Page 53 of Luca

I bared my fangs in a snarl. “I won’t rest until his body is torn to pieces.”

Why had my father done this? What was his goal? I knew he was vicious, but I hadn’t thought he would tear the realm apart to prove it. There was nothing to gain except bloodshed and ruin, a kingdom shrouded in darkness and ash. Unless there was a detail I’d missed, a clue that was staring me in the face.

Luca will know.

“He was so adamant that we mated,” I murmured, fragmented thoughts surging through my head at a rapid velocity. Nothing was truly sticking, all of it fleeting and jumbled, but there was a persistent need to know his motivation clawing at me.Why did it matter? I would destroy him anyway.

‘You promised me his head.’

“Was he planning this from the moment Luca walked through the Veil?” A conclusion was appearing in the distance, but I couldn’t reach it. My father’s smirk flashed behind my eyes. “Using him to weaken me?”

“Two birds, one stone,” Zadok said. I could barely concentrate on the words, that fucking smell was grating on my nerves. “He would have bided his time, lulled you both into a false sense of security at the palace, making you think he was indifferent to you building a home there, while he plotted in the shadows, using your mating to his advantage. Had he taken action then, it wouldn’t have had the same effect. This took you by surprise. This hurt you more.”

Hurtwas insufficient.

“He tolerated the disrespect.” My gaze narrowed on the door handle, my fingers twitching impatiently. “He pretended to accept the fact that one day Luca, a half human, would rule beside me because he never planned on letting it get that far. I am such an idiot for not seeing it sooner.”

“You are not?—”

“He knew this would provoke me, but he waited until the right moment. Why is that moment now?” I shook my head sharply. “I don’t care. I won’t give him the satisfaction of believing he has won. He willneverwin.”

I reached for the door once again. There was somewhere I had planned to go, a desk I could envision, but I couldn’t remember the reason.

Zadok spoke up once again, making me pause. “How did you find me?”

I scowled, irritated by the strange question. “What?”

“What led you here?”

I struggled to recall. A book? “We found a book on tears,” I said, the memory gradually piecing itself together. “We practiced around the palace, and after I’d managed to create one to the human realm, a door appeared in the library. We found abandoned documents with your name on them.”

“Did you have to portal through the door?”

Green light. The buzz of magic.“Yes.”

“The king and I were the only two beings who were aware of that room,” he said, a note of suggestion in his lilting voice that I didn’t understand.

“What are you—” The fragments slotted into place, the fuller picture emerging, but it was blurred. “Are you saying it was a trap? That he was toying with us for months, watching us find the breadcrumbshehad laid out, so we would end up here when he was ready to play out his twisted scheme?”

“I believe so, yes.”

I should have known. Or… maybe, deep down, Ihadknown, but I’d brushed it off as one of those instances I’d learned not to question. Luca had expressed concern, but I hadn’t listened. I had failed him.

I squeezed the bridge of my nose, willing away the heaviness gathering under the skin. Nothing was making sense, just a haze of movement and muffled noise, and I couldn’t stand it. I was distantly aware of a clock ticking in the background. I glanced up, finding its face and frowning.

It was evening again.

How had time passed so quickly?

“I must check on my mate,” I murmured absently, swaying on my feet. “He will be inconsolable if I let him sleep through dinner.”

Zadok opened his mouth, but closed it to nod instead.

I was out the door before I let his pity sink in.

* * *

I sat on a wooden chair at Luca’s bedside, staring, not truly seeing, but staring nonetheless. I was vaguely aware that his skin was paler than it had been before, almost ashen in tone. He was still beautiful, somehow. Like a timeless diamond that would never lose its shine. He would have blushed, hearing me make such a comparison, and what I wouldn’t have given to see that pink hue bloom across his cheeks again. To see him smile at me as if I’d hung the moon.

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