Page 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

A elia

“You are Night Fae, and you will learn the full breadth of your powers.” The king loomed over me with Kaelith a few steps behind. Something unreadable flashed across my reluctant trainer’s expression, one I couldn’t quite decipher. “Or you will never be ready to leave the confines of this keep.”

We stood in the training room, in the bowels of Helspire, and my knees wobbled from the influx of power consuming my being. Kae and I had been at it all day since the moment he’d dragged me from my warm bed. Sweat coated every inch of me, blood crusted across various new wounds along my arms from when I attacked my trainer with umbral blades I had zero control over, and now he expected me to attempt soul-draining?

I had to draw the line somewhere, and this was it.

My bone-tired mind struggled to process his words. “Wait a minute. Are you saying that if I master all my Night abilities… you’ll release me?”

“I told you that from the start.”

No, he had not. Not in so many words.

I crept toward the towering Night Fae, still incredulous that I shared blood with the male. “Why would you do that?”

“My intent was never to keep you here forever, Aelia.” Those blazing coal eyes seared into mine. “I only sought to unleash your powers and introduce you to all that you were destined to be.”

“And then what? I’ll simply be allowed to return to the Conservatory?”

“If that is what you choose.”

“And you and your demon minions will just disappear beneath the earth once again?”

A rueful smile parted his lips, his obsidian skin aglow in a ruby tint beneath the hanging lanterns of hellfire. “I never said anything like that. The reappearance of the child of twilight will surely cause quite a bit of chaos across the realm. I fully intend to take advantage of that pivotal moment.”

I swallowed hard as the sinister smile across the hard line of his jaw widened, flashing sharp, pearly white teeth. The king would use me as a distraction, but for what? To march across Aetheria and annihilate the other courts? I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t.

“In case it’s not obvious, I’ll say it again.” Steeling my spine, I glared up at my grandsire. “I will never stand beside you as your Night Princess. My allegiance is with—” The words cut off, the determination in my declaration suddenly faltering. Good gods, where was my allegiance? With the Light Fae who’d stolen me from my home and forced me to attend a savage academy where I had to fight daily to survive? Or with the Shadow Fae, whose brutal practices had cost the lives of countless Light Fae students and endless battles with Light forces? I wasn’t a Kin anymore, not with the appearance of my newly pointed ears. Where did I belong now?

With me . A familiar voice tickled the shell of my ear. Ruhl appeared beside me, that characteristic smirk twisting his lips. Together, we will rule over all the courts as king and queen .

“You’re delusional,” I snapped aloud.

“Your allegiance is with you’re delusional ?” Helroth’s dark brows furrowed as he regarded me. A knowing smile flashed across his face before it fell away, so quickly I wasn’t sure if I’d imagined it, leaving only the tight set of his lips once more.

Gods, this shouldn’t be so difficult. I should have known where I stood, but after the past month and a half, all my firmly set convictions had become murky and distorted.

“Don’t tell me you’re choosing the court of your beloved cuoré as your own?”

Stars, how did he know about Ruhl?

“I—I don’t know.” Hadn’t I felt more at home upon Shadow lands than any other? Those trips to the waterfalls, that secluded island… Even when I was forced through the trials, I felt most at ease in that cool night, wrapped in the safety of Ruhl’s arms.

“Anything is better than Elian and those arrogant Light Fae, I suppose,” he muttered. “Besides, a pairing between the Shadow Prince and the Night Princess would make for quite a celebration.”

My brows twisted in surprise as I regarded him. “You want me to be with Ruhl?”

“Of course, I do, Aelia. I only wish to see you happy.” He paused, his dark gaze fixed to mine for an endless moment. “And if Prince Ruhl makes you happy, I’d be the first to do whatever I could to facilitate the union. A cuorem bond between Fae royals has not been seen in decades. Who are we to deny the will of the gods?”

Something niggled at my stomach, an overwhelming feeling of wrongness that I couldn’t quite shake.

“Now that you’ve had a rest, are you ready to practice soul-draining with Kaelith?” His eager gaze bounced over mine, then pivoted to his faithful soldier.

What other choice did I have? The sooner I mastered my Night abilities, the sooner I’d be allowed to return to Ruhl and everyone else I loved. “Okay,” I finally murmured.

* * *

“Sleep, my starlight, soft and bright,

Drift on dreams through silver night.

