrance of the castle and outside to face the battlefield.

Finding Jade was even more important after whatever just happened.

When I got to Adeline’s bedroom, though, it was empty.

Every room in the entire hallway seemed to be empty.

My mind was spinning, heart pounding in my chest.

The dungeons. They must have actually listened to me and gone to the dungeons.

My feet carried me there until her pitch-black hair came into view. I stopped in my tracks.

“I hope this is some sort of twisted joke,” I said. All three of them froze at the sound of my voice, including Adeline who let out a small scream.

“Malachi!” she stuttered. “We were just–”

“Save it. Whatever crazy plan you three thought up to get Esther out of here, it isn’t going to happen.”

“Esther can help us, Mal,” Jade said. “You have to understand that.”

“What I understand is the fact that you two thought letting a traitor free during a war was a good idea. But I suppose it was my fault for leaving you two unattended. My bad. It won’t be happening again.”

I stepped forward to grab ahold of Esther’s arm, but Jade placed a hand on my chest to stop me. “Listen to me,” she whispered, loud enough for only me to hear. “This war is happening because of me.Allof this is because of me. This is a mess that I created, Mal. If I didn’t do everything I could to prevent mass casualties in my own kingdom…”