Page 10

THEREN

Oronrel

Snow drifts softly to the ground, dampening the rotting wood that’s still somewhat blackened by the fire that burned here only hours earlier. I smell the scent of the mountains and the forest all around me as the cold seeps through my robes. Wind gusts through the open door, causing the blanket of white beside me to dance and swirl about, carrying a tinge of blood on the breeze. I push to my feet and walk towards the door, the metallic aroma leading me to the gory scene of Eilish's mother and sister—what’s left of them, anyway.

If I were to close my eyes, I’d still hear Eilish’s deafening scream shake the mountains. That day was monumental for all the realms, not just the tiny glade on the outskirts of Oronrel.

My youthful love for the angel-succubus set everything in motion. If not for my constant visits to the forest, Prince Yanhir would never have known of the existence of Eilish’s sister. Out of guilt and concern for Eilish’s family, I stood watch over their grove for many months. It wasn’t until Prince Yanhir tried to force himself on young Solya that things began to change for the worse.

I wasn’t there the day Eilish slaughtered the Unseelie prince, but I heard the stories as they tore through the palace. By the time I arrived to the glade, it was already too late.

Years and years passed, and Eilish was no longer the young girl I’d loved in my youth. Instead, she became a fierce young woman who struck fear into the hearts of the Unseelie Court, for they knew not what she was capable of.

My heart races as the memories play endlessly through my mind. Though this place is filled with pain, I still return here time and time again. I witness the aftermath of Cambion’s failure to protect Eilish’s family and my failure to warn her about the one who hunted her—Prince Yanhir’s father.

Cambion and I are both to blame for her ill-fated journey, and we’re the reason she ended up in Morrigan’s clutches. I fear the Midnight Queen would never have known of Eilish’s existence if we’d done as we promised and kept Eilish from harm.

I walk away from the steaming pools of blood in the snow and make my way along the winding path that leads to a dark cave. It’s different here now. I no longer writhe in pain among the shadows that always linger here. No, I stay on my feet and feel my way through the darkness, prodding along the walls of my mind. Each day I feel more and more like myself, but the other me—the false me—he’s here, as well.

I can sense his presence easily, though the shadows are dense and slick like oil over water. The sound of my own heartbeat is loud in my ears as I search for the opening…

It’s not a door nor a window, but a fracture in Morrigan’s spell. My fingers graze the edges and I slip my hand through the fracture, using the small crevasse to find a wider opening. I push forward and tumble toward consciousness…

The sensation of returning to the forefront of my mind causes me to shiver. I stand up from the chair in front of the mirror and take a few minutes to catch my breath and to quiet my sporadic heartbeat. Once I have control of myself, I start for Cambion’s bedchamber.

There’s no use knocking, so I force the door open, not surprised when I see him hovering near the veranda. His eyes snap to mine and I raise my hands in surrender. “It’s me, Cambion.”

“Theren?”

“Yes,” I answer.

“Is it safe for you to be here?” he asks, moving around the room in a panicked flurry as if to check for any hidden enemies.

“No. It’s not safe,” I answer. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m here now… I need you to know… something.”

“What?”

I pause and take a deep breath. “That day on the battlefield… so long ago.”

Cambion glances at me. “Do I even want to know?”

“Listen. Whether you want to or not,” I reply dryly. My brother can be difficult. “I did fight beside Variant, but not willingly.”

“You’re telling me,” he starts but I hold up a hand to silence him.

“That day, you saw me beside Variant in body .”

“It wasn’t just you who fought beside him.”

“You saw me and my Unseelie army,” I correct. “But you didn’t see my mind and you didn’t see what was inside my heart .”

“I fail to understand,” he starts.

“Will you just shut the fuck up and listen!” I clear my throat and continue. My brother can be absolutely exhausting. “We weren’t always close, you and I, but I always valued our kinship more than any promise of power or wealth or fame.”

“Then why…”

“You will never truly understand the entirety of my story, brother, because you didn’t experience it. But as I watched angels fall from the sky and gargoyles plummet to their deaths, I had only one thought... and that thought was riddled with the fear that you would never forgive me, even if you knew the truth.”

His shoulders relax and Cambion moves to stand in front of me. “I’m trying to learn forgiveness, but I need actions, Theren, not words. Prove to me you can be trusted. Prove you had no willing part to play in the betrayal that cost us the war and the infiltration of the Unseelie Court.”

“Once I’m free of this prison, I will prove everything.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” Cambion asks skeptically.

***

CAMBION

Oronrel

I believe him.

After nearly an hour of Theren explaining his side of what happened during the Great War, I believe him. But I don’t trust him—not yet. There’s still much my brother must do before I can set aside the anger I feel toward him.

He sits on the bed, watching me as I pace, and I know he’s looking for forgiveness I can’t give when so much still remains to be seen.

“And what of all the things you did to Aima?” I hear myself ask.

Theren stiffens and he looks down at the floor with a wave of regret wafting off his figure.

“Aima knows I love her, but not in the way she wants me to.”

“She’s still in love with you.”

Theren nods. “We were together out of convenience and loneliness bred from the deceit of Morrigan.”

“I doubt she believes the same thing.”

“Aima chose me, but was already in love with someone else.”

I take a deep breath as I look at him. “Eilish?”

“Eilish,” he affirms. “She’s owned my heart from the beginning.”

