Page 106 of What did you do?

I probably could have passed her in the street and not recognized her without her fancy dress on. Instead, she wore dark training breeches and a dark, long-sleeved top.

“Tarani’s going to help us,” Walter said with a nod toward the Seelie princess.

“Tarani, what are you…” Edin’s harsh voice sounded from the next cell.

“Edin,” Tarani stated with a nod.

“No, Tarani is being trained by your mother to take over as queen. She’s in on all of it!” I said as I pulled out of Eli’s embrace. “She’s bad, Eli. Saracen is already pulling her strings.”

I glared at the princess, refusing to take my eyes off her.

“It’s not what you think—” Eli started.

“She’s been working with Saracen! She’s not who you think. She’s been hiding everything from us,” I bit out.

“Well, she’s not wrong.” Tarani laughed. “Edin, team C is still at Unseelie. Be ready to make a move tomorrow night. Listen for the signal,” the small princess barked.

“Tomorrow?” grumbled Sid from his cell.

What the fuck?

“What is going on?” I felt as though my knees would give out at any second. I was attempting to put the pieces together, but none of it made any sense.

“It seems Tarani is a bit more of a leader than any of us knew,” Eli said with a tinge of resentment.

“What’s going on is noteverychild was fooled by Mother’s lies,” Tarani stated as she lifted her shirt to show a small black tattoo of a deadhead moth between her ribs.

“Honestly, we don’t need to see that,” said Eli, scrunching his face.

“What is that?” I asked.

“It’s the mark of the Fallen,” said Sid from behind us. He stood by the bars of his cell with his right arm raised high, gripping the iron bars. The same tattoo was visible on his underarm, just before his armpit.

“Tarani, you’re…”

“I am. I may not have been created the same way, but one of the two monsters still made me and tried to use me. It’s not right what is happening to the kingdoms. Seelie is supposed to be happy and full of sunshine and goodness, not trickery and lies. Unseelie is where the dark souls find peace. They are different, but there is no reason why we cannot live in peace as we once did.” She clenched her fists tightly. “They deserve to pay for what they did to the Fallen. Both sides deserve to pay, and what better way than having the Seelie king’s sister on your side?” She smiled at Eli.

“The Fallen were not who attacked the Unseelie castle, like Mother is saying,” Eli offered.

“I know.” My jaw popped in an effort to stop the tears that threatened as I looked to Walter. “She told me all about what her army did when she played show-and-tell with Queen Tenebris’s head…along with Mendax’s necklace.”

Walter’s round eyes looked so sad, I couldn’t help but go to him and wrap my arms around his waist.

“I’m so sorry, Walter,” I whispered.

He squeezed me back. “Was it only Mendax’s necklace? No body parts?” he asked. A hint of something in his voice.

“Yes, only the necklace,” I said, feeling hope warm through my system. “The one with my molar on it.” I pulled back abruptly to look into his eyes. “You think he could be alive, then?” I asked.

“No. Quite the opposite,” Walter said somberly. “He could have faked a wing or a body part, but he would neverhave let someone take the only piece of you he had left. I know him too well. I’m afraid he is gone, Caly.” He quickly brushed away atear from his red-rimmed eyes as I nodded, chastising myself for having hope and finally accepting what I didn’t want to.

Mendax was truly gone now, and I had been so busy trying to please Saracen and the Seelie court that I had let the man who could have been my soul mate die.

The smallest flicker of anger came to life inside me.

“We don’t have time for this,” said Sid gruffly. “They will be coming soon.”

“He’s right. What’s the plan?” asked Edin.

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