Page 80 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
The words were too harsh to not have a grain of experience behind them. How could the most powerful Clan heir in all of Malhaven feel powerless?
“Let it,” I said, unflinching. “You gave me the choice to come here. You want a strong queen. Don’t keep me in the dark. My parents tried that and failed. It. Does. Not. Work.”
He cursed under his breath, before fixing his gaze on me once more. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“You want to know everything?”
“Yes.”
“Very well.” His lips thinned. “Two of the elders in the temple can’t see anymore.”
No.
My heart dropped. “What?”
“Our best healers are treating them. They will recover. But we don’t know when.” The muscles in his jaw tightened. “We need to be careful with our powers.”
My eyes dropped from his, moving erratically as if they could find another reality. Not this one, where I’d blinded two innocent people.
I took a shaky step back. Then another. And another, until my back hit the wall. All the guilt I’d been suppressing since that awful, horrible night roared through me.
My parents’ faces flashed before my eyes.
The blood.
The horrific glaze over their eyes.
The rigidity in their necks.
“I didn’t mean to,” I whispered. Or maybe I whimpered. I didn’t feel like myself. I didn’tfeel. My limbs went cold, the numbness seeping into my soul. “I didn’t…I didn’t know. I didn’t mean to run away.”
I hadn’t even run away. I’d come back. But they’d still lost their lives.
I couldn’t hide anymore. The thought had festered in the back of my mind, but I hadn’t faced it head-on.
Until now.
I was the reason my parents had died.
I broke the warding spell.
If I had just listened to them, they would still be alive.
I’d have to carry that guilt for the rest of my life.
Zandyr’s shadow approached. Cautiously. I pressed my palms against the wall, trying to ground myself, as my lungs struggled to suck in air.
He placed his finger underneath my chin and tilted my head up gently. The ice in his gaze had thawed. “When did you run away, Evie?”
“Back in the mountains, right before they found me,” I whispered. I couldn’t hide anymore. “I walked past the wards. They found us and killed my parents. My parents are dead, Zandyr. Because of me. They’re dead.”
The words shook as they crawled up my throat and opened the deep, pulsing gash inside me.
No wound, no broken leg, no scar could ever hurt this much.
Now that it had been freed, my grief blazed through my entire body. It burned, harder and faster than when my power ignited.
