“This has nothing to do with Gianna,” Casteel replied curtly.
“I can actually agree with that,” Alastir returned. “It has everything to do with the kingdom—your land and your people and your obligation to them. Marrying Gianna would’ve strengthened the relationship between the wolven and the Atlantians.”
Jasper’s head snapped in Alastir’s direction. “You are overstepping, Alastir. You do not speak for the entirety of our people.”
The older wolven burned with rage beside me, but there was a connection there, one that harkened back to Landell, to one of the things he’d said in response to Casteel stating his intention to make me the Princess. He’d said that it was supposed to be an honor meant to bring all of their people together.
“I know what my obligations are.” Casteel’s words fell like chips of ice. “And I know exactly what my father expects of me. Those two things are not mutually exclusive, nor would marrying a wolven suddenly erase the deaths of over half of their people. Anyone who believes that is a fool.”
“I didn’t say I agreed with it.” Alastir picked up his drink.
“Perhaps this conversation should occur at another time,” Emil stressed, having moved to Alastir’s side. He looked to Jasper as if to say, “do something.”
Jasper sat in the chair Kieran had occupied, and quite frankly, he stared at Alastir as if he hoped the man would continue.
“You mean when we don’t have one of them sitting right there?” a man spoke, an Atlantian who I thought had been at the house Beckett was injured at. “Who was raised in the pit of vipers and is most likely just as poisonous as the nest she grew up in? When we are this close to finally seeking retribution against them?”
Casteel opened his mouth, but something unlocked inside me, raising its head. And whatever it was breathed fire. Years of grooming to remain silent and demure, to allow people to do and say whatever they wanted to me caught fire and burned to embers and ash. I was simply faster in my response. “I’m not one of them,” I said, and the focus of the entire room shifted in my direction. All except Casteel. He still watched the Atlantian, and I had a wicked suspicion that we were seconds away from repeating what had happened to Landell. “I was their Maiden, and even though I suspected the Ascended were hiding things, I fully admit to not opening my eyes to who they truly were until I met Casteel. But I was never one of them.” I met the Atlantian’s stare, tasting his anger and distrust, feeling it swell inside me, fueling my burning fury as if he were a lit match. “And the next time you want to call me a poisonous viper, at least have the courage to do so while looking me straight in the eye.”
Silence.
Ian would’ve said it was so silent you could hear a cricket sneeze.
And then Jasper let out a low whistle.
The Atlantian snapped out of his stupor. “You were their Maiden. The Chosen. The Queen’s favorite. Isn’t that what they say?”
“Dante,” Emil warned, shooting the fair-haired Atlantian a sharp look. “No one asked for your opinion on this.”
“But I’m glad he gave it since I’m well aware that he is not the only one thinking this,” I said, flicking my gaze over the room. “Yes, I was the Queen’s favorite, and I was raised in a cage so pretty that it took a very long time for me to see it for what it was. The Ascended planned to use my blood to make more vamprys. That was why I was their Maiden. Would you feel loyalty to your captors? Because I do not.”
Casteel looked at me then, his gaze still icy, but something else moved in those depths. There was no time to figure out what it was. And at the moment, I frankly didn’t care.
“If that is the truth, then I salute you.” Dante raised a glass. “We all salute you, and I mean that seriously. It’s truly few and far between these days that anyone from Solis has had their eyes opened. No offense to those who have who are present.”
There were several murmurs before Dante continued. “To learn that you’re of Atlantian descent does explain why you’re important to them, but you—”
“Are of better use to you dead?” I interrupted as Quentyn and Beckett came out of the kitchen, carrying freshly baked bread. They stopped, their eyes widening.
Dante lowered his glass, staring at me.
“I know many of you would prefer to send me back to Queen Ileana in pieces, as does the King, I’m sure.” I lifted my chin even as a fine tremor shook my hands. “Part of me can’t blame any of you for wanting that, especially after learning the truth about them.”
A muscle clenched in the Atlantian’s jaw, but it was Alastir who spoke. “I told you, Casteel. I said that you would encounter pushback if you proceeded with this.”
