Page 110 of The Keeper of the Kingdoms

“Okay,” I offered him a placating smile.

“We will give it a few more days to see if we can find the answers.”

I flipped the page in the huge catalogue and there was the jar I’d found in the archive. Beside it was what looked like the other part of a pair. They were clearly meant to belong together. “Jaxus, Look!” I turned the text around and pointed to the roughly sketched images.

Jaxus glanced at it and gasped.

“What?” I asked, excitement flooding my veins.

His eyes met mine, alight with discovery, but he opened his mouth and no words came.

Panic flickered in his golden irises.

“What is it?” I asked again.

He shook his head, coughing, eyes watering as he shoved to his feet. “I need some air.”

“What happened?” I followed.

“Nothing. I just need air,” Jaxus snapped. He quickened his pace, not letting me catch him.

He was lying.

I’d seen it in his eyes. He’d recognized the picture.

Why would he lie to me?

FORTY-TWO

JAXUS

Ifelt sick. The second I saw the sketch, I knew where the other half was. I had to get some space, or she would know I was hiding something.

“What aren’t you saying?” she asked, still following.

I shook my head. “I’m trying to work things out in my head, that’s all.”

I saw her face turn, her entire expression souring against me. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Say it in my mind,” Kiera demanded, lifting her chin to level with me.

“What do you want me to say?”

“That you don’t know what that second object is.”

I willed myself to think of a way to say it that wouldn’t betray my home and my people, but even thinkingabout it twisted the cord around my throat tighter with each breath. A warning.

Ever since I’d come close to slipping before, the pressure around my neck remained. Maybe it was a promise to turn my blood into sludge in my veins. Like the blood oath knew it was only a matter of time before I fucked up, and it was ready to poison my body against me.

“I can’t,” I admitted at length.

“Where are you from?” she said out loud, finally sealing my fate.

“I can’t tell you.” I choked out.

She broke before my eyes, shattering our trust into a million pieces.