Page 57

“No,” I said quietly. “You didn’t. Veravine Almera’s port said you protected her. Please, Lynwood. I need the truth. Why did she join the Forgotten? And when?”

His gaze drifted toward the common room, where a kettle sat scorched and long forgotten. “I don’t want trouble,” he said softly.

I did. But I didn’t say that out loud.

I stepped closer. “Do you know who my father is?”

Lynwood exhaled slowly, the heaviness of memory settling into his voice.

“She was lost for a long time,” he said.

“She didn’t even know her own mother. Not until the man who raised her used her for things she couldn’t escape.

His name was Sciver. He made her kill people.

Maybe they were bad men. But she was just a girl. ”

His gaze dropped. When he spoke again, his voice had softened. “When Fallon came back here, after she got the academy invitation, she wasn’t the same.”

I swallowed hard. “I had no idea.”

“As for your father…” His words faltered. “She stopped coming to Ravensla after that. I lost track of her life. But once, maybe twenty-five years ago, she returned. She stood outside the il lusionist’s stall for hours. Wouldn’t speak. Wouldn’t look me in the eye.”

“You should’ve known something was wrong,” Archer said. “You were her friend.”

Lynwood rubbed at his temples, guilt creasing his brow. “I know. But she’d married a Serpent. Our lives were split. I didn’t know how to talk to her anymore.”

“What season was it?” Archer pressed. “After the Harvest Festival?”

“I don’t remember,” Lynwood murmured. “But it was after Andri was titled.”

“That doesn’t narrow it down,” I said, frustration tightening my voice. “Why does that even matter?”

Archer stayed measured. “Anyone who spends hours with an illusionist is trying to forget something.”

I leaned in. “If you remember anything else, please. I need to know why my mother turned to them. Why she chose the Forgotten. Why she chose…” I didn’t even want to say that monster’s name.

Lynwood’s expression darkened. “She wasn’t herself. Kept muttering about a son. I assumed she’d just found out she was pregnant with Charles. She was always afraid of passing on her gifts. Afraid of what she might create.”

I brushed a hand over the desk. “We’ve spent too much time figuring this out. I just… wanted to understand why my mother lied so much.”

And yet, part of me still held onto the hope that it wasn’t Hadrian. But I knew the moment his Port spoke to me, he was.

Lynwood lifted his gaze, a faint smile on his lips. “If your real father is a Serpent and lacks an heir, your title could transfer. It’s happened before. If there are two heirs in one family. He may not know you even exist. ”

Caius was Hadrian’s heir. I don’t know what I would do if I became the heir of Wrathi.

“What do you know about Hadrian Sinclair?” Archer asked.

“The fifth Summer Serpent,” Lynwood whispered. “He was Fallon’s Serpent leader during her academy days.” His hands gripped the desk, eyes flicking between us. “I suppose one could fall in love while attending a ruthless academy.”

I leaned in, my heart racing. “I opened his port. What does that mean?”

Lynwood’s glasses glinted in the dim light. “If Caius dies, and he’s your father, you’d become the heir to Wrathi.”

A wave of heat crawled up my neck. “His heir,” I whispered. “He’s a horrible man.”

Archer’s voice cut through. “She is my heir.”

Lynwood’s brow curved. “The title will always call to those with the bloodline. Shadows are not natural to Severyn, who knows what kind of risk they may have later on.” His gaze flicked to my shadow relic.

I clenched my fists. “Thank you, Lynwood. But we need to go.”

As I turned, his hand shot out and caught mine. “Take it, Severyn,” he said. “Veravine didn’t die for her title to fade. You don’t belong in the shadows.”

“I was heired properly,” I replied, my voice steady. “But thank you for the advice.”

He hesitated, then crossed to his desk and rummaged through a drawer for a key. “Stay the night at the inn. You both look too exhausted to travel. Whether by air or portal, it isn’t safe in your condition.”

Archer stepped forward, took the key from Lynwood’s hand, and tucked me into his side. “Let’s forget it all. Just for tonight. We’ll go back to Night tomorrow. I’ll call a dragon wrangler. I’ll bond again. Maybe we can find some normality in the chaos. ”

I exhaled. “I just want one day where the world doesn’t fall apart beneath me.”

He led me down the hall. The narrow corridor felt smaller than I remembered. Months ago, I’d walked these same halls as a Serpent student, dreading the sight of Archer Lynch. I was too proud, too stubborn to see that his protectiveness wasn’t cruelty, it was always there, right in front of me.

Archer’s voice cut through the hush, low and wrecked. “If I could take your pain, I would. All of it. I’d bury it in a place no one could ever find it.”

I swallowed. “Sometimes I wish I was still that girl. The one chained to ice.”

His breath hitched.

