Page 8 of These Divided Shores
Yes,Lu told herself.See? Tom didn’t turn me over to Elazar after the war—
Tom gave a narrow squint. “Are you calling our Eminence King a fool?”
Milo hesitated. The other Argridians gave shocked looks.
But Lu hooked onto something else. “YourEminence King?”
The priests’ robes wafted as they spun. The defensors’ hands flew to pistols. But Lu didn’t flinch, too focused on her father.
Tom smiled, a blush increasing the warmth of his skin’s Argridian redness. “Adeluna.”
“The Eminence King will want her to start working, Andreu,” Milo said, words twisted in a sickening pleasure. “Prove her worth.”
His implication was heavy.I’ll incentivize her.
Lu couldn’t breathe. But Tom didn’t look at Milo, didn’t move his eyes away from Lu.
“Give us a moment, would you?” he said. “Let me speak to her alone.”
A defensor scoffed. “Not without protection, sir.”
“She won’t harm me.”
She wouldn’t have to—because it was a lie. His allegiance to Argrid. It was alie.
Lu tightened her fingers around the tongs, the metal biting into her palm.
A moment longer, and the priests relented, brown robes shushing on the floor as they left. The defensors went next. Last, Milo.
“I’ll inform the Eminence King that she is awake,” he said, his eyes sliding from Tom to Lu. His sickening grinlost its amusement, darkening with anger. Lu bit her tongue to stop from cowering under the realization that she was at this man’s mercy. Again.
But he left. A door opened, then shut with aclick, and she was alone with Tom.
Tom spoke before she could. “You shouldn’t be up yet, sweetheart,” he said in Grace Lorayan. Hearing that language from him confirmed her hope—he was loyal to this island. He was loyal toher.“You healed in minutes, but the internal damage was difficult to determine. The king let the prince save you, though we weren’t sure of the extent his potion would—”
Ben’s healing potion? Lu gawked. She didn’t even feel sore. Ben’s potion was powerful, and that was more terrifying than encouraging.
“Ben.” Lu anchored. “He’s here?”
Tom bobbed his head toward the floor. “Imprisoned. He agreed to make his healing tonic to save you, but he refuses to work on permanent magic.”
Lu cast her eyes to the closed door, barely visible over the crates. “What is the plan?” she asked in a low whisper. “Is Kari waiting to help us get out? You’ve coordinated it with her, all this time, haven’t you? How does Elazar not suspect?”
Wonder crept into her tone, that her father had upheld such a miraculous dual life.
The scarlet on Tom’s cheeks deepened. He sighed. “Lulu-bean. Let me explain.”
The fragile remains of Lu’s foundation started to crack. “You’re loyal to Grace Loray,” she stated. Begged.
“My desires have never changed,” Tom said. It wasn’t confirmation. It wasn’t anything but pain, and Lu couldn’t breathe. “I want unity. Which is what you want too, and your mother. I was a spy long before I met Kari—she was a mission that... changed for me. I knew she wouldn’t see the alignment in our goals. Yes, I misled you both. But I am still your father.”
In a crash of grief, Lu’s childlike hope dissolved. Tom wasn’t a double agent, feigning allegiance to Elazar as he spied on Argrid for Grace Loray. He was a traitor to this island. To Kari. To Lu. To everything they had built together.
It was true. Her father had betrayed her.
Tom motioned at the Mecht prisoners behind him. “Do you know the history of Grace Loray? The Grace himself, Xoel Loray? The Church anointed him after his death to represent the Pious God’s pillar of purity. He warned of magic’s corruption and devoted his life to balancing magic with the Pious God’s will. But we failed Xoel Loray, and this land became overrun. Criminals, disorder. This island needs to be cleansed.”
Lu only half heard him. A tear slipped down her cheek. “Who were they? The people I killed for you.”
