Chapter 150 Who Did It? - Craven's POV

Chapter 150 Who Did It? - Craven's POV
Craven
For a moment, I couldn't say anything. I stared at my brother, trying to understand how he had somehow managed to make all of this my fault.

I had been the one who had been banished.

I had been the one who had spent years on the Isle of the Forgotten, knowing that I would probably never leave it. I had lost everything because of my bloodlust. I had accepted that I would probably die there eventually, and I had never once blamed Corwin for it.

Yet somehow, he had spent all these years believing that I had destroyed his life.

“You think I caused that attack?”

His eyes narrowed. “You did.”

“No, I didn't.”

“You were out of control,” he said firmly.

“And I’ve paid for what I did, but I did not draw the attack here. They should have come after me if that was the case.”

“But they knew you lived here,” he growled. “And it doesn’t matter. This is all your fault.”

I stared at him. Of course it didn't.

Nothing I said mattered to him because he had already decided I was responsible. It didn't matter that I hadn't been there at the time of the attack. It didn't matter that I hadn't known about Mira.

He had made his decision years ago. I was the reason he had lost everything.

I looked at Mira. She was watching Corwin, and there was something in her expression that I couldn't quite place.

It wasn't anger. It wasn't fear. I was certain it was something closer to sadness.

That made me look back at my brother.

“Then tell me what happened.”

Corwin's expression twisted into something bitter. “You want to know?”

“Yes.”

His arm tightened around Adele again. I immediately looked at his hand. “Let her go first.”

“No.”

The word was quiet, but there was enough threat behind it to remind me that I couldn't simply attack him without risking her. I hated that.

Every part of me wanted to cross the room and rip him away from her, but I couldn't. Not while he was holding her. So I stayed where I was.

Corwin seemed to realize exactly why I wasn't moving, and that only made the anger inside me grow.

He had always been good at using what belonged to other people against them. I had ‌never thought he would use my mate against me.

“The night of the attack,” he said softly, “Mira was taken from the castle.” His gaze shifted toward her. Something about the way he looked at her made my attention sharpen. “I found her.”

“You found her?”

His expression changed. It was subtle, but I saw it. The anger faded for a moment, replaced by something I couldn't name. Pain. Actual pain.

“I found what was left of her.”

I looked at Mira, who had gone very pale. My gaze narrowed in suspicion. This didn’t sound right. How could he find what was left of her, yet she was whole?

“What does that mean?”

“Craven,” she whispered. “Don't.”

I didn't understand. She was alive. Whatever had happened to her, she had survived it. But Corwin clearly hadn't known that. He had spent years believing she was dead.

“So you thought she was dead, but obviously not.”

“I watched her take her last breath.”

The words were so quiet that I almost didn't hear them. I looked at Mira again. She wasn't looking at me anymore, but at him.

And suddenly, I understood why she had been so hesitant to come into the room. Why she had looked at him with something I couldn't quite place. She had known exactly what this moment would do to him. But she had also known that it would change everything.

“She didn't die.”

Corwin's eyes snapped toward me. “But I didn’t know it then.”

There was something strange in his voice. He didn't deny it. He refused to accept it.

Mira stepped forward. “Corwin, just let her go, and we can discuss this.”

His gaze moved to her, and she stopped in her tracks.

For the first time, I saw the two of them simply look at each other. I didn't know what had happened between them all those years ago. I didn't know what they had been to each other beyond what Corwin had already told me.

One of her mates.

“I didn't fake my death,” Mira said softly.

Corwin's expression hardened. “Then what did you do?”

Mira looked at him for several seconds before finally shaking her head. “I didn't do anything.”

His eyes narrowed. “I don't understand.”

“I know.” Something in her voice made me look at her more closely. She looked tired and not in a physical way. This was as if she had been carrying it with her for years and had never had anyone to tell it to. But I knew she had her mates. “I died that day, Corwin. We all did.”

He stared at her, his eyes widening in disbelief. 

“I know you don't want to hear that, but it's the truth. I died that night,” she repeated.

His face went completely blank. Mira took another step forward, and this time Corwin didn't stop her.

“I remember the attack. I remember being taken. I remember fighting them.” Her voice grew quieter. “And I remember being hurt.”

Corwin's jaw tightened, ticking slightly on the right side.

“I remember you finding me.”

Something changed in his expression. “You remember?”

Mira nodded slowly. “I remember you holding me. I remember you screaming at me to stay awake.” Her eyes dropped for a moment. “I remember telling you that I loved you.”

Corwin went still as I glanced between them. There was something about the way he was staring at her that made me realize just how much of this he had buried.

“I remember dying by their sides,” she whispered.

Corwin's face twisted. “Then why didn’t you come back to me when you woke up? All of you left me here.”

She sighed. “Because it wasn’t Craven who caused all of this.”

“Then who did?” He snapped.

She glanced up, and I followed her gaze down the hallway. My eyes widened as I saw my father.

“What?”

Corwin turned, looking directly at him. “It was you.”