this way, and now she understood how deeply it had plagued him all along.
The Warriors were readying to leave and only waited now for Caleb to return with the king’s crown.
Willow’s gaze found Jonas and she rose from the floor. “I thought they killed you,” she said when she reached him.
“Sort of wish they did now, I’ll bet, eh, Princess?” he asked, his deep voice filled with regret. She looked away. “Willow.” He slipped his hand beneath her chin and gently turned her head to face him. “For the rest of my life, I will regret falling asleep that night.”
She began to cry again, and he pulled her into his arms. “I’m so glad you’re alive, Jonas.” She wept against his hard chest, remembering his gentle smile.
“And I’m so glad that you are.”
When she straightened and wiped her eyes, she saw her father being jeered at by two Warriors and chased them away when she ran to him.
“Daughter,” her father said in a low voice.
She bent to him. “Yes, Father?”
“Do not go with your Warrior lover. For if you do, I will send my men to destroy Shondravar and everyone in it.”
Her jaw dropped and her heart thumped hard in her chest. “What do you know of Shondravar?”
“I know that it’s the only place in Predaria that farms. When you mentioned Caleb’s land and how things grow there, I knew where you meant. I see by your reaction that I am correct.” He smiled.
She looked away and fought the stinging in her eyes. So this was how he would keep her in Beldar. Blackmail.
“Don’t think I won’t strip him bare of everything he loves now that he’s taken my ability to fight!” he warned as Caleb came down the stairs and saw them.
Oh, she didn’t doubt it.
The true king looked at her with her father and moved his hand to motion her to him. “Come, my love.”
She saw Seth move out of the corner of her eye and raised her hand to stop him.
“Willow,” Caleb held his hand out to her. “Come back with me.”
“No…no I need to remain and—” Oh, she was sure she was going to choke on her words. “—help my father recover.”
Caleb’s expression went stiff. “You’re staying?”
Her heart screamed out no, but she nodded her head. “I must.”
“Why? Why must you? I kept my promise. Can you not forgive me?”
“It isn’t that,” she said, praying that he could somehow understand.
He didn’t. He looked at Seth and then his sister and Jonas, and his men waiting for him.
“Caleb,” she called him. He was about to leave her forever. There was so much she wanted to say when he turned to look at her. He waited for a moment then when she said nothing, he turned to her father.
“I should have cut out your tongue, but you’ll need it to explain to your daughter how the nightmare she lived through was all your doing. I leave it to you to explain to her that the man who beat her almost to death, was in your service, Catcher,” he spat the last title Baltrasard would ever hold at the man with bitter hatred.
Willow stood rooted in her spot, her face sickly white. Catcher? Her father? “No,” she breathed and looked at him.
“Willow,” Caleb called her and she blinked her numb gaze to him. “Your friend Martin found us. He told me he was listening at the church when your father spoke with a man named Galin. This Galin, he was the leader and he answered to Baltrasard.”
Turning to her father again, Willow sank to her knees. Seth ran to her and Caleb watched them for a moment, his heart crying out for her before he spoke again. “Seth didn’t know. Did you, Seth?”
“No.” Seth shook his head and glared at Baltrasard still lying on the floor a few feet away.
Caleb went to the door. He turned to Willow one last time, and she almost bolted to him. “Keep the castle in Predaria,” he told her gently. “We don’t want it.”
The moment they stepped outside, Shauna grabbed her brother’s arm and leapt in front of him. “Why did you tell her that?”
“Do you really want to live in Silvergard, Shauna?” he asked wearily.
“No, I’m not talking about Silvergard. Why did you tell Willow that Seth didn’t know?”
“Because he didn’t,” he said and tried to pass her.
Shauna blocked his way. “But you didn’t have to tell her.”
“Yes, I did,” he said in a quiet, calm voice. “She couldn’t be happy with