Chapter Ten

MARCUS AND MINGXIA HAD GONE to prepare Dax for questioning while I waited in the guard's room with Dallas. They'd just finished forcing the truth serum down Dax's throat when I came in. They were fairly certain he'd fight back and resist, so they decided the best place for me to be while they got Dax settled in one of the interrogation rooms was in the headquarters.

The interrogation rooms were the two doors on either side of the guard's space, and that was where I stood now—in the doorway of the first room, staring at Dax, who was tied to a metal chair in the center of the room.

He thrashed his head around, yelling and cursing. "You're all fucking scum. You hear me? Scum!"

"He'll be ready for questioning in a few seconds," Marcus informed me. He and Mingxia flanked the door as I came farther into the room. "The serum will take effect soon. For your safety, Mingxia and I will be right here."

I nodded and was secretly grateful that they weren't leaving me with Dax. Even if he was tied up, I just didn't trust him. I glanced up at the cameras in the corners of the room and made a mental note of the red lights that indicated they were recording. It was a human gadget that I was glad they'd had installed at some point, because I wanted proof of whatever was said during this meeting.

"Untie me right now, you motherfuckers!" Dax roared.

He fought against the restraints holding him down, and the rest of us just watched in silence until finally the fight started to fade from his movement and eyes. The tension previously pulling on his shoulders evaporated until he slumped against his chair and stared straight ahead with a glazed-over look clouding his eyes.

"He's ready," Mingxia whispered.

Clearing my throat, I approached Dax slowly. "Dax? How are you feeling?"

"I feel," he mumbled slowly, like talking took too much energy. "Good. Peaceful."

Just like Mingxia had said.

"Good," I replied. "I'd like to ask some questions about Jonah and your work with him. Do you know what I'm referring to?"

"I do," he answered immediately. His eyes stared straight ahead. Unblinking. Unfeeling.

"Right. So my main question is, why did you hire him to kill me?"

"I want to be Water Fae King and lead Water Fae the way I want. You are in the way."

I cocked a brow at him. "Kinda hard to become King if I'm dead. So why don't you walk me through your and Jonah's plan, starting with why and when you reached out to him."

Dax blinked languidly and licked his lips. "I approached Jonah after you and I first broke up. He was at the club that night you were there, and after you said we'd never get back together, I approached him with an offer to work together."

My eyebrows shot up as memories from that night came flooding back. I'd run into Dax, and after he was a complete ass, I'd pulled Rune out onto the dance floor to show Dax just how okay I was without him. Dax wasn't too happy with mine and Rune's dance, so he had tried to step in, only to be shot down again by me. It was shortly after that, when I'd been sitting at a table alone, that I'd seen Jonah across the club. I didn't know who or what he was at the time, but even back then, he'd unsettled me.

"How did you know about him?" I asked. "And why immediately seek him out about killing me just because we broke up?"

"Jonah was a Bat Fae that many had heard rumors about, including me. He would work for and with anyone, so long as he got something out of it. When I saw him at the club, I knew that was my chance. I had to do something drastic to change your mind and get back on your good side. In order for me to be King, we would have to marry, and I needed help to make that happen."

Balling my hands up, I questioned, "And how did you plan to do that?"

"By tricking you into thinking I was your hero."

I took a deep breath and gritted out, "Explain."

"The plan Jonah and I concocted was that he'd attack you, and I'd come in and rescue you at some point during the attack. The first few attempts didn't work because we kept getting interrupted. The night I texted you to meet me by the creek so we could talk became the perfect moment. I lured you into the privacy of the woods, and I let Jonah get a few good hits in on you since that's part of what he wanted as payment—to torture you."

Betrayal burned low in my stomach. "So you were there for that whole attack, just watching from the shadows?"

"Yes."

The matter-of-fact way he answered made the anger rising inside me unfurl with an all-new ferocity. I'd already known Dax was behind all of this, but to hear the truth of it actually leave his lips was like a slap to the face all over again. I'd trusted Dax. I'd liked him. Yet this was what he'd wanted to do to me.

I wasn't sure who I was angrier with right now.

Him, for setting all of this up and trying to have me murdered.

Or myself, for ever falling for someone as heartless and undeserving as he was.

"Keep going," I hissed. I crossed my arms over my chest and focused on the biting sting of my fingernails digging into my arms instead of the red-hot betrayal coating my heart.

"I let Jonah get his torture in, and after letting you get as close to death as possible, I appeared as planned and pretended I was saving you. This was meant to send you into my arms, getting me back on track to become King."

"Only it didn't work," I reminded him, and I noticed there was a smug note to my voice, which I'd normally feel bad for. Now was not one of those times.

I remembered how bewildered Dax had been back then when I didn't praise him and thank him endlessly for intervening. He'd been livid and seemingly out of his mind. Only now did I realize why he'd reacted that way.

"No, it didn't work," he said flatly, still numb from the serum.

"And if it had worked, if we got back together, what was your plan then?"

"The plan was for us to marry as pre-arranged by our parents and the Council of Doctrina. Once married and crowned King and Queen of Water Fae, Jonah would get his final payment and true wish. To slowly torture and kill you. I'd then pretend to be a grieving husband, all while leading Water Fae the way I wanted, starting with wiping out all Land Fae."

"Bastard," Marcus growled low from behind me.

I stayed focused on Dax, and before I could let myself dwell on the part of his plan that never came to fruition, I asked, "Since that didn't happen, what was your next move?"

"I didn't have one. I was trying to figure out what to do next when Jonah got impatient. He'd been promised your life, and he was afraid that I wouldn't be able to make that happen for him anymore. The night your powers awakened, Jonah had called me to inform me that he was going to kill you, deal or no deal. I rushed to the creek where I knew he'd be, but he failed. You got your powers, and you were winning. He was about to rat me out as the person who hired him, so I killed him."

There it was. The full story in all its ugly glory. It finally made sense. He'd silenced the Bat Fae and then had to clean up and hide his mess. Too bad for him he didn't do a better job.

"Well," I started, trying to find words amidst all I'd just learned. "What a plan, Dax. A truly awful plan. Is there anything else I need to know or something you'd like to add?"

"I never liked you. You were always just a means to an end for me. I only ever saw you as an annoying inconvenience."

The quick reply paired with his unfeeling eyes made the words seer my soul like salt on an already bleeding wound. I'd always assumed that Dax never truly cared for me. But hearing it now when Dax could only speak truthfully made the statement really drive home.

He never saw us as anything. All the teasing we'd done in high school, all the moments where we'd existed as friends, all the shy kisses exchanged. None of it had been real. And that , that was somehow more painful than everything else I'd heard.

Glancing over my shoulder at Mingxia, who I found glaring at Dax, I asked, "Will he remember everything said here even after the serum wears off?"

She dipped her head. "He will, Your Highness."

I nodded and turned back to Dax. Leaning in close, I whispered, "You will never, ever be King. Morardia will never be yours, and I hope one day you can grow to appreciate what I plan on doing with it." I fought to swallow and added, "Maybe then we can actually try being friends."

"I'll never be on your side. I'll always want you dead."

I gave him a cold smile, one that matched his frozen heart. "Then I guess you'll always be a prisoner, stuck with only your hatred as a companion. What a lonely, miserable life awaits you, Dax. Enjoy this hell you've made for yourself."