“I was wondering,” I began, my fingers going to the buttons along the front of my cloak, “if you know where Millicent is?”
He eyed me for a moment. “I wish I did, but I don’t.”
Disappointment rose, even though I knew I shouldn’t be surprised. If he knew where she was, he wouldn’t be here. “Do you think she will come back?” I asked.
“I do.” He met my eyes, and a moment passed. “She will because you’re here, and she wants a relationship with you.”
My brows rose, and I pulled back slightly. “Really?”
Malik’s jaw tensed. “It may be hard to believe, but yes.”
“I’m happy to hear that,” I said quickly, realizing he’d misread my reaction.
He arched a brow. “Is that so?”
“Yes. I was just surprised because she didn’t really give me the impression that she would be…” I trailed off. “Not that she had a lot of time to do so.”
Millicent and I hadn’t spent much time alone. Someone had always been around—even if I hadn’t seen them. Our…mother’s Handmaidens saw and heard everything.
Which made me think abouttheircurrent whereabouts. Had they, too, been dealt with? Most—if not all—were Revenants.
“But Iamhappy to hear that,” I said, twisting a button as I glanced toward Casteel. Our eyes met, and an eyebrow rose, just as it had done on his brother’s face. I opened my mouth, closed it, and then took a breath, returning my attention to Malik. I didn’t know everything he’d gone through, but I knew it’d broken him. Just as it had Casteel. And I knew what had done it. Seeing his bonded wolven tortured and killed in front of him. It made me wonder once more if Delano knew how my bloodstone dagger had been crafted.
The faint, one-sided curve of Malik’s lips started to fade. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
“I forgive you.”
He took a step back, the rest of the smirk quickly disappearing from his face.
I didn’t know why I’d even said that. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Malik. But…it wasn’t a lie.
“I don’t know if I’ve told you that or not. Some stuff is still fuzzy for me,” I admitted. “But in case I didn’t, I wanted to say it now. I forgive you.”
He was so still, I wasn’t sure he even breathed. “You shouldn’t.”
“You could’ve killed me,” I reminded him. “And you didn’t.”
“I betrayed Coralena.”
I managed not to react to that. “You did.”
“And you forgive that?”
“I understand why you did what you did.” I stilled my fingers before I twisted the button off. “And in the end, you did what was right. Coralena had to know that.”
Malik looked away.
“And Casteel knows why you stayed here,” I continued, lowering my voice. “I think you guys could, you know, get along if you stopped mentioning how you once planned to kill me.” I paused. “And if Casteel pulls his head out of his ass.”
The lone dimple in his left cheek appeared briefly. “You really think that?” he asked.
“I do.” I stepped back and smiled. “Anything is possible, right?”
“I guess so.” His gaze moved to mine, and the grin disappeared. “You have a…soft heart.”
I was pretty sure he didn’t entirely mean that in a good way. I fixed a smile on my face anyway. “Aren’t all hearts soft?”
He chuckled. “I suppose so, but yours is softer than others.”
