The room was silent, but inside me, everything screamed.
I stood in the center of Kade’s private chambers, a place I’d come to associate with secrets and half-truths. The fire in the hearth had died out hours ago, yet the air around us still simmered with heat.
He told me the truth.
My mother had been murdered by order of the Council. Silenced for protecting the truth about me. And Kade… he’d known. All this time.
"You should have told me the moment I got here," I said, barely managing to keep my voice steady.
Kade sat on the edge of the massive oak bed, elbows on his knees, eyes shadowed. “You weren’t ready.”
“No,” I said. “You weren’t ready.”
He lifted his gaze. “That’s not fair.”
“Neither is any of this.” I turned my back to him. “And I’m the one carrying the weight.”
I felt hi
