Before I Let Go (Skyland #1)(68)

Gavril noticed her too. He looked toward her before that same smirk crossed his lips. “Are you going to protect her, Thalia? You couldn’t protect yourself.”

Rage like I had never felt before came over me, and I stood from Evren’s lap before he could stop me. My magic shot from my fingers and swirled around me as I stared at the prince to whom I was promised.

“You will never speak to her again.” I hardly recognized my voice, but I heard the gasps of others around us. This wasn’t a part of the plan, to show Gavril the amount of power I held, but it refused to lay dormant while he spoke to her like that. “You do so again, and you will rule nothing.”

Every part of my skin felt alive with my power, but I could still feel Evren’s wrapping around me, protecting me even when I wasn’t sure I needed it.

“So this is why you took her?” Gavril’s gaze darkened as he took me in, and I could practically see his plotting turning in his mind. “They say you are Father’s selfless son, but look at you taking all the power for yourself.”

“I don’t want her for her power.” Evren’s hand wrapped around my thigh and pulled me back a step until I was standing between his legs.

“Lie to the girl all you want, brother, but we both know exactly what you want from her.”

Gavril turned and looked behind him and nodded someone forward. One of his soldiers, a man I recognized from the fae palace, stepped forward with his hand wrapped around the arm of another. The person had a hood covering their face, and the moon pendant around my neck burned against my skin.

He shoved the person forward until they fell to their knees in front near Gavril, and he reached forward and tugged the hood back from their head.

I didn’t recognize the man before me, but my power seemed to. It snaked around me as if it were ready for anything, but both me and my power couldn’t look away from the man.

“What is this?” I shook my head and reached up to rub the spot where my pendant lay.

“Ask your betrothed.” Gavril nodded behind me. “I’m most certain he will remember him.”

The man looked up at me, and there was so much sadness in his eyes. His hair was brown, a similar shade to my own, and his eyes were bright. But it was the star mark along the top of his hand that held my attention.

“Who is this?” I asked again, my voice firmer and full of power.

Evren stood and pressed his chest to my back, and I could feel his rough rush of breath against the back of my neck.

“It’s odd, don’t you think?” Gavril ran his hand over his jaw. “That you wouldn’t recognize your own father.”

I jerked backward and slammed into Evren. His hand wrapped around my middle and his power snaked around every other inch of me.

I shook my head as I stared at the man I had no recollection of. “You’re lying.”

“Am I?” Gavril chuckled and pulled on the man’s hair until he was forced to stand again. “How do you think I recognize the taste of your blood, Adara?” He lifted the man’s wrist in his hand and showed me the scars that lay there. “I have fed from your father’s blood for years while I waited for you. He had refused me your hand in marriage so I took it against his will.”

“My father is dead.” My voice trembled, and I studied the man’s face. I didn’t know him, but I was a fool if I tried to deny that there were so many similarities staring back at me. “My father wasn’t a Starblessed.”

Gavril chuckled again, and the sound made my magic surge. “It’s sad how little you really know. How easily you were kept in the dark. Isn’t it, Evren?”

My chest tightened, and I looked over my shoulder at my mate.

“He didn’t tell you?” Gavril was still speaking, but I couldn’t pull my attention away from Evren. “He was the one who captured your father after he refused to give us you. Evren is the one who hand-delivered your father to our queen.”

Evren’s gaze searched mine, and even though he didn’t say a word, his eyes softened, begging for forgiveness. Gavril was telling the truth.

I jerked out of Evren’s hold and almost fell forward. Thalia moved to my side as Gavril laughed.

“Tell me that isn’t true.” I stared at my mate, and I wanted him to say it even though I could already feel the truth in my bones.

I wanted him to destroy the feeling that was clawing at my chest and prove to me that he was nothing like his brother.

“It’s not what you think.” Evren reached out for me, but I took another step back. “I had no idea your father was alive.”

“But you’re the one who took him?” The words slipped past my lips like an accusation, and I didn’t want it to be true.

My chest ached as I stared at him and willed him to tell me anything other than what I feared.

“I did.” Evren swallowed hard. “But I had no idea what it would lead to.” He motioned to my father. “I did it because Queen Kaida had ordered it so. The same way she had ordered me to deliver you to her kingdom.”

“And you did so dutifully.” My words were laced with anger, but I couldn’t stop them. It didn’t matter that Evren hadn’t known me then. He had taken my father from me. He had delivered him to my enemy, and I couldn’t stop the pain that sliced through my chest at the thought.