Page 111 of The Keeper of the Kingdoms

“Kiera.” I reached for her.

She pulled away. “Why does Nyx trust you?”

“Because we fought the undead together.”

“Are you one of them?” she asked, voice trembling.

“One of who?” What was I being accused of?

“Did Octavian send you?”she said into my mind.“And answer me in here so I know you’re not lying.”

“No! Of course not. I am not a part of the—”What could I even call them?“The undead army. I didn’t know anything about them until Nyx found me.”

She searched my face.“Then what aren’t you telling me.”

“I can’t tell you that.”

She pressed her eyes closed, face screwed up in pain.“I brought you here. Into my family. Into our most secret places. I fucking trusted you with the archives, and you can’t fucking tell me this?”I opened my mouth to speak, but she held up a hand.“I let you into my body, Jaxus.”

“We are mates. I wouldn’t lie to you. I can’t lie to you.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re on the right side of any of this.”

“Kiera, you have to trust me,”I begged into her mind.

She stopped and her expression hardened. Ice ran through myveins as she tightened the bond between us, nearly cutting it off. “What have you given me to trust? You’re a stranger. I’ve gone over and over everything you’ve told me over the last few days, and the more I think about it, the more I realize I know nothing about you.”

“Firefly—” I reached for her, but she pulled away.

“Don’t touch me.”

I pressed my eyes closed, swallowing past the tightness in my throat, coming to a decision. “If I tell you, I will die,” I said through my teeth.

She drew in a sharp breath.“Say it in mind speech.”She didn’t believe a word I said, and I didn’t blame her.

“I will die if I say it.”I opened my eyes to meet hers so she could feel the weight of my words in her mind.

“Did you take a blood oath?”

I locked eyes with her, keeping my lips sealed shut. I didn’t think I could even admit to that much.

“Nyx and Zaria both know, don’t they? That’s why he trusts you for no apparent reason.”

I remained silent.

She put a hand over her mouth.“What can’t you tell me?”

This was it. What I did next would save us or shatter us.

We stood at a crossroads, and I didn’t know what the right answer was. Nyx’s fate and that of the Twelve Kingdoms could depend on how this went. It might be stupid, but I didn’t have another option.

They might never let us leave, or they may kill me for bringing in an outsider when they forbid me from telling anyone else, but what other choice did I have? I couldn’t lose Kiera. Even a life as a prisoner in the place I called home while the rest of the realm crumbled around us would be better than a life where Kiera didn’t trust me.

“I can’t tell you, but I will show you.”I offered my hand, not sure she’d take it.

She hesitantly reached out but withdrew before she placed her hand in mine. She studied me at length, seeming to come to a decision.

“I’m not leaving without saying goodbye to Gran, and we need to see if we can get the seeds from the archives.”