Page 116 of The Chaosweaver's Daughter
“Kas,” she whispered, “yes.”
He crushed her to him, then bent to plant a kiss on her rosebud lips before he could reconsider his actions.The Big Secret, you arsehole,his subconscious hissed. Kas pulled away before getting fully lost in the moment. “No.”
“No?” Hurt fell across her features.
“I— I have to talk to you after Hevva.” He gave her a peck on the cheek. He’d been aiming for her lips but she turned away, a sour expression on her face. With a gentle finger beneath the chin, he urged her to look at him. “Wait, Nes, I mean no, I won’t hear ityet.I can assure you”—he kissed her again, this time hitting the corner of her mouth before she turned—“I haven’t changed my mind.”
Nesrina breathed a sigh of relief and melted into him. “Oh.”
Kas held her there for a moment, her cheek pressed against his chest and her arms wrapped around his waist. He wound his fingers through her tangled waves and breathed her in, comfrey and all.Gods, please leteverything be all right. Please let her forgive me.He prayed she’d find it in her heart to look past his keepingyet anotherpiece of information from her. He’d come clean, as soon as possible. Then, as long as Nesrina would allow him to hang around, he vowed toneverever part from her again.
“I’ll return.”
She nodded mutely, the ghost of a hopeful smile gracing her face.
Kas bound from the room to warn Hevva that Rihan was making his way south, with a fucking canteen of the king’srealsister’s blood. This was bad, worse than terrible, bordering on horrendous. He hoped his sister’s earthshaping abilities would allow her to make better time than usual on her inevitable ride back to Serkath.
Ten minutes later, Kas returned to the Tarisden Suite to find Nes snuggled beneath the blankets, her breathing even and peaceful. His bathrobe, the one she’d been wearing, lay discarded in a fuzzy puddle beside the bed.
She said “yes,” technically.Kicking off his boots, he slipped onto the mattress beside her, moving slowly and quietly.
“Kas?” she murmured, alert though her eyes remained closed.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“No, it’s all right. You said you needed to talk? What is it?” Concern marred her soft features as she opened her sleepy eyes and shifted to sit against the headboard.
“Fae blood magic,” Kas mumbled, unsure of where to begin.
“Fae blood magic? What? I didn’t even think that was real.”
“Me either.” He rubbed his temples, hard, as if applying pressure to his head would force his thoughts to hop into line. “I don’t even know where to start. You know there’s been a threat against the king, you know he was intentionally harmed during the hunt in Serkath, and you know Rihan kidnapped you.”
“Those are the facts, yes.”
“You told me once that chaosweavers come in pairs?” Perhaps it would be easier to let her come upon the outrageous truth herself.
Nesrina nodded.
“And your father tutored Ehmet.”
She frowned. “More facts? Yes, starting when the king was still theprince. Around eight, I think. Ending when he was sixteen. Then Papa met Mama a few years later, and eventually, they had me.”
“Your father knew the queen before he was Ehmet’s tutor, right?”
“Mhm. They met when they were young, not long before she became queen. They were seventeen or eighteen or someth—” She gasped.
“I think you’re part of a pair.”
“Oh my gods.” Nesrina pressed the back of her head against the headboard and inhaled, her eyes squeezed shut.
“Your eyes, they match his and Della’s. And your hair, so similar to Ehmet’s and Ataht’s.”
She patted her locks while her brows danced. “They must have had an affair. Does it count as an affair if they were both single? Oh, and they would have been so young. Gods... My poor father. Poor Queen Adellan. Poor...everyone.”
Kas couldn’t even imagine how she was feeling, the whirling emotions of finding out so much of your past has been a lie, or if not precisely a lie, hidden.
Finally, she stiffened in a move he’d been waiting for. Tension rippled through Kas as she offered him a flat look. “You knew.”
