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And there was one other issue. Had he been working with Selig to trick me into creating a bomb that would’ve killed Malvolia’s army and my sister and children? Did he know all that time that Selig was using me to create such an ominous weapon?
I swiped tears from my eyes. “Were you working with Selig?”
“What?” He gaped at me, his eyes stricken with confusion, or maybe that was panic.
“He tricked me into thinking that stone was harmless.” I swiped more tears as they flowed freely. “He had me practice my magic on it. I had no idea he was going to use it to try to destroy Malvolia’s army.”
His eyes were two sharpened points of steel as he looked at me. “I didn’t know anything about the stone until that night. My father’s forces had already dropped it into Malvolia’s camp, but it hit a pile of hay and didn’t set off.” He paused, visibly swallowing. “They were going to send one of my brothers to retrieve it.”
I narrowed my eyes, searching his face for any signs of deceit. “Your brothers would’ve never taken orders from Fachnan.”
“They wouldn’t have refused if they thought retrieving the bomb would’ve saved you.” He crawled to the edge of his cell, grabbing the bars with whitened knuckles, his chains rattling with the movement. “Because they’re your fated mates, it would’ve been easier for them to detect your magic and find the bomb. Since I’m also your fated mate, I volunteered to go instead.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why?” He looked at me as if I’d sprouted an arm out of my head. “It was a suicide mission.”
But he went anyway, knowing he’d probably die, to spare his brothers and me. My knees weakened.
“If Malvolia’s army would’ve discovered that ball,” he continued, “they could’ve sent it back into our camp and killed all of us.”
“It was my magic.” Emotions warred within me, from rage to sorrow to gratitude, and love, so much love, which circled back to rage. Why did he pulverize my heart and then volunteer to die for me? Why did he have to make loving me, and loving him in return, so damned difficult? “If you would’ve warned me, I could’ve deflected it.”
“Then what?” He shook his head. “You’d be too drained to take on Malvolia’s forces. And then Selig told me you were pregnant.”
My blood boiled at the mention of that mage. “How did he know?”
He sat back on his knees, his chains rattling by his sides. “He sensed the baby in your womb.”
“He manipulated you.” I vowed to turn Selig to dust before this war was over.
“He manipulated both of us.” Helian looked up at me with glossy eyes. “Anya, I’m sorry for any pain I caused you.”
When his voice cracked and broke like splintered glass, those splinters somehow found their way to my heart, piercing it like thousands of tiny blades.
Despite the pounding in my skull and the noose around my throat, I summoned the strength to speak. “You rejected me when I told you I loved you, and then you pledged yourself to Arabella.”
“I was a fool.” He shook his head, a solitary tear cutting through the grime on his face. “You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved.”
I clenched my fists by my sides, those conflicting emotions warring again. “You would’ve married her if I hadn’t outed her as a demon.”
“I was afraid Malvolia would kill you if we didn’t have Viggo’s army as a buffer.” He clasped his hands in a prayer pose. “Believe me when I say I was only thinking of you when I agreed to marry her. When we get this demon out of me, I swear I’ll make it up to you.”
Make it up to me? How could he erase the pain he’d caused me from his cruel rejection? “Isa says tomorrow we’ll conduct the ceremony.”
He leaned forward, clutching a bar with one hand while reaching toward me with the other. “I will be anxiously awaiting each agonizing minute before I can hold you in my arms again, my love. And after we defeat the demons, I will make you my queen.”
Something in me snapped, and I took a large step back, my knees wobbling. Only the rage pumping through my veins kept me from collapsing. “You think I want to marry you now?”
He stretched a hand toward me, a plea in his eyes. “Anya...”
“I don’t need to be a queen, Helian.” Turning up my chin, I glared down at him through eyes misted with regret. “I’m already a goddess.”
Tari
FINN WAS WAITING FOR me when I returned to the hall, his brow creased and his mouth turned down as he shifted from foot to foot.
I wordlessly handed him the lantern as he took my hand.
