Page 66 of A Queen’s Betrayal (Legends of Worldbinders #1)
Arenna pulled out a book titled Legacy of the Deep and flipped it open halfway, scanning pages filled with illustrations of Medryds.
“They were beautiful,” she murmured. Medryds were half human, half fish.
Their upper bodies were mostly human, except for the shimmering scales on their ribs and forearms, sometimes on their face, while everything below was covered in vibrant scales, ending in a thick, powerful tail.
Their ears looked like fins, and their skin shades were blues and purples.
“Where did they live before the Separation ?” she asked.
Kayson pointed to a map on the opposite end of the room. “Beneath Pheanixios, in the Kingdom of Oceador.”
Arenna rushed to the map, nearly tripping over the long skirt of her green gown.
“I didn’t know a map of Pheanixios still existed,” she muttered in awe.
The parchment was covered with names she didn’t recognize—cities, towns, and kingdoms scattered across its faded surface.
The two continents were fused together, with bold letters at the top spelling out Pheanixios .
“Sometimes it’s hard to believe this was truly real.
” Her hand traced the Draka Mountains, stopping at the Dragon Kingdom, which sprawled across the entire northern hemisphere.
“That’s why these are so protected,” Kayson said, placing a book back on the shelf. “In the wrong hands, history can be twisted. Flawed. Rewritten for someone’s advantage.”
Arenna stiffened. Since reading Kenia’s journal, her head swam with confusion.
She knew Jaksen had built his reign on lies.
Everything from his intentions to his servants had been lies.
Yet through it all, Arenna had still believed human history was truthful.
That the Fae had enslaved and hunted humans for their non-magical blood, wanting to reign over Pheanixios as their sole leaders.
“Kenia’s journal speaks of humans migrating from a southern continent.
” Arenna looked up at Kayson, who stood in front of the set of windows with his hands deep in his pockets.
“But Brookworth history writes it differently.” She tried to ignore the violent images of bloodshed in her mind.
Kenia’s journal had been full of personal battles with humans, detailing what they had done to Drakaians and dragons—how they conquered and enslaved.
It was hard to visualize her ancestors—her people—capable of such things.
The king nodded slowly, pulling out a much larger book than the rest. “Maybe it’s best we start here.”
He handed her the book, its weight making her arms sag. “ The Fall of Dragons ,” she whispered. Arenna opened the leather cover, her eyes roaming over the text at the bottom of the page. “Written and recorded by Queen Atlantissia Drayvorn I in the year 358 AS, and a team of Scholars .”
“Do you know who that is?” he asked. She shook her head. “Princess Kenia’s mother, the first and only Drakian Queen. When she was captured by the First King of Brookworth, she was kept in a dungeon for nearly sixty years.”
Arenna felt as if she had stopped breathing entirely.
“While there, she was often granted secret items like food and fresh water by loyalist humans. She was also given parchment and a quill, where she was asked to recall everything she could remember about the human migration and the conquests they succeeded in. Her words were then taken to Scholars who sought the truth and evidence of her claims, and then they compiled all of it into this.” He waved a hand toward the book.
A pit formed in her stomach as she clutched the book tighter. “And you believe this is the full truth?”
“I know it is.” He walked toward another shelf, pulling a small tin can from the top.
It too was coated in a layer of dust. “Many died for that history, including Queen Atlantissia. She refused to live after the destruction of her people and her daughter, sacrificing the remainder of her life to live in solitude and torture, ignoring the risk of escaping, just so she could write that . So she could ensure the world knew the truth.”
Whispering, Arenna asked, “Why haven’t you shared this with Varios?”
Kayson laughed, and the sound made her stomach churn.
“Would any of them believe us? Would they even listen?” He walked down the steps, stopping directly in front of her.
Arenna tilted her head upward, suddenly feeling small in front of his towering build.
“Think about how you’ve grown up. Think of what you’ve been told, what you think you have seen done in my name.
In my family’s name.” She did, and she felt horrified at everything she thought she knew.
“Now imagine I waltz onto your soil, demand you listen to me, and believe everything I say because of one book.”
“And why would any of that be different for me now?”
His brows raised. “You tell me. Do you believe the history fabricated by your ancestors, or are you willing to see the truth?”
That pit in her stomach blossomed into full-scale dread. Her hands began to shake, and her eyes fuzzed over. Deep within her heart, Arenna thought she always knew the truth. “I think I better read and find out,” she quietly said.
“Good idea.”
Arenna moved past the king and toward the small seating area in front of the windows. Her chest ached as she opened the book, terrified of what she might find and what truths might be revealed.
Suddenly, her throat felt tight, and her heart seemed to reach beyond her ribs and chest. It felt as if an invisible thread had wound around her and was being pulled. Arenna didn’t know what to think when she looked up to find the king’s eyes on hers.
As soon as their eyes met, that tugging sensation died out, her heart returning to a normal, steady pace. He did not look away, did not even blink. But she noticed the trembling of his hand at his side.
For selfish reasons, Arenna wanted to hate Kayson. She didn’t want to believe that the male she grew up fearing was actually good and that his kingdom was kind. There were so many wasted nights she lay awake cursing his name for taking her mother and her home, just for it to all be wrong.
She didn’t know what the truth was anymore, what Jaksen had done, and what he had blamed on the Fae King. But for pride alone, Arenna hated that she had spent her life damning and cursing a male who was undeniably good.
Arenna turned her attention back to the book.
“Come with me,” Kayson whispered. “I have somewhere better to go through all this.”