Chapter 90

Deidre

If this night wasn’t already surreal, I wouldn’t have believed it. Here, in the depths of a cave, I would meet him. Finally, after all these years.

Jason had shielded me from duty as much as possible–but this trek? Hiking here every night? It was…

“Ready?”

No. That much was clear. But I nodded.

One last steel gate stood before us, and Mistra held a key aloft from her pocket. I eyed her cautiously, pointing a thumb over my shoulder. “Are the three gates not enough?”

Her lips pursed before answering. “Yes. Though this one is a… a formality.”

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You understand that he’s nearly twenty-four years old, correct?”

I sputtered. Had time really gone that quickly? “Of course I do.”

“Then you’ll understand,” she drawled, “that he’s entitled to his privacy.”

“Privacy?” I spat, on uneven footing both physically and mentally. “How much more private could it get in here?”

“Sienna wished that he live with the dignity he deserves,” Mistra said smoothly, but her eyes flashed