Page 48 of Steeling Light (Shadowed Debts #3)

I look back on that day and wonder what went through Rhion’s mind. We’ve talked since then, but I can’t ever get a straight answer from him. It’s strange. We were closer to allies on the day he killed me than we have been since. Sadly, that’s the cost of war.

~Cole Cyrus, personal journals

Rhion

My father allowed me to retrieve my sword, stowing it inside me as I do so often, just as he does. Now, I’m cowering with a steel collar around my neck. It means nothing to me. Long, dark-brown hair flows in the wind as my father drags me between alleyways, hoping Cole will see us.

My father has always feared Cole Cyrus. Deep down, I know this is the truth. There is something about my rival Prince that stirs him to rage. Regardless of who wears the Painted Crown, Cole is the man my father has always worried most about.

Which is why he isn’t trying to fight him.

I am the bait, and knowing both my father and Cole, the ruse will work.

It’s with a heavy heart that I play my part.

I don’t like Cole Cyrus. He has been my enemy and rival throughout my entire life.

Every day, I was compared to him. He was Draenyth’s golden prince, and I was not.

That’s when I see him out of the corner of my eye. My father catches sight of him flying down the streets as well, and he pulls me into an alleyway. “Scream and run,” he commands, and I feel the heat beginning in my spine again.

This time, I don’t hesitate for long, and I burst from the alleyway with a scream.

It feels so wrong to trick Cole, but I don’t have another way to keep Ainslee from death.

My father nearly killed me without using either of his relics, both of which will reduce my chances to nothing.

And with the Steel Gauntlet, Cole can’t win a fight against him either.

My father races out of the alley and catches me. His arm wraps around my throat, and he presses a sharp, bony finger to my neck. He digs it in, and a thin rivulet of blood runs down my neck. The pain is nothing compared to the knowledge of what I’m doing.

I struggle in my father’s grasp a bit as he digs his finger in a little deeper. “Stop. Let her go,” Cole says, his voice becoming a snarl.

“You’re here to kill me, Prince Cole. Let’s not forget where we all stand.

Your beautiful bride is here to kill me.

The ten thousand humans outside my gates are here to kill me.

A hundred shadow walkers? Your father? Everyone outside of my own House wants to kill me, so let’s not pretend like this is all going to work out without anyone dying. ”

Cole stares at us for a few moments silently, and then he offers, “I’ll trade her for me.”

I can feel my father’s body tremble at the words. This is what he’d hoped for. Everyone knows Cole is desperately in love with Maeve. He’d do anything for her. He’d even die for her.

I understand the feeling far too well. I just hate that saving Ainslee means letting Cole Cyrus die. My wrist begins to burn, and I glance at the silver ring that cannot be removed from it, no matter how I shift my body. It glows bright white, and I realize that letting Cole die will hurt Ainslee.

My decision is going to cause her pain. I’m breaking my oath, but what else can I do?

“I’m not taking off her collar,” my father says.

Cole smiles and says, “I don’t expect you to.

” It feels as if the world suddenly became silent.

The sounds of battle are so distant that they feel more like echoes of the past than the actual sounds of soldiers fighting and dying.

The wind has died as if it’s mourning the fall of the man I strove to beat for so many years.

I do not like Cole Cyrus, but he is a man who should die an honorable death on the battlefield. Not this. Not in a trap.

My mind whirs, trying to figure out how to save Ainslee and keep Cole from dying, but I can’t find a single path. The moments tick by too quickly for me to find an answer.

“Done,” my father says and moves as fast as I’ve ever seen.

He pushes me away from him and reaches for Cole’s arm.

Cole doesn’t fight him, thinking that I’m his powerless Wyrdling.

As we pass, he says, “Run. Run to the gate. Scream for help in your mind. Sia will hear you. I’ll always be yours.

There is no till death do us part for a soul bond. ”

I stare at him in shock. He fully bonded himself to Maeve. His soul is tied to her permanently, and he’s about to die. My heart falls even further, and the oathmark burns so bright that I can’t ignore it any longer.

And then Cole immolates in a way that I have never witnessed.

He explodes in flame so bright it burns white. My eyes ache as I stare at the man I’ve known my entire life. That smile on his lips is so damned typical of him. His flesh peels away as it’s charred by his own power. Still, he burns on.

My father tries to pull away, but Cole hangs on.

He might have been able to get away had he fought.

He might even have been able to kill my father, but there’s no way he could know for sure.

Cole’s only trying to give his wife a chance to escape.

