His lips parted in surprise. “You don’t?”
I shrugged. “I guess after everything that’s happened, I trust you.”
Casimir was momentarily rendered speechless. After a pause, he said, “You can’t taste my lies. That doesn’t bother you anymore?”
“No,” I admitted, both to Casimir and to myself. “It doesn’t.”
And there it was. Despite my not being able to taste his lies, I trusted him. I didn’t know when it had started, the day or week he’d first enmeshed himself into my life like an invasive vine, weaving through my heart and sinews. But there it was. Without realizing it, I’d fallen in over my head.
“I should have never let this happen,” Casimir growled, wrenching me from my reverie. His expression was laced with bitterness as he sank into the chair opposite me.
“The Book isn’t always literal,” I reasoned. “There are double meanings to everything it says. We should take this with a grain of salt.” Even as I said the words, doubt crept up, twining around my heart like a vice.
Two will pay with their lives, Darkseer.
Casimir frowned. “Has the Book ever made a prediction that came true?”
I hesitated, worrying my lip. The little spritehadaccurately predicted Evren’s sudden appearance in the infirmary ward. “Well, yes—technically speaking.”
An uncomfortable silence followed this declaration.
He sighed. “Since we’re deciding to trust each other…”
I jerked my head up to meet his gaze, and found him already watching me closely, his eyes dark and wary.
“I think it’s time I told you about Isolde.”
32
His expression was like granite as he steadied himself against the back of a chair. I’d seen that haunted look on his face once before, in the Yu-Ri manor when August had invoked Isolde’s name in the hopes of persuading Casimir to force me to flee. Like that night, Casimir’s entire demeanor shifted, adopting an unfamiliar coldness, the expression in his amber eyes detached and lifeless.
“It’s difficult for me to talk about her,” he confessed.
My stomach hollowed out with unexpected jealousy. His next words astonished me so greatly that I could do nothing more than gape at him.
“Isolde is my sister.”
His sister. Hissister!?
For weeks, I’d convinced myself Isolde was his former lover. I’d imagined some star-gazing beauty with cascading blonde hair; a female Daemon with darkly magical abilities I could never hope to compete with. Now, I felt ashamed of my former jealousy.
“Oh my gods,” I breathed.
Casimir didn’t seem to hear me. “She was imprisoned in Ethervale following Devereaux’s rebellion, though of course, she was entirely innocent. Detaining the rebels’ family members was a punishment designed to keep us obedient,” he explained. His eyes glazed over at the memory. “For two years, I was imprisoned alongside her. I, at least, deserved that sentence—and while we lived in Carcerus together, I could look out for her. Protect her. I bribed the guards with jewels in exchange for extra rations. I made sure she kept her mind sharp and her spirits high.”
“Carcerus?” I repeated.
“It’s the name of Ethervale’s prison. Made up of individual cells carved out of limestone beneath the Ivory Court. The cells are enchanted to ensure that prisoners are drained of all magical powers. Carcerus is a notoriously dark and miserable place, constantly damp from being below sea level.” His lips twitched as though the thought humored him. “Magical enchantments aren’t even necessary. Most of Carcerus’s prisoners die of pneumonia and starvation or else they go mad in isolation.”
“Who sentenced her to prison?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.
His gaze collided with mine. “Queen Nymara.”
“Why didn’t she just?—?”
“Kill us?” Casimir offered, smiling darkly. “I’ve asked myself that question many times. The only explanation I can come up with is that she didn’t want to spill powerful Daemon blood, in case we proved to be useful later on.”
“But—” I interjected, but Casimir shook his head.