Before I Let Go (Skyland #1)(54)

“Where did you get this?”

“I’m sorry.” I scrambled and put my hand over the small moon. I hadn’t thought about it when I slipped it over my head this morning. It had been tucked inside my shirt while I sparred, and no one had noticed. Not until now. “I’ll give it back.”

I started to lift it off me, but his hands stopped my own.

“Where did you get it?”

“Your room.” I pulled my attention away from him as a blush crept up my neck. “I found it on your desk while you were gone. It had my name on it.”

He didn’t say anything. He just stared down at the gold chain that lay against my skin.

“I’m sorry, Evren. I know I shouldn’t have taken it.” I shook my head and once again tried to move, but he wouldn’t let me.

“Do you know what that is?” His gaze finally met mine, and nausea rolled through me.

“No.” I shook my head. “I saw it, and I don’t know. I felt drawn to it somehow.”

Evren was quiet for a long moment, and my anxiety soared with every moment of his silence.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“That belonged to your father.”

“What?” I pushed my hands against his chest and shot my power into him and pushed him away.

“It’s your father's,” Evren repeated himself, but his words didn't make sense. None of it did.

I pressed my hands against my own chest, against where the pendant laid, and I could feel the slight buzz of it beneath my skin.

“You're lying.” I shook my head. “Why would you lie to me about this?”

“Queen Kaida gave it to Gavril to give to you as a gift. It was one more way for them to use you, to manipulate you. He was going to gift it to you on your wedding night.” Evren’s anger surged along with his uncertainty.

“And how do you have it? Why do you have my father's pendant?” There was so much accusation in my voice. Accusation that I didn't understand, but I also couldn't let go of.

“I stole it. The night Gavril fed from you, the night we left, I stole it from his room before we disappeared under the night sky.”

“And what? You are just going to use it against me as well?”

Evren stepped back as if my words harmed him, but I couldn't stop. This pendant belonged to my father. I could feel it in my bones that it was the truth, but I also knew that Evren’s family only had it because it was taken from him against his will.

It was taken from him when they killed my father.

“Do you really think so little of me?” He ran his hands through his hair. “Do you really think that I could be capable of hurting you in such a way?”

I shook my head as I clung to the pendant and thought after thought raced through my mind. Thoughts of my father, thoughts about me. I could do nothing but race over everything that I had once thought I was sure of, but doubt had become my biggest enemy.

Because when I stared ahead at my mate, doubt raced through every part of me.

“I stole the necklace to take their power away. I stole you to take their power away.” Evren stepped forward, and I watched him carefully. “It was foolish of me to do so, princess. To go to my brother’s room and steal something from him that I knew he would miss. He knew that I took it. The queen knew, and it was a risk I shouldn’t have taken. But I took it for you.”

I tried to swallow down my emotions as my fingers burned against the pendant. “Why didn't you give it to me? Why would you wait?”

“Because you didn't trust me.” Evren ran his hand down his chest, and I could see the plea in his eyes for me to believe him. “You didn't trust me, and I didn't want you to think that I would ever use such a thing against you. My father and his queen have taken everything from you. This is the only thing I could get back.” He shook his head as he stared at me. “I didn't want you to ever think that I would use it against you to force your hand into marrying me. I left it on my desk with your name on it in case anything was to happen to me while I was gone. I still wanted you to have it.”

“No more secrets.” My hands trembled as I straightened my spine and tried to force myself not to look weak. “I have agreed to this marriage, but there can be no more secrets.”

“Of course.” Evren’s hand tightened in his shirt. “Of course, princess. Anything you want.”

“Why did my father wear this pendant?” I fingered the crescent moon as I asked.

“I don't know, but Queen Kaida was adamant that she could use it to sway you. She was adamant that Gavril could use it against you if he had to.”

“I can feel it.” I looked up at him, and he was still watching me. “That was how I found it on your desk. I could feel its power.”

“I can too.” Evren reached forward and laid his hand upon mine. “Which makes me believe that the queen knew as well. I'm worried that she knows things that we don't.”

“Things about my father?” Desperate. I felt so hopelessly desperate for his answer.

“Things about him. Things about you. I don't know.” His hand tightened against mine, and I could feel his fear trembling through him.

I didn’t know my father. I hardly knew any details of his life other than the sacrifice he made for me. I pressed my hand against the pendant as the agony of wishing I did hit me.