Moonlight hums a tender tune,

I’ll find you ’neath the fading moon .”

The soft melody drew me from the darkness, filling the empty chasm in my chest.

“You’re all right, princess. Wake up now, dearie.”

I rolled over, every bone and muscle in my body screaming in pain. I felt as if I’d been dragged across the Alucian Mountains hanging from Sol’s talons and smashed against each jagged peak.

Sol …

My chest filled with longing, reminding me of the other gaping hole that hollowed out my being. Stars, how long had it been since I’d thought of my skyrider? How had his very existence seemingly slipped my mind?

“Are you quite all right?” That soft female voice drew me from the dismal musings.

Blinking quickly to chase away the fog of sleep, I found a pair of navy eyes boring into my own. “Vaelora?”

“Yes, princess.” She stood over me, her fingers moving quickly over something that sparkled beneath the room’s crimson glow. “You cried out in your sleep, and I was worried. When Kaelith brought you back to your chamber, you were so exhausted from training you were barely conscious.”

Memories of the soul-draining exercise surged to the surface, and a chill scurried up my spine. No one should have powers like that. It felt as if Kaelith were ripping my very life source from beneath my ribcage.

“Were you singing?” I rasped.

“Yes, just an old ditty I used to sing to my babe.”

Her fingers twitched again, and this time the glint between them caught my attention and held it. “…Is that my necklace?”

Vaelora’s dark eyes dropped to her hands. “Oh, yes. I had it mended.” She held up the familiar chain and gold medallion, and a flood of warmth rushed my aching bones.

I snatched it out of her hand and cradled it in my own, feeling its comforting weight. “Gods, I thought I’d never see it whole again. Th—cheers.” At least I remembered something helpful from my time at the Conservatory. Ruhl would have had my head if I’d indebted myself to a Night Fae by thanking them. Then again, Vaelora seemed like the only kind soul in this dreaded keep.

“Cheers, princess.” She smiled. “It reminds me of a trinket that once belonged to my daughter when she was but a child.”

“You have a grown daughter?” My hope soared. Wait, was Vaelora my grandmother? I opened my mouth to ask but her immediate reply cut off my winding thoughts.

“I did, once.” Her head dipped, sadness overwhelming her sharp features. “She was taken prisoner by the Shadow Fae during the war, rumored to have been made a slave by the king. I haven’t seen her since.”

Then her daughter couldn’t possibly have been my mother. The hope filling my chest seeped out until only the familiar emptiness remained. Helroth never mentioned anything of the sort. I doubted he would have left out the fact that my mother had been captured by Tenebris. Still, there was so much to unravel in those few sentences of hers. How was it possible? “The war?” My mind focused on the most obvious fact. This female appeared to be around Aidan’s age, how could she have a daughter that old?

She smiled once again, the warmth in it lighting up her dark eyes. “It was many, many years ago, child. I hope one day to find her, but you know what they say about hope.”

“It’s a most dangerous thing,” I mumbled.

“Mmm.” She lowered her gaze, eyes glossing over as if she’d traveled to another time and place.

“Can you help me put on my necklace?” I struggled to sit up, leaning against the ornate headboard. At the moment, my arms were so fatigued I wasn’t certain I could lift them high enough to clasp it behind my neck.

“Of course, princess.”

Gently, she wound the precious gift Aidan had given me around my neck. The sound of the clasp snapping closed sent a swell of peace through my broken body. With my hand on the worn medallion, as it had been on countless occasions since Aidan gifted it to me, I fought off the urge to whisper those two forbidden words of gratitude once again. Instead, I thought back to the moment of my twentieth birthday back in the cottage in Feywood with Aidan.

Had he known the truth of my dark heritage when he gave it to me? And why had my mother, a Night-Shadow Fae, entrusted Aidan with not only the necklace, but with me as well?

There was something I was missing; I was certain of it. There were so many pieces of the puzzle and yet somehow, they didn’t quite fit.

“Rest, princess.” Vaelora patted my arm, navy eyes locked onto mine.

As my lips melted into a smile in return, the quiet cuorem kicked against my ribs. The pain was so sharp my hand instinctively moved to my chest to dull the sudden ache. Just as quickly as it had come, though, it disappeared, leaving my hand to circle the phantom sensation in vain.

Soon my lids became too heavy to continue, and with Vaelora’s soothing tune in the air, I gave into my body’s overwhelming demand for sleep.