Page 161 of Fearless

My head spins. I shove this new piece of confusing information beside the dozens still sprawled across my mind. But the truth of my father’s death didn’t seem to interfere with Edric Azer’s obsession with the Resistance.

I’m suddenly flung into another memory, one where I am bloody and broken and barely surviving against the king. His boot is crushing my chest as I stare up at him, rain pelting my stinging face. Mud squelches beneath my back. He watches me struggle to wriggle free.

“I’ve planned for this day a long time, waiting until I could rid myself of this Resistance.”

“He had,” Calum murmurs, seeing the vivid picture I’ve painted in my mind.

My gaze is distant, clouded with realization. “The king didn’t want to wipe out the Resistance when he first found out,” I mutter. “He wantedit to grow, wanted to gather all the Ordinaries in one place.” My gaze flicks to Calum’s while my mind wanders to that battle at the Bowl. “And you were his spy.”

Calum confirms with a pitiless nod of his head. “But yourfatherneeded to be taken care of before we had collected enough Ordinaries for the slaughter. So I took his place as the Resistance’s leader.”

Slaughter.

My stomach heaves.

The Pit was littered with bodies, and the memory of that bloody stretch of sand has my mouth drying. “It was all a ploy.” My chest heaves, anger swelling within it. “Everything. You don’t care about the Ordinaries. You never have. Not after one killed your lover.” I take another step back, bumping into the bedside table behind. “From that very first night in my home, you were playing me.”

“Your father would be proud.”

That is what Calum had said to me after I pledged myself to the Resistance’s cause. And proud he was, having finally caught me. A ghost of the woman he loved in the body of a worthless Ordinary he hated.

“And I am.” Calum laces those long fingers behind his back. “Very proud of the puppet you became for me.”

Get out of my head.

Disgust coats my voice. “What game are you playing now?”

I let him hold my gaze for a long moment. “We need to get you to your next wedding ceremony.”

“Why?” I retort. “Why would you want an Ordinary on the throne?”

“I have great plans for you, Paedyn.” He’s suddenly striding toward me. “I will ensure the Scholars write your name into every history book.”

That intuition begins a slow tug within me once again, and this time, I do not ignore it. These past several weeks play out in my mind, like a constant stream of memory. I think of the moments spent with Calum,yes, but more importantly, the ones without. He was always in the background, always whispering into someone’s ear.

I blink at the floor before beginning to spew my thoughts. “You told King Edric not to kill me when I showed up at the castle, and he didn’t. You told Kitt to marry me, and he did.” The veiled accusations fall from my lips in a rushed murmur. “He trusted you so easily. You convinced him to let me compete in these Trials, advised him to start training his troops. And he does it all.”

Calum’s eyes narrow, but he says nothing.

I almost laugh. “You say the Blooms grew your rose garden, and in that moment, I believed you. What you demand, others do. You had the entire Resistance eating out of your palm—myfatherincluded. You’re not just a Mind Reader, are you?” I take a slow step toward him. “You are a Dual. That is why you hate me so much. I still managed to be Ordinary, even when you aren’t just one Fatal—you’re two.”

Still, Calum says nothing.

Having figured it all out, I smile. “You’re a Mind Reader, and a Controller.”

When he lunges for me, I send an elbow arcing toward his temple. I’m surprised when he jumps back, swiftly avoiding the hit. My dress ripples around me as I dart forward to throw a right hook at his jaw.

Again, he evades me.

I sink onto the balls of my feet, blood pounding in my ears.

Jab.

Right hook.

Cross.

Nothing.

---