He chuckled, casting a shuttered glance at Rori, who sat stiff as the table by her knees. Her expression had turned murky, her eyes roiling with turbulence.
“I was infallible to all in our families. Their hopes for Shaye and I using our magic, our gifts, to bring Faery to a new height blinded them to my faults. I am far from perfect,storín. I never claimed to be perfect. Where Fae may appear without mar on the outside, we hold deeper, and often worse, flaws beneath our skin. In reality, we are no different from mortals when it comes to possessing imperfections, and mayhap we possess more, for Fae are stubborn and unwilling to see wrong in their actions.”
Rori’s fingers tensed and tightened around her knees. Her lips drew taut.
“My path turned when Daeanna called upon me one eve. ’Twas not long after Shaye rejected her for the second time and was found guilty of murdering four human women at an inn.”
“Daeanna. The princess?”
Thaddeus nodded, becoming lost in the hypnotic dance of the flames as his mind opened windows to his past. ’Twas the first time in days that he’d been capable of seeing Daeanna’s face in detail. A face he’d once adored left him with burning disgust and regret. Aye, Daeanna had been beautiful, but now he could see the sinister intent in her eyes and the deception in her smile.
“Rest assured, he never murdered those women. ’Twas Daeanna, but that truth was revealed only a few months ago. Shaye suffered two centuries of torture at her hands, a cursebroken only when Moira gave her heart to him. As for me, she aided in my magic and the growth of my power, trained me for battle. I did her bidding all while losing my way beneath her attention and affection. ’Twas recognition I craved, believing her stories of Shaye’s greatness while I lingered in the shadows, my gifts and potential untapped. Her promise to bring me to greatness as long as I promised to be loyal to her and her visions, and never question her reasons. Naïve, even for a Fae, but I fell for the hope of becoming greater than Shaye, greater than my father, and leaving a legacy that would carry on for centuries.”
Thaddeus chuckled, shaking his head as he destroyed the images of Daeanna in his mind, casting her out of his head, his life, as far as he could now that she had ruined him.
“We are vain creatures, if naught more.”
“I would have agreed with you after our first meeting, but there’s so much more to you than what you show people on the surface.”
Rori’s soft-spoken words brimmed with denial. She tossed such things at him in hopes of softening his impending blow. Her hope was contagious, had he any weakness to buckle beneath the very tempting choice to avoid the inevitable.
“Your expectations of me are far higher than I am deserving of.”
Packing away these beautiful emotions he had only begun to enjoy, he schooled his thoughts and resorted to his cold mask as he straightened his shoulders and turned to face Rori without reserve. A familiar chilling grin played across his mouth, but the sight of her breaking beneath this punishing Thaddeus who speared her with an unwavering gaze crushed him more than she’d ever know.
“My legacy, Rori, shall be that of the Fae who fellvictim to a whore’s bed. A manipulated fool who would take the fall for a traitorous princess cast into exile in the mortal realm after Dagda, her father and King of Realms, learned the truth about the murder of innocent women for the sake of controlling a half-breed Fae she could possess no other way than by a curse. A puppet so captivated by power and prestige and pleasure at the hands of a Seelie princess that he willingly stole a bottle of Fae potion from within Dagda’s own castle and delivered it to his exiled daughter for the sake of loyalty and love, allowing her to return from exile against all orders of the King’s decreed judgment.”
His smile grew, the air cooling around him as he stepped toward Rori. The horror she tried to hide in her expression threatened to stifle his approach, end the charade, and embrace the true emotions—the heart-wrenching regret—for the little time he had left.
She shot up, storming over to him, grabbing his robe by the lapels. She rose on her toes, her eyes wild with desperation. It nearly made him falter; alas, he held steady.
“Stop.” She shook him once. “Stop this. I know what you’re trying to do anditwon’twork.”
“What, dare I ask, do you believe I’m trying to do?”
“Push me away!”
He cut his gaze to her clenched fingers wrinkling the silk. “I’m telling you thetruth. Whether ’tis what you wish to hear, naught can change the past. ’Tis time we face reality, you and I. I have been deemed a traitor to the Fae. I brought an exiled princess back to Faery. Do you know what my decision to help her return caused?”
He captured her wrists and eased his thumbs between her balled fingers, releasing them from his clothing. When she turned her hands to grasp his, he pulled away, letting herhands drop. A pained breath fled her lips, her eyes growing wet as she stared up at him, betrayal cresting over her face.
“I brought back a monster who tried to kill the very woman who walked you to the grotto while she carried a child in her womb. By the grace of the Goddess, she survived, as did the firstborn son of my old childhood friend. Aye,”—her horror escaped her restraints, at last—“Daeanna intended to kill Moira and the babe. When that didn’t work, she launched a battle upon these grounds, this land. All you see here? ’Twas destroyed beneath her hands. This castle had been naught more than a pile of rubble.”
“The King. Why didn’t he do anything to stop her? Why are you smiling, Thaddeus? Why?—”
“Because I am not the man you believe me to be, and you’d best be aware you arefarbetterwithoutme.”
Those last words came out on a scowl that sent her shuffling back. The first tear fell down her ghostly white cheek, ripping at his soul. He fisted his hands within the fabric of the robe.
Goddess, forgive me.
“The King was…indisposed, shall we say? By a blade created to nullify his power without taking his life if struck true through his heart.”
“No.” She shook her head, hands lifting to her mouth. More tears poured down her face, testing his strength to maintain this façade. “You…you didn’t.”
He arched a brow. “’Tis what you hope I’ll say?”
“You’re not like that!”