“Would we still be us?” I asked.

Archer nodded once, slow. “I swore to Klaus I’d protect you. Nothing would’ve changed that.”

“But if you’d claimed your father’s heir… what then?”

His voice roughened. “Then I would’ve despised myself for trapping you into a marriage. Maybe you’d grow to love me, but I would’ve seen my mother in you. I couldn’t live with that.”

The truth hit hard.

“And you never wondered who I really was?” I asked, searching his face. “You knew our father’s made a marriage bargain.”

Archer tilted his head, lips curling into a slow, sin-wrapped smile. “Technically… you’re the reason I met Klaus.”

I blinked. “What?”

“I was already initiated into Night,” he said. “I had two younger brothers, and I assumed one of them would become my father’s heir. But then I heard Klaus’s name called for the trials. I was curious.”

He took a step closer .

“When Klaus introduced himself, I stayed. And when he spoke of you… I knew none of my brothers could have you.”

“Why not?” I breathed.

His gaze dropped to my lips, then lowered. “Because they didn’t deserve you.”

Archer slid the key into the lock, and the door creaked open, revealing a room so grand it might’ve swallowed me whole. Golden curtains spilled over the windows, casting the space in a warm glow. White columns lifted a ceiling painted with rays of sun.

He lifted me into his arms, effortlessly, and for the first time in what felt like weeks, I let myself relax.

“I love you, Severyn,” Archer said. “Those words may be treason, but I do. I’d give you everything. Even my realm. Maybe if I’d been called to Summer, and Klaus had been my rival, I’d have glorified the chance to claim you.”

I held my breath. For once, it didn’t feel like a burden. I had always wondered what love truly was. I had seen it in stories, glimpsed it in my parents. I used to think it was sharp and fleeting. A rose, quick to bloom and just as quick to wither.

But love, I realized, was something else entirely. It was a dark flower, grown from grief and ice. Its petals opened slowly, trembling with every touch. Love wasn’t pain. It was yearning, and giving everything you had without knowing if it would ever be enough.

“I think I love you,” I whispered. Even then, the words tore through me, leaving everything raw and exposed. It was the only way I knew how to protect myself, offering part of the truth, but not all of it. Not until I knew he meant it.

Archer brushed the hair from my face and gently laid me back on the bed. The soft clink of metal followed as he unbuckled his gear, each piece falling away like burdens shed.

And mine lifted too .

He eased in beside me, guiding my head to rest in the crook of his neck. “I’ll wait as long as you need,” he said softly, “for it to only be three words.”

I shifted slightly. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“Why is there only one Day realm and one Night realm?”

“There used to be more,” he said. “But they went barren.”

“How?”

“There can only ever be one of each. Light and dark cancel each other out.” He paused, his voice turning more distant.

“Years ago, there was a war for the sun. Realms were starving. Crops failing. Monty’s grandfather was the last Day Serpent left standing.

His family took what they needed from the fallen.

Winter needs sunlight to grow. Summer needs cold to survive. Light doesn’t exist without shadow.”

He glanced down at me. “Some say we’re sworn enemies.”

I let out a soft laugh. “The king is from Day, right? Did the Garcias take the Herring land?”

“When the other Day realms collapsed, Monty’s family turned on the king’s estate. They burned it to the ground. What was left became the capital.”

“And now Monty wants the throne,” I murmured.

“His bloodline is strong,” Archer said. “When the king names his heir, I’m afraid whatever trial follows will crown a tyrant.”

“Maybe that’s why his line hasn’t burned out yet.”

Archer turned to me. “Do you think I’ve tainted mine by naming you my heir?”

I scoffed. “I don’t have Night blood. You’re a reckless ruler, trusting flame to protect your realm.”

His hands slid over my ribs, fingers trailing each shallow breath. “You have Day blood. Maybe, in another life, we were enemies. ”

“I’m mudded blood, Archer,” I said with a quiet laugh. “You let more than your sworn nemesis into your realm. You let them into your bed.”

“I let you into my heart,” he replied, steady and low. “A dangerous move. My ancestors are probably spinning in their graves.”

I brushed my fingers along his jaw. “What happens now? You said no one would accept an heir and a ruler together.”

He exhaled slowly. “Then I let the light in… and we see what survives.”

“The hellebores in Colindale only bloomed purple during the best thaws,” I murmured.

“I’ve only seen them that color since you became my heir.” Archer’s hand drifted down my arm, slow and warm. “Maybe you are the light.”

For a moment, I could almost believe it. I could picture the normality. Even if it meant pretending. Prancing through his estate in ridiculous gowns, laughing like we hadn’t been accused of treason. I wanted to live in that illusion, just for a while.

But I couldn’t shake the dread still curling in my chest. Not after Wrathi.