CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Even after he had brought Orion safely back from the lake to where the others huddled in the grove, Harry couldn’t break free from the images looping through his mind—plunging into the cold water, searching the depths, dragging Orion’s lifeless body out, hollering incomprehensibly and pumping at his unmoving chest on the bank, leaning down to press their lips together, filling Orion’s lungs with air, mouths wet from the lake water—

It certainly wasn’t how Harry had expected their first kiss to go.

And when Orion had finally awoken, Harry had been so relieved to see those ice-chip blue eyes open that he didn’t even notice their blazing wrath at first. When he did, he knew it was already over. His time was up.

Still, after everything that had happened, he could still try, he could still—

Orion laughed again, a hard, mean bark that grated against Harry’s ears. “Stop staring at me like you think you can fool me. I saw you in the lake, Harry. I saw you.”

Harry’s heart plummeted. There was no way out of this. A part of him had sensed Orion wasn’t totally blacked out when Harry, in his demon form, had found him and dragged him back up to the surface. He had shifted after jumping into the lake, though not because the contralusio had forced him to. The only truth the lake had revealed to him was just how shitty of a swimmer he was in his human form, and Harry refused to risk Orion’s life for the errors his human form might make.

Now two hands locked onto Harry’s shoulders, one from Quinlan and one from Eadric. Harry wanted to tell them that he wasn’t planning an escape, but judging from their vice grips, he doubted they would care.

Orion released Harry’s collar and stepped back in disgust. “You’re a monster.”

Harry closed his eyes. “I’m not a monster. I’m an anygné, an immortal being summoned from the Shadow Kingdom—”

“I don’t give a damn about what you are,” said Orion, an empty smile fixed on his face. “You’re a monster for what you’ve done.”

“Orion—”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses, or your apologies. I trusted you.”

In the silence, Harry could only hear his own blood rushing in his ears. Asterin had her face buried in her hands. Luna kept looking back and forth between him and Orion like she desperately wanted one of them to yell, Just kidding! And Rose … Rose just seemed resigned. Of course, Harry couldn’t see Eadric’s or Quinlan’s expressions, but he could only imagine the captain’s rage.

“Plotting away in some cozy little shithole with Garringsford, figuring out the most amusing ways to torment us—”

“Wait,” Harry interrupted with a frown. “Who is Garringsford?”

“The General of Axaria, obviously. Your contact. The one who sent us to you.”

Harry inhaled sharply. “The Woman.”

Asterin glanced up. “The Woman?”

“Yes … she never gave away any hint of her identity, although I was fairly certain she worked at the royal palace. But I had no idea that she was the general … I’m sorry,” he said, throat dry, unable to come up with anything else.

“That day I came upstairs to your room and you said that you didn’t feel well …” Asterin trailed off. “It was you who set off our trap, right?”

Harry bit his lip. “Yes.”

Rose tilted her head. “How did you get the dye off?”

Harry looked away, the weight of Orion’s stare still pinning him to hell. “Does it matter?”

At that, Luna descended upon him like a furious wasp. “Of course it matters! Do you know how relieved we were when that trap confirmed you weren’t the demon? So tell us how you got the dye off, Harry, or so help me, I’m going to—”

“I cut it off,” Harry said quietly.

Asterin swallowed visibly. “What?”

“I heal very quickly. So I cut all of the dyed skin off.”

Asterin stared at Harry. “Why would you do that?”

That drew a wry smile to Harry’s lips. “Because my other option was killing you.”

The princess huffed. “Why didn’t you?”

“Because—”

“So you did kill all the people in Corinthe,” Rose said softly.

Harry’s voice died in his throat. They all waited for him to respond, but he found that he couldn’t.

Horror dawned on Orion’s features. “Oh, Immortals. You—you killed all those people in the village,” he breathed. “It was you.”

Asterin circled around him, out of sight. “Harry,” she whispered into his ear, something broken in the way she said his name. “Did you?”

Harry closed his eyes and swallowed. I don’t want to hear your excuses, or your apologies. “Yes.”

Silence.

Followed by the high whine of steel unsheathing.

“Asterin,” Quinlan barked, voice filled with alarm. “What are you—Asterin!”

And then Asterin plunged her sword into Harry’s back.