My father screams in pain, and Cole continues to immolate.

I don’t think that anyone, even Casimir, has ever burned so brightly, but my father’s razor-sharp finger snakes around to his breast, and with a single stab, Cole’s flame dies.

My heart had been heavy when I’d thought about Cole dying, but the sight of it is so much worse. Even the burn of the oathmark’s flames climbing my arm doesn’t compare to the reality before me.

Cole Cyrus is dead. My rival. The only other Prince. The man who fought against impossible odds because it was right. He defied his father when I couldn’t. He gave his life and death to save this world and his friends. He was the greatest man I have ever known, even if he was an ass.

I stare at my father, who looks as though he’s just walked out of a pyre. His clothes are gone. Most of his flesh has been burned to ash, leaving exposed muscles and bones. I can see his blade and the Brand’s secret hiding places inside him, covered in bone.

In the silence that lingers, I hear Maeve screaming, but it doesn’t matter. Today is not about the Wyrdling girl who has become so much more than I believed her capable of. Today is about the man who gave himself to protect the ones who couldn’t save themselves.

And it’s about my father. The one person who caused all of this pain and heartache for so many. The oathmark climbs my arm, and in its wake, it leaves ash. My arm is useless because I have hurt Ainslee by accepting my role in this. I didn’t fight. I was not the man I swore to be.

But I can be now. I can protect her from every other horrible thing that my father will most likely do to her. I can be the man she deserves. I can be her shelter so she can show her light to the world. I can take away the person who’s caused her so much pain.

Before, when I’d tried to fight my father, I’d been hopeful. I’d wanted to kill him. Deep down, though, I’d always thought that Cole was invincible. I’d believed he could do anything, that no one was as strong as him, and that he’d find a way to kill my father.

Now he’s dead. The man that I’d truly believed would save us all is gone, and there’s no one else. If I can’t stop him, he will destroy this world, and more importantly, he’ll destroy Ainslee.

I begin to shift back into myself, and I reach into the secret cavity inside myself to draw my sword.

“I’m sorry,” I say. The words aren’t for my father, though.

They’re to Cole. They’re to the one we all trusted to save us when he was just a High Fae, no different from the rest of us.

We shouldn’t have put that burden solely on his shoulders.

We should have been stronger. I should have been stronger.

My father turns to me, finally truly seeing me.

Not with the eyes of a father who is disgusted by his son, but with the eyes of a man on the battlefield.

For the first time, my father is seeing me as the rest of the world has always seen me.

I am not some unimportant soldier. I am the Prince of Steel, and he knows it.

He summons the power of the Steel Gauntlet, covering himself in armor that my sword cannot penetrate, but I was the first to wear the relic. “That won’t stop me.” My blade comes down just as accurately as ever, and I sever his hand from his arm, separating the relic from him.

My father screams as the steel covering his body disappears.

“The heart,” I say softly, repeating the lesson he taught me when he had first begun pushing me to duel Cole.

“The heart is the only thing that the House of Steel cannot rebuild or move. It is always in the left breast. It is always weak to a strong blade. Even the one who wears the Painted Crown cannot survive their heart being pierced.”

My father shakes his head in disbelief. “No, I was supposed to die to Cole Cyrus. Calyr told me that the one who killed me would have dark hair and wield a black blade.” So that’s why he’s been afraid of Cole for my entire life.

That’s why he’s tried to get me to kill him.

Not because he wanted me to be strong. No, he simply wanted to end the one who was going to kill him.

I bring my blade up for a fatal stab, and my father says, “No. I command you to put down your sword.” This time, when I refuse, there is no pain.

Blood calls to blood, but I have a stronger tie now.

I don’t care about his approval. I don’t care about his Crown.

Gethin Rahn’s blood may run through my veins, but my purpose is no longer to be his legacy.

It’s being Ainslee’s shelter, and I cannot do that while he still breathes.

I am her sword and shield. Not his.

“No one commands me anymore, Father. You’ve done everything to ruin this world, and the only man to try to stop you is dead. I refuse to accept that he died in vain. Rest well, Father.”

My blade moves just as my father taught me, slipping between the ribs to pierce the heart.

Then there is only silence as the light in my father’s eyes fades.

His body collapses, still burned by Cole’s immolation.

I stand in the quiet for a moment as his blood drips from my sword to the ground in soft splashes.

My father is dead.

And I do not feel an ounce of pain, nor an ounce of happiness at the fact. All I care is that Ainslee is safe. I glance down at the oathmark around my wrist. It no longer burns.