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"But he still takes me."

His silence answered.

I stepped closer. "The Council suspected I was a Wildheart before I ever came to Ironmoor. They wanted me before I smelled you across the Great Hall, before you touched me, before either of us knew there was a bond. Whatever they want from me, the bond did not create it."

His gaze dropped for half a second toward the place beneath my breastbone.

Then he looked at me again. "The bond made it worse."

"Yes. It did. But not for the reason you think."

His expression hardened.

“Your father didn’t suddenly become afraid of me because I bonded with you. He became afraid because he saw what happened afterward. He saw me use your wolf. He saw what the bond could make possible.”

Kaelen’s breathing changed.

I pressed on. “He’s afraid of what happens if you stop being afraid of him.”

His eyes snapped to mine.

“That’s what this is really about, isn’t it?” I said. “He knows that if you’re given enough room, eventually you’ll turn on him. Maybe you’ll challenge him on the Council. Maybe you’ll tear apart everything he’s built. Maybe you’ll try to take his place.”

Kaelen glanced down the corridor behind me.

It was empty.

When he looked back at me, his face had gone frighteningly calm.

“He’s right to be afraid of that,” he said.

For a second, I wasn’t sure I had heard him correctly.

I swallowed. “What?”

“He’s right.”

The answer came without hesitation this time.

“If he hurt you,” Kaelen said quietly, “and I had the power to take everything from him, I would.”

My heart gave one hard beat.

He continued before I could speak.

“I would take his seat. His authority. Every person on that Council who helped him. I would strip Ironmoor down to the foundations if that was what it took to keep him from touching you again.”

I stared at him. “Really?”

His expression twisted. “Wren.”

“No, I… Are you telling the truth?”

He dragged a hand across his mouth, leaving a faint smear of soil along his jaw. “That is exactly why you need to stay out of this. You’re so… You’re so gullible.”

A disbelieving laugh escaped me. “Are you hearing yourself? You just admitted your father has a reason to be afraid of losing control of you, and somehow your solution is to do exactly what he tells you.”

His eyes hardened. “Because that’s what it takes to help you.”