"He is supposed to be dead. Yet he is alive and wants me to die?"
The question was not for Rhys. It was not even for Austin, who was gasping and spitting blood at her feet. It was a question for the ghosts of her past, for the lies that had defined her entire life.
Austin was taken aback, his eyes betraying a tinge of panic. "What… what are you talking about, Your Highness? The Crimson Sun… they forced me! They promised me wealth!"
He was lying. The lie was so obvious, so desperate. It wasn't the lie of a man trying to save his own life; it was the lie of a man trying to protect a secret far more important than himself.
The pieces started to click together in her mind with a sickening finality. Austin wasn't just a traitor.
He was a messenger. And the message he was protecting was one she could not bear to hear.
"My father. He was supposed to be dead. Drop the act. There is no way you could be alive, and no reason for you to be trying to kill me, unless it is otherwise."
