In his life coincidences simply didn’t exist. Not with the level and frequency they’d experienced along the way, and yet he’d been able… no, more than able, he’d been willing to shrug them aside because he hadn’t wanted to believe it was true. Hadn’t wanted to see it, because if he had he would have had to have taken her in. The hope and possibility she represented would have died right along with her, so he’d kept pushing it aside, pretending it away, refusing to see the obvious because he’d wanted her too damn much and the whole time he’d been falling, she’d been playing him.
Swiping at the air he marched back and forth. “The sinkholes, Rumpel, Pillar… you plotted it all, all of it. Stealing Lissa—”
“I am Lissa,” she whispered with eyes still downcast.
He laughed, so furious his vision turned red. With fingers clenched tightly to his sides, he shook his head. “Aye, that’s been made clear.”
“But Lissa is not me.”
His nostrils flared.
Finally turning her eyes to his, her look pleaded that he listen. His anger was frosty and so intense he wasn’t sure whether to continue on with this charade or just throttle her. She knew who he was, what he’d do if he found out. Aeric was a killer. His jaw clenched and the anger beat, it throbbed and screamed.
“Explain yourself.” The words came out more of a hiss than a command, because he was on the razor’s edge of completely losing his mind.
She licked her lips, then rubbed the back of her hand upon her cheek like a cat licking its paw. He should have seen it.
Aeric cleared his throat, swallowing the words thick on his tongue.
“I’m moon cursed.”
The tattoo under her eye flared brightly at the mention of the curse. He nodded, wondering why Lissa had never carried the tattoo until the very end.
This time when she sat up, the netting didn’t fight her, but it did stay fitted to her. Brushing the wild mass of hair out of her eyes, she nibbled on the corner of her lip.
“I share this body with two others,” she finally said on a long sigh.
“What do you mean? You’re possessed? By ghosts, demons, what?”
“No.” She shook her head, looking agitated again.
It occurred to Aeric just then that she spoke much more lucid than normal. He’d had no idea what Danika meant when she said the net was made of truth, or even how that could contain Chrysalis, but perhaps it was more than just forcing someone to speak truth, maybe it forced them to be true too.
Be who they really were. Which meant Lissa had never actually existed. The thought made his chest ache.
“There are two of me. And then there’s reflection. She’s the bad one.”
“I don’t understand.” He was trying, really he was. But her words made him more confused than ever. “You’re a triplet.”
She grunted. “No. There are just different parts of me, and when she manifests I become her. Not just in talk or speech, but I literally change who I am. Like a split personality if you will.”
“Then wouldn’t that make reflection part of you too?” What she was saying made no sense. If she was admitting to hosting many souls, peoples…goddess only knew what, then that meant reflection (this supposed great evil) was as much her as Lissa had been. By her own words anyway.
She squeezed her eyes shut, lower lip wiggling as if she fought back tears. “I don’t know. I remember I was not born with reflection, reflection came upon me.”
Brushing his fingers through his hair, he slowly tried to reason through her explanation. “But you were born with your split?”
“Yes. But nobody knew I was. I kept her secret. Because I did not want to scare my family. Danika grew concerned when she’d seen reflection manifest and I understood she didn’t want me to speak of it. So I never told my family. But I used to be able to control her. Reflection is mad, I do not like her, but I cannot control her. When I turned eighteen she grew stronger. And it first it was easy to do what she wanted. Because I didn’t hurt anything, it was just a bit of magic. But she was always hungry and made me…” she blinked with a vacant, haunted stare, “do things.”
“What sorts of things?” he asked, having a feeling he already knew.
Her eyes locked with his. “Kill.”
“Every other time I’ve looked at you I’ve seen this empty, vacant stare. How is it that your speaking so rationally?”
She shrugged. “The net. It clears my mind. Reflection is still inside me,” her fingers fluttered around her head, “but she’s trapped, she’s angry, she does not like this. But I can think now. It’s why I led you to me.”
It took every ounce of restraint he possessed not to growl at her. “Led me to you?”
“I had to shield myself from reflection. The only way to do that was to fool you all. I had to use Lissa, I didn’t like it. I had to use you too.” Her words came out stilted and soft, as if against her will. “It was the only way.”
Aeric wasn’t sure whether to believe that. It would be easy to lie to get herself out of this mess. He’d seen many others do it before. But something about this was beginning to make sense.