Page 98 of A Kingdom of Shadows

He catches up to me just before we enter the woods and spins me to face him.

"Have you always known it was me?" I ask because I'm hoping he didn't. I'm hoping it will excuse why he didn't tell me.

His heavy sigh explains it all as he runs a hand through his hair, and his words are equal parts pain and regret. "It was the night I asked you to steal the pendant. You mentioned your brothers."

Goldie. I think you look like a Goldie. Wouldn't you agree, Tibith?

"When we met, you reminded me of her—of the girl I'd seen all those years ago, and when I saw your carving, I knew for sure it was you. You always carried that with you every time you visited the town with your mother. I'd see you from afar—"

I shake my head, the revelation knocking me back a few feet. "Lorcan's carving."

He doesn't meet my gaze as he whispers, "It was never his."

For a moment, I don't think the true meaning behind that settles in my mind. Then I remember.

On the day of the trials, when Lorcan was in my arms, he kept repeating how he'd lied while handing me my carving. He did not mean that he'd lied about what he was or that he'd tricked me. He was speaking about the carving never belonging to him in the first place.

With the realization at hand, I whirl back around, storming away as I furiously wipe the damp water from the lake off my cheeks.

He knew, he knew, he knew.

"Nara, wait, just let me explain—"

I turn to him, my eyes burning with tears. "Why didn't you tell me?" I press my hands against his chest and shove him before he can answer. "Why did you keep it hidden from me?" Another push, and he takes it. "Why did you make me forget you!"

Because he thought he didn't deserve you, my mind whispers.

Still, I stare at him, the troubled tension in his eyes, and never have I thought he looked more beautiful and vulnerable under the moonlight. The boy who I'd befriended. The boy who'd turned out to be Darius.

My voice breaks as I point to myself. "Where was my choice?"

"If I hadn't," he says quietly, painfully, it hurts me more than a blade ever could to my heart. "Rayth would have gone as far as to harm you."

I shake my head. "There were people around he wouldn't—"

"He never cared," Darius says. "He was cruel, Nara, and if anything had happened to you—" he winces, his jaw clenching as he looks down at the ground and never finishes that sentence.

My lips tremble, not even from the cold anymore as I edge forward. I tilt my head, a tear slides down my cheek, and tentatively, I reach for his face as if feeling him here with me won't soon be a lost memory.

He watches me, attentive to every action I make. He looks torn and ashamed, yet stops me before I can touch him by slinking a hand around my wrist. His eyes unhook from mine and scan the forest. "Nara," he says, worry edging his tone. "We're not alone—"

From the trees, trolls make their way toward us. One, two, three... maybe ten or more of them.

Darius pushes me behind him as the same two trolls that were guarding the well, eye me, green tongues slithering out to lick their lips.

Disgust slices through me.

"Told you there'd be dinner for us tonight," the troll says.

A few chuckle, low and brittle, like they have something permanently lodged in their throats. They advance forward, stopping short when shadows wrap around Darius.

I step back as Darius shifts into his dragon form. Wings, leather, and silver scales gleam in the night as his rumbling growl shocks the trolls.

Yells come from every direction as Darius charges at them. I swivel around in time as one troll tries to grab me. I duck, unsheathing my blade and ramming it into the back of his thick-skinned neck.

It does nothing. He doesn't even notice I've just stabbed him.

The troll barks out a horrifying laugh. Up close, I can see warts and rotting flesh along his cheek. Over his shoulder, Darius slams his claws into one of the troll's backs.

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