and he thinks he can get it from that fountain. But he has to go through Antion to get to it.” Damian let go of me to turn away, reaching up to thread his hands through his hair and squeeze his temples with his palms as though trying to push away a headache — or the truth of the situation. “Together, Antion and Blevon have a chance of stopping him, and he knows it. But if he can get us to keep fighting … then …”
“Then he can march his armies and black sorcerers through the chaos and straight to the temple.”
“Is that why he’s done all of this? Is that why he’s determined to ensure the war between Blevon and Antion keeps going — why he’s trying to restart it? He and my father must have planned this all along. To weaken our two countries enough so that he could march through and claim his prize.”
I thought of my parents lying on the ground, killed by a black sorcerer, all those years ago…. “He’s the one who’s sending the black sorcerers. It’s always been him. He wanted to make sure the people of Antion hated Blevon.” I paused, the devastating truth nearly choking me. “My parents were killed by Dansii. Not Blevon.”
Damian’s shoulders slumped slightly, and he shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Alexa. I’m sorry that you had to lose your family because of my family’s greed.”
“I’m not the only one who has lost their loved ones.”
Damian didn’t respond. Instead, he walked over to his desk and picked up the object he’d been holding earlier. I recognized it now as the locket he’d shown me in General Tinso’s castle in Blevon. It was the one with the portrait of his mother inside. His hand closed around it, and then he looked up, meeting my gaze. “If you go after Rafe, you will be walking directly into his trap. He’ll find a way to control you — to kill you.”
He already does control me. The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t admit it to him. “He won’t kill me. They want me alive for some reason.”
“Then why did that man try to kill you today?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. He said something strange before he died — something about us giving him no choice, and it being better to bring the king my blood than nothing at all.”
Damian’s eyebrows pulled together in alarm. “He must have heard that he was to be beheaded tonight.”
“So he decided to attack and try to take my blood back to his king, since Vera and Rafe failed to do it,” I finished for him. “Rather than be killed and leave Armando empty-handed. He was just biding his time, waiting to use his power to get what he wanted, but the loss of Vera and the threat of death made him reckless.”
Damian’s hand was clenched so tightly around the locket that his knuckles were white. “Why do they want you? Why would Armando want your blood?”
Something deep inside of my belly clenched, sending a rolling wave of nausea through me. “I don’t know.”
Damian stared down at his fist. “Please don’t do this. Please don’t go. If you do … they’ll take you from me. Forever this time.” He closed his eyes. “I can feel it. If you go, I will lose you.”
I crossed to where he stood and put my hand over his. When he looked into my face, his expression was bleak. “Together we can do anything, remember?”
“But we aren’t doing this together. You’re going alone.”
With my free hand, I reached up to cup his face and gently pulled his mouth toward mine, until our lips met. He trembled beneath my touch, threatening to break apart. He’d let me past the careful wall he had built around himself for so many years, giving me the power to hurt him more deeply than I could probably imagine, and that knowledge made me want to scream and cry and never let him go. His arms came around me, his hands clutching at my tunic as he pressed my body against his. The desperation we battled seeped into our kiss, evidenced by the bitter taste of salt on my tongue from tears. I wanted to lose myself in the heat of his touch, in the need that pounded through my blood, coalescing in my limbs and belly.
But I couldn’t do that to him. I couldn’t