“I don’t know.”
Faye tilted her head to the side. How could he not know? He’d clearly survived. “But you must have killed him. Otherwise, how would you be alive?”
“I managed to escape through the tunnels.”
Stunned, she stared at him. While she was aware of the tunnels and the secret passage way between her and the king’s suite, she didn’t know all the other underground routes. Cain had only shown her the one entrance she needed to know. “There is an entrance to the tunnels in the cellblock?”
“It saved my life.”
Suddenly her breath hitched. “And Robert?”
Cain stroked his hands over her upper arms. “Robert is safe.” He dropped his head. “I want to apologize to you. You were right. Robert isn’t a traitor. After what happened in the cell, I firmly believe that Robert was set up, maybe even to lure me down there to him so the assassin could get rid of me and blame Robert for it. I can’t know for sure.”
Relief traveled through her. Cain had taken her advice after all and given Robert a chance. But relief wasn’t long lasting, because her advice had landed him in this dangerous situation. “I’m so sorry, Cain. If I hadn’t put such pressure on you to see Robert, this wouldn’t have happened.” She felt tears well up in her eyes and tried desperately to push them down.
“It’s not your fault. You did the right thing. I was wrong about Robert.”
“What are you going to do now? Where’s the guard that did this?”
Cain shook his head. “The guard is dead. Most likely killed by whoever is behind this. My men are looking for the assassin, but we don’t have much hope. He didn’t leave any clues. We found a weapon that was most likely used to kill the guard. Haven checked for fingerprints, but there were none.”
Faye searched his eyes. “He’s going to try again and again until he succeeds, isn’t he?” How would Cain ever be safe?
“We have to assume that. That’s why I’m here.”
Her forehead creased at his odd statement. “What do you mean?” Was he suspecting her after all, even though he’d said it wasn’t her fault? Her heartbeat drummed in her chest. “You can’t believe that I’m—”
“Faye.” He pulled her closer. The intensity in his gaze rendered her immobile. “When I was in that cell about to be assassinated, all I could think of was you, and that I would never get a chance to tell you the truth if I died.”
“The truth?” she heard herself echo.
“About me and what really happened during the year I was gone.” Cain took a breath. “I lied to you, Faye.”
Instinctively, she tried to pull away from him, but his hands wrapped around her upper arms and didn’t allow her to escape.
“But I can’t go on lying any longer.” He closed his eyes for a moment.
Speechless, she stared at him.
“I think you’ll want to sit down for this.” He released her. “Please.”
Her entire body numb, she walked to the sofa and sat down, her back remaining stiff. Was he going to tell her now that there had been another woman after all?
The sofa cushions depressed when he sat down close to her, his body turned sideways to face her, his hands reaching for hers, holding them gently.
“I wasn’t kidnapped a year ago. An assassin made an attempt on my life and injured me. John saved my life, but the head injury was bad. When I came to, I had no memory of my life. I didn’t know who I was. I had complete amnesia.”
Faye gasped.
“John made the decision to smuggle me out of the palace via the tunnels and stage my death to keep me safe. I believe he did the right thing under the circumstances. I was in no state to defend myself against another attack.”
Faye pressed her hand to her lips. “Oh my God!”
“That’s not all.”
What else could there be? “You’re back now. You can fight whoever is behind this.”
The sad smile Cain gave her made her heart clench with pain. “Faye, I haven’t recovered from the amnesia.”
Not understanding, she shook her head. “What do you mean? Any non-mortal injury a vampire has will heal over time. And you came back. So you must remember.”
Cain sighed. “For the last year, I’ve been working as a bodyguard for Scanguards. They became my friends, the only friends and family I remember. My memory still isn’t back. I don’t know why the injury never healed.” He looked into the fireplace. “Faye, I don’t remember you. I don’t remember loving you. I remember nothing of my old life. Nothing about us. That’s why I couldn’t tell you what you needed to hear from me.”