I feel dizzy, looking away from Drogaem and the map as he laughs loudly, the bellows echoing all around me in the empty hall. If we don't stop Drogaem soon, not only my family will die, but so will every other human in the realm.
Chapter 19
Briar
"Where do you keep your dagger?"
Kane's question catches me off guard. I'm pacing the floor, and have been since we returned from dinner. Drogaem is taking it deep. His plan is to attack my family, to kill them, and no doubt he'll do it in front of me. I keep thinking about my sister's faces. How they may have tormented me when I was a child, but that's what sisters do to each other. And despite my father's choice to give me away, he's still my father.
I lift up my dress and show him the leather strap around my thigh, holding my dagger. "I keep it on me all the time. It's not safe to hide it in the castle anymore. If Drogaem had understood what it was at the beginning, that its Lux's dagger, he would've never let it go. In fact, he would've used it on you by now."
I drop my skirt back down, and Kane stares me in the eyes. "You know what that dagger is capable of, right?"
I take a deep breath and nod my head as I walk over to the window. "Of course I do. It's the entire reason I have it in the first place. My dagger kills immortals. Of course, as you told me before, it's not truly my dagger. It's the dagger that initially had killed Drogaem by Lux's hand."
Kane watches me closely and nods his head. "Which is why you have it."
I run my hands along the windowsill, feeling the uneven and rocky surface of the stone. "Yes. And now that I know about Lux and my bloodline, it makes a lot more sense. It was passed down through my family in case anything like this ever were to happen again. When you made a deal with my father, he knew that the dagger would belong to me. It was meant to kill you."
Kane stands up and shakes his head. "It was meant to kill Drogaem. You only thought it was meant to kill me. If it was truly meant to kill me, I would be dead."
I glance over at him for a second, guilt rattling around in my chest. "Why are you asking about it?"
I'm a bit wary as to why Kane wants my dagger. He walks over to the window and looks down at me. "I plan on attacking Drogaem while the rebels secure the outside of the castle."
I almost laugh, it's so ridiculous. "First of all, you don't know that the rebels will come. Secondly, you'll never be able to get close enough to Drogaem. He knows that you want him dead. If there's a battle, he will do everything he can to stay away from you. He'll try to kill you first. Even now, with him thinking you're weakened, he still doesn't get within four feet of you. Regardless of Drogaem's torture, he fears you because he knows that you won't hesitate."
Kane reaches out and puts his hand on mine. "I know. But what he doesn't know is that we have this dagger. I can get myself close enough to him to surprise him with it."
I shake my head and pull my hand away, walking back into the room. "And at the same time, you'll be close enough for him to kill you as well. No. I won't do it."
I can hear the frustration in Kane's voice as he sighs. I know he's trying to be patient, but I also know that there's no time for patience anymore. I bite my lip and pull the bravery as high into my chest as possible. I steady my voice when I turn back to Kane. "I have another plan. We both know Drogaem wants to break me. He wants to break Lux as well. One thing that tears at his every fiber is the fact that he did not succeed in killing Lux the first time. He wants to see me broken and under his control."
Kane wrinkles his face. "He wants you under his control so that he can use your magic. Your powers will make him unbeatable."
I shake my head. "Not if I can use that desire, that want to control me to get close enough to him to kill him."
Kane shakes his head dramatically back and forth, slicing both of his hands through the air. "No. Absolutely not. This entire time we've been doing everything we can to keep you as far away from Drogaem as possible. And now you're saying you want to be up close and personal with him. You want to make him think that he can control you. Have you ever thought that in that process, he could possibly gain that full control that he's looking for? That you could become his slave? Absolutely not."
I stop and stare at him for a moment, watching the frustration on his face as he looks around, his anxiety very apparent. I can tell that he loves me, even if he won't say it out loud. I walk across the room and lay my hand on his cheek, pulling his gaze to mine. "If you die, even if I could kill Drogaem, I will end up dead anyway. Whether it's our connection that makes me lose my soul or someone within the rebels or the courtiers that takes me down months later. What will I do here without you? I have no claim to your throne, nor do I want it. What I do
