She gripped the cell bars. “I’d planned to talk to you about this today.”

“After a month in my company, you’d selected this very day? How convenient.” He shook his head. “You were a liar in your last life, and nothing’s changed.”

“This is exactly why I couldn’t tell you—because your eyes only see the past. I knew you’d never give me a chance to prove myself, and I was right.”

“Alas, I can’t stay and talk. I’m off to Tenebrous to meet with my allies.” Now that Sian considered the situation more closely, he realized Rune must have known Calliope’s identity. The archer had kept tabs on that bloodline for ages. In investigating Saetth anew, Rune couldn’t have failed to put everything together.

Yet Sian’s closest friend had concealed that knowledge. Why? He blamed Rune for his pain almost as much as he did Calliope!

Sian would send a message, calling the archer to Tenebrous. After confronting Rune, he would rally the Møriør to action. “The time has come to plot our Sylvan invasion.”

“Abyssian, you’re hurting a mate who adores you. You’re killing my love with your stubborn distrust—with your inability to see anything other than the past. My only mistake was falling for you.” Releasing the bars, Calliope said, “But I can remedy that. Just as Kari did, I will shut down my emotions. I will strangle my feelings for you until they’re dead forever.” The teal faded from her eyes. “Remember what could have been, demon.”

Though the change gave him chills, he shrugged. “You would say and do anything to get out of your cage, my fey pet.”

In an eerily monotone voice, she said, “You tricked me, just like Saetth did. You’re no better than he is. Anything Kari did to you—anything I did—wasn’t nearly enough. I only wish I could remember.”

That bitch! Somehow he kept his expression impassive. “I did try to warn you, my queen of nothing—my soon-to-be princess of nowhere. Any who challenge me will lose.”

“Demon, you’ve lost this round just by virtue of one fact.”

He ground his fangs, but the words still escaped: “Which—is?”

“You think the game is over.”

He stiffened. On the verge of losing his composure, he traced to his tower.

He surveyed his bedroom. Her scepter rested on the mantel, the diamond beside it. Her robe lay across the foot of the bed. He inhaled her scent on a pillow.

Their existences had become intertwined.

When will I fucking learn?

FIFTY-THREE

That asshole!

The master of trickery had struck again.

Now that he’d gone, Lila thought of all the things she could’ve said. She could’ve reminded him about the promise represented in that diamond and about his vow never to hurt her again.

Not that she would have made a difference. When he’d first busted her, she’d regretted not coming clean—until he’d revealed his true feelings. He’d never intended something more with one of Magh’s descendants.

So why play with her? Why not just bargain to lose his seal?

Maybe he’d been so warped from losing his mate that he’d turned evil. Maybe he just loved his games. Maybe he was a typical Møriør.

Why would she have rushed to volunteer information about her identity when he was such a fan of Rune’s mission?

Fists clenched, she paced, her attempt to shut down her emotions failing epically. Think about escape, Lila. Anything other than Abyssian’s treatment of her.

If she couldn’t divert her mind, she would lose it. Once she started crying over him, she might never stop.

Even as her heart was splitting, fury inundated her. Fury was easier. It kept her standing. I fucking fell for him.

Abyssian wasn’t the only target of her hostility. Saetth and Nïx had set her up, leaving Lila at the mercy of a cruel demon. If Abyssian was to be believed, Saetth had been fine with damning her. No one had expected her to like it here in hell, trapped with a hated Møriør.

She’d once been a powerless “hothouse rose.” Then a pawn of Nïx and Saetth. Then a demon’s prisoner. Now she was queen of nothing.

After all of her struggles, was she right back where she started?

She stopped pacing. Saetth and Nïx had targeted Lila because of her association with Abyssian in a past life. For deeds done eons ago, the demon had happily punished Lila.

She kept paying for Karinna’s sins while enjoying none of that princess’s advantages.

Karinna had been the heir to the Sylvan throne. If she and Lila were one and the same . . . then Lila had precedence over even Saetth.

Which meant Lila was the rightful ruler.

Which meant . . . Saetth was sitting on her throne.

I want it back.

Rulers who returned from war or exploration after being assumed dead always fought to reclaim their thrones.

Maybe I’ve just been exploring for ten millennia. I took a tour of the afterlife.

And those rulers executed anyone standing in the way. Would Lila? Could she finish the job her parents had started?

She had the mettle to become a king killer—her life in the fey court had been good for one thing—but logistics presented a problem. She’d have to escape this prison, then figure out how to reach Sylvan, even before she could face off against a lethal swordsman.

If she somehow defeated Saetth to take the throne, she’d then have to prepare Sylvan’s defense against the Møriør.

She’d figure it the fuck out. Step one, Lila. Escape. She inspected her cage for weaknesses—

Clickety-clack.

Her gaze whipped up at the sound. The fawn appeared not far down the dungeon corridor. They stared at each other.

Pulse racing, Lila asked, “Can you . . . free me?”

The cell door groaned open. Whoa.

When the creature seemed to be awaiting her, Lila swallowed. Three times in her dreams she’d refused to follow the deer over the edge of the cliff.

Something told her she was about to get one more chance. Could she accept whatever fate Graven had planned for her?

Lila sensed she was on the verge of discovering a great truth. Or at least of understanding why she’d been reincarnated.

The feeling that everything was connected struck her. Did the solution shimmer just beyond her fingertips?

Anticipation mixed with uneasiness as the fawn led her out of the dungeon. In the main part of the castle, the moving doors and corridors and stairways of the labyrinth took them deeper into Graven’s heart.