Page 88 of The Puppeteer and the Poisoned Pawn

“Intheory, Skylittle. Keyword. We don’t know what you’ll be capable of. You may never remember me this way again!”

“Still not done.” She holds a hand up. “You’d have to keep up the ruse until then. We don’t know how the Phoenix stem works. Certain information may trigger a memory, and if that happens, it’s all over. You have to keep me in the dark. That means, let me believe Aurick is a friend. Let me believe you’re a secretive prick for all I care. Because if this fails, those memories of us will be gone forever.”

I’m still stuck on his death. I hold myself up with liquid arms and buttery legs. “Did you fake your death?” I scream at them. “Was this all a trick?!”

“It’s a good plan.” He rubs his hands together, thinking. “But I’d never put you in the lion’s den like that. I’d never lie to you, never use you like a pawn, never risk your memories of me because, honey, our childhood together is part of who you are. Who would you become if we took those away, huh? The next time we’d meet, I wouldn’t know you, and you wouldn’t know me.”

Skylenna considers this, chewing on her lip. “What if that’s the time I’d meet another alter? That might be easier on you, and it would be like a fresh start.”

But Kane has made up his mind, putting the conversation to bed. And I suppose that’s why younger Skylenna took it upon herself to eat the Phoenix stem when Jack attacked. She took it upon herself to enact this plan.

I’m hyperventilating, being consumed with a tornado of emotions. Relief. Hope. Confusion. Fury. Happiness. Anguish. It falls over me until I drop to the wooden floor of the tree house and lose consciousness.

28. “Until I’m Old and Gray.”

“You can fake your death. Control the outcome so they won’t have a chance to hurt either of you.”

My body moves erratically, speeding through the forest with all of the energy I have left. I have to find my friends. I have to tell them what I’ve discovered. I’m not thinking about what happens next; I’m just sprinting like a crazed bull.

“You can fake your death.”

But no one could have faked that. I watched the sickle plunge through Dessin’s chest. My entire body was drenched in his hot blood. A part of me wants to protect myself from imminent disappointment. I know that if I let myself get excited about this… the heartbreak will be all-consuming.

“You can fake your death.”The voices are like screaming sirens in my head.

The pieces fit, though. He was so frustrated that he had to keep these secrets from me. It’s because it wasn’t even his plan to begin with. He was honoring my wishes!

“You have to keep me in the dark.”

It must have been hell for him to know me, remember me, care about me, and yet know for a fact that he was a stranger in my eyes.

“Let me believe Aurick is a friend.”

Jesus, I threw a fit when I learned who Aurick really was. I let my anger with Kane and Dessin tear me apart and keep me from enjoying my last few moments with him. He couldn’t tell me about Aurick because we were buying time, and I had to appear clueless to the leader of Demechnef.

I look up at the dark-gray sky, growing angrier from an impending storm. My legs burn, and my chest is tight. Sweat runs down my body as if it is already raining.

“Chekiss!” I scream.

“You can fake your death.”

“Warrose!”

If there’s any chance… I have to know.

The scent of firewood and smoke brush past my nose. I search the forest until I see a warm orange glow near a thin creek.

“Niles!” He’s the first one on his feet, racing toward me with an alert expression.

His blood covered my hands. Life vanished from his warm-brown eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

The others gather around me, watching me pant, resting my palms on my knees to get more oxygen in my lungs. I grimace at the sight of my legs. Dried blood has become a second skin. What must they think? They don’t exactly look surprised to see me this way.

“I think”—a cough breaks free of my lungs—“he’s alive.”

Being around those I love makes me want to cry. To finally let go. But I lock down my emotions, refusing to let myself feel until I know if this is real or not.

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