So did Landell.
“And what did I tell you when you said that before?” Casteel asked.
“That this is what you want. That she is what you want,” Alastir said, and my heart twisted in my chest. “And you know I want to believe that. Everyone in this room does.”
I doubted that.
“And the King and Queen will want to believe that,” Alastir said. “Especially Eloana. But you’ve spent decades trying to free your brother instead of accepting what the rest of us have come to terms with. You refused your duties to your people because you weren’t ready to let him go, something that I could understand even if it pained me. The last time you left, you had to know that there was no longer any hope that he’d return to us, but you still went, gone for years—gone for so long that your mother began to fear that you too had suffered the same fate as Malik,” he said, and my heart squeezed for a wholly different reason while Casteel showed no reaction. “But you’re returning home with the most guarded jewel of the Ascended. There are few who truly believe this doesn’t have anything to do with your brother.”
“If I hadn’t accepted my brother’s fate, I wouldn’t be leaving Solis,” Casteel said, and only Kieran and I knew how much it cost him to speak those words. “It’s no secret that I planned to use Penellaphe as ransom. I spent those years far from home working to get close to her.” This he directed not just to Alastir but to the entire room. “I succeeded, and when the time was right, I made my move. I took her.”
Casteel spoke the truth that was still hard to hear. “I took her, and I kept her, but not to use her. Somewhere along the way, I no longer saw her as a bargaining chip or a tool for revenge. I saw her for who she was. Who she is—this beautiful, strong, intelligent, endlessly curious and kind woman who was as much a victim of the Ascended as any Atlantians. I fell in love with her, probably long before I even realized I had.” He laughed, the sound rough. And gods, it sounded so real that my throat knotted. “My plans changed. What I believed about Malik changed. And this was before I learned what she was. That she is part Atlantian. She is the reason I came home.”
My gaze collided with Kieran’s, and he nodded as if to confirm what Casteel said.
But how could it be?
When he’d been expected to marry someone else for decades and never once told me? Then again, he had yet to really say a word about Shea.
Pressing my lips together, I looked away. If only all of what he’d said was true. The future would be different. Everything would be different. I wished he hadn’t spoken those words at all.
The old woman Casteel had talked to earlier spoke up. “And you knew that he originally planned to use you?”
“I didn’t at first, not until after he’d already gained my trust and that of the Ascended in charge of me. When I found out…” I trailed off, thinking my reaction was best not known.
“She stabbed me in the heart with a bloodstone dagger,” Casteel finished instead.
The old woman blinked while Jasper gave a sudden bark of laughter. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But damn…are you for real?”
“It’s true,” Kieran confirmed. “She thought it would kill him.”
Emil started to grin but one look from Casteel stopped that in its tracks.
Shifting in the suddenly uncomfortable chair, I wondered how in the world that piece of knowledge helped anything. “I was a little angry.”
Casteel arched a brow as he glanced at me. “A little?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Okay. I was very angry.”
“I didn’t know that,” Alastir said from behind the rim of his cup.
“Obviously, Casteel takes after his father when it comes to women with sharp objects,” Jasper commented with a snort. “I feel like I’m missing some vital information that Delano conveniently left out when he met me halfway.”
I frowned, but at least I knew where Delano had been.
“You stabbed Casteel?” Jasper repeated. “In the heart? With bloodstone. And you thought it would kill him?”
“In my defense, I felt bad afterward.”
“She did cry,” Casteel remarked.
I was going to stab him again.
“But I trusted him, and he betrayed that,” I continued. “I was the Maiden, nearly groomed my entire life to remain pure and focused only on my Ascension. I was Chosen to be given to the gods, even though I never chose the life. And I don’t know what you know of me, but I had no control over where I went, who I spoke to or could speak with. I was veiled, unable to even look someone in the eye if they were allowed to speak with me. I didn’t get to choose what I ate, when I left my chambers, or who was allowed to even touch me. But he was the first thing I’d ever truly chosen for myself.”