It’s a truth I’ve always known but one I don’t want to face. Not now. Not then. Not ever. “You should have told Aima. You should have told her the truth about how you felt rather than pretending otherwise and then treating her like she was a carrier of the plague. And leaving her in the dungeons to be tortured after everything she’s sacrificed for you and her people?” I feel my anger growing. “There’s no way to forgive you for that, Theren.”

Theren winces and meets my gaze once more. “I wasn’t in my right frame of mind,” he says. “I was being controlled by Morrigan, as you know. I would never have harmed Aima—you know that.”

“I hope you speak the truth,” I answer.

“I don’t want to argue with you.” He takes a breath. “I need to fix something I didn’t have time to set right before the balance shifted...” He takes another breath and then runs his fingers through his hair as he faces me and his expression is one of pure seriousness. “There’s a Cockatrice after Eilish.”

“What?” I ask, shocked. Cockatrices are expert killers. Although they look like small dragons, they aren’t related. Instead, they have the scaly body of a lizard, the face and beak of a vulture with feathers and horns that run the length of their spines. They stand perhaps six feet tall but the length of their tales is easily double their height. Their wings look like those of a bat.

“One of Abedon’s executioners,” Theren continues.

“You mean to tell me one of Abedon’s executioners is looking for her?” This is bad. Very bad.

Theren stands and nods his head solemnly. “Eilish’s mother kept her hidden in the glade for a reason. But when Eilish killed Yanhir, his father went to Morrigan and asked the Midnight Queen to kill her. Morrigan was too busy casting her spells on Variant to be bothered with some succubus-angel hybrid in the mountains, so she sent a Cockatrice in her stead.” He pauses. “By the time he located her home, the balance had already shifted.”

“Was the glade completely untouched by the war?”

“The glade was well hidden by magic, and you’d already wiped Eilish’s memories long before the Cockatrice found her living in the glade on her own.”

“Then you know about that?” I ask, surprised to know Theren is aware I wiped her memories.

“Yes, there is little I don’t know about the past,” he admits with a shrug.

“I didn’t mean to clear her memories,” I say.

“We will get to that in a moment,” Theren says with a cryptic nod.

“How did Silvanus play into all of this?” I ask, wanting to change the subject.

“Silvanus was well acquainted with Eilish before you ever wiped her memories. And when he realized she was in trouble, he came out of hiding to help Eilish, but by that point, Morrigan had learned of Eilish’s importance and she interfered.”

“Morrigan interfered how?”

Theren nods. “Morrigan knew Eilish was the key to the ritual of freeing Abedon and, simply put, Morrigan got to her first. She guided Eilish away from Silvanus and the Cockatrice so she could earn Eilish’s trust.”

“It worked,” I answer with a grunt. “We freed Morrigan and all but pointed her in the right direction to find an unspeakable amount of magic in the Veil.” I shake my head as I realize how prettily we worked into Morrigan’s plan. “With the energy Morrigan already took from the fae and the power I believe she intends to steal from Pyre, she’ll have everything she needs to kill Silvanus and take back her magic. After that, there’s no stopping her and Variant from taking over all the realms entirely.”

Theren nods. “Then all Morrigan needs is Eilish to act as a conduit.”

“A conduit for what?” I insist.

“The ritual.”

“Tell me what you know of the ritual,” I say.

“No. First, tell me what happened when you took Eilish’s memories.” Theren glares at me as he moves toward the door. He pulls it open and watches the corridor for a few seconds before closing it again. “I don’t have much time before I’m thrust back into my mind by the spell that still keeps me hostage.” Theren exhales. “Tell me the truth and do so quickly, brother.”

“I’m more interested,” I start but he interrupts me.

“Remember, I’m not the only one who needs to prove his loyalty.”

My spine straightens and I wonder how much I should tell him. I decide to tell him the entire truth. Maybe because I need to get the truth off my own shoulders. “When I arrived in time to see what had become of Eilish’s family, I realized I couldn’t tell her I failed to uphold our agreement, that I failed to protect her family,” I explain. “But Eilish returned before I could clear away the bodies. She was distraught, and I made her return with me. Then I used a spell to erase her pain...”

“A spell?” Theren repeats, eyeing me suspiciously.

I nod. “One of our father’s. It was only supposed to make her forget my failure. It wasn’t meant to make her forget… everything.”

“What else?” Theren hisses. “There must be more to this story.”

“After I brought her back to the palace, I kept a strict eye on her. I noticed she would fall unconscious for long periods of time, always forgetting what happened each time she awakened again,” I explain, shaking my head as I remember the impossibility of the situation. “But, I couldn’t watch over her each day, everyday as I was king…”

“So?”

“So one day I left her on her own, and I went in search of Dragan so we could meet with Baron and decide what should be done about Variant. We went to the Castle in the Sky and that was when we watched Variant kill Baron. After that, the war erupted. And everything went to hell. I never went back for Eilish because I was never able to,” I confess.

“You were wrong for using father’s spells without any guidance, especially when we both know he succumbed to darkness.”

“I’m well aware.”

He nods to let me know he isn’t finished. “And leaving Eilish on her own? You have some nerve berating me for the way I’ve treated Aima when you’re just as guilty, yourself.”

After he takes several deep breaths, Theren leaves me standing at the center of my bedchamber without another word. I feel the weight of our conversation, but an unusual sense of relief washes over me. My brother isn’t as vile and corrupt as I once thought.