Ensnared (Splintered, #3)(66)
The logic of his words weighs on my already heavy head. “So, you really were protecting him all this time? By keeping him holed up here?”
His hand slides down to my wrist in unspoken affirmation.
“Thank you.” I squeeze his fingers in mine.
Morpheus gestures to Chessie and Nikki, directing them into the hall to watch for Jeb. “Don’t get sentimental. I did not do it for him. I did it because I couldn’t have you tortured by guilt had he come to such an end. You would’ve blamed your choices on prom night for the tragedy. It would have ruined your faith in your ability to rule. You’d be a worthless queen if you couldn’t trust your own judgment.”
The jaded explanation falls in line with the reasoning of a solitary fae. Of course it’s for the greater good of the realm he loves. But he still did the right thing, and Jeb’s alive because of it. I won’t forget that. “So, what do you propose we do? Tell Jeb about Red’s part in his magic?”
“Absolutely not. He’ll get some cockamamie idea to stand up to her if we do that. We have to get him out of this realm before they discover him.”
“But he doesn’t want to leave,” I mumble, unable to mask the defeat in my voice. “How do you protect someone who doesn’t want to be protected?”
“He will leave if you take away his source of power. We’ll make a bargain with Red for the antidote. She abhors this place. So we offer her an escape route. She may share Hart’s body, but Red is the most cunning, have no doubt. We get the cure for your father, and in exchange, take Red out of AnyElsewhere. Jebediah will be forced to follow us, to stay tied to the magic he’s become dependent on. He’ll feel the draw, instinctively. Just as he feels one to me. Once we’re back in Wonderland, the iron’s magnetic effect will reverse. The magic will return to its proper vessels. And Jebediah will be human again.”
Why would Morpheus make such a sacrifice? Drag not only Red back to his beloved world, but another queen bent on destruction, just to help two mortals?
I shift on the balls of my feet and suppress my suspicion, trying to take him at his word. “The guards . . . they won’t let the Queen of Hearts through the gate. Even if my dad is well enough, he won’t be able to convince them. Red’s inside her, and Hart’s a prisoner. They both belong here.”
Morpheus taps the diary at my neck. “Which is why the Queen of Hearts must stay behind. We shall smuggle Red out under the guards’ noses.”
“It’s not like we can wrap her up in simulacrum. She’s a spirit—” The horror hits me even before I finish rolling the reasoning off my tongue. Morpheus’s cryptic statement earlier when I asked how we would flush Red from Jeb’s system: That, luv, will require the biggest sacrifice of all. And you’re the one who will have to make it.
This is what he was intending all along. When he formed a majestic moth ride to carry us, when he said he’d help me strategize my plan.
It was never my plan. It was his. For me to go to the castle, let Red’s spirit inhabit me, and carry her out of this realm.
“No,” I say, pulse hammering so hard in my wrists I can see the movement beneath my skin in the dim light. “I came here to finish her. Not to give her access to my—” I can’t even say it aloud. She already did something to my heart that needs repair. I won’t let her in again.
Everything that’s happened today . . . the rooms, my epiphanies, Morpheus’s seduction, Dad’s life-threatening state—all of it stifles me like smoke, making it hard to breathe. Woozy and overwarm, I sway. Morpheus backs me to the table.
“Now, we’ll have none of that.” He draws me into a hug and strokes my hair—a tender gesture that feels out of place with his scolding words. “This is the perfect plan.” His voice rumbles in his chest next to my ear—soft and melodic. “It’s the least dangerous to everyone, most of all Jebediah.” I shut my eyes, letting his steady heartbeat knock against my cheek. “The hardest part will be tricking Hart into letting Red’s spirit go. But as for Red herself, we won’t even have to bargain. It’s all she’s ever wanted, to be part of you.”
To be part of you. Bile burns the back of my throat. What if it was Red that Ivory saw in the vision . . . Red living vicariously inside my body? What if it’s her future with Morpheus, not mine? If that’s true, my and Morpheus’s child will belong to her. She’ll be his mother.
I clench Morpheus’s jacket lapels. Doesn’t he realize what could happen if I can’t defeat her once she’s inside me? Doesn’t he understand the danger? Not just for him, but for our future child?
“I’m not letting her use me as a vessel,” I say against him. “Not ever again.”
He eases back and drags a gloved thumb along my temple. “Not even for your mortal? And for the father who needs you? You have her memories to vanquish her the moment we step across the border and Jebediah is cleansed of her power.”
I grip the tiny diary like a lifeline, but still feel myself sinking. “It can’t be the only way.”
“It is. The only way to salvage what we love.”
My nerves prickle. “We love? You don’t care about Jeb. You said so yourself.”
His lips tighten. “He has his merits. Enough that he deserves to live. Just like your father did all those years ago.” He almost looks sincere. But the fluctuation in the color of his jewels gives him away. I’ve finally learned to read him.