Page 117 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

“My real name is Asa aven d’Correa, crown prince of Cerulene,” he said quietly. “I was the illegitimate son of the late Queen Astraea, but because I completed my mission, the one to Myrrai and opened the Gate, I was granted legitimacy.

“I ran away from home at seventeen and found myself in Kyvena two years later. However, I was recognized on one of the joint missions we had as pilots by a courtier friend of my uncle’s.

They blackmailed me into joining the Watch and then taking on the Essence power from Professor Owen Christie, who once was a Cerl asset during the Great War but had become more and more uncooperative in the years since.

If I led a group of Cerls to Myrrai, activated the Gate, and subdued the Lord Elder, I would be granted full legitimacy.

They’d found out about Lucy, too, and threatened her and our baby.

That was what made me ultimately decide to go along with the plan. ”

Kase’s mouth had fallen open near the beginning of the speech. It was still open. It was like Ben was reading out of some fantasy novel, not telling Kase his own life story. “So everything you told me was a lie.”

Worse than that. His best friend was a Cerl Prince. Wait, no—Hallie’d said the King was dead, and if Skibs…blast it. If Asa was telling the truth about the legitimacy thing…

Kase couldn’t think straight. Not knowing the man in front of him was now the King of Cerulene.

Holy stars, did that woman—Fely—did she know? She’d been Filip’s betrothed. Had she known and not told anyone? Who was she really working for? Had they been duped?

If that was the case, had she lied about Hallie going through the Kyvena Gate? His chest tightened.

Skibs looked up, his eyes pink. “Not everything.” He pressed his hands to his knees.

“I tried to spare Hallie at the end. I knew what she’d translated in that notebook of hers was only possible with Yalven heritage.

I didn’t know what she was—whether she was Chronal or Chosen to take on an Essence power—but I tried to stop my uncle from finding out.

I took it into the Aurora, or Myrrai Gate, with me. ”

Except Correa still found her. But Kase didn’t point that out. Not yet.

“I was in control of the Essence power at the beginning, but hitting my head during that storm…broke me somehow. I wasn’t able to control it well at all after that.

Each power is different, and with the burden of the Gates, this particular Essence power requires immense control.

It’s more malignant than my brother’s…or my uncle’s, even.

With the injuries sustained on the Eudora mission, I lost control. ”

Kase crossed his arms over his chest. “But if your mission was to lead the Cerls to Myrrai, why did you not go with us? Why did you disappear during the battle at the ruins?”

Kase had bargained with the Lord Elder to find him. He’d gone every day to the gatehouse to check on the scouting party’s progress. Every single day.

A moment or two of silence passed, Ben looking anywhere but at Kase. Then it hit him like a hovership. Dread and anxiety built in his chest at the realization. “You tried to stop them, didn’t you? But you lost control.”

“And I’ve been trapped ever since. I couldn’t—I never would’ve—I destroyed both the Yalven city and…and my home.”

“Home?”

A beat or two before the choked word left his lips. “Kyvena.”

Shocks. The hurt in his voice was very real. No one could fake that. Could it be that his friend was truly back? Kase chewed on the inside of his cheek again. It’d be raw by the end of the conversation.

“And now I’ve probably killed Lucy and our child, even if I wasn’t in my right mind. So many dead.” Ben covered his face, shuddering visibly. “So many.”

He hadn’t heard much about specific people since he returned, but he vaguely remembered hearing something before he’d left Kyvena with Hallie.

He wet his lips. “Lucy wasn’t in the city, to my knowledge.

Rumor was she left for her family’s country estate because of the pregnancy.

Another rumor actually suggested I was the father.

” Kase rubbed a hand down his face. “She’s probably the least traumatized out of all of us. ”

Skibs lifted his head, the blazing relief and stark sorrow in his eyes at odds with each other. “I should’ve just run away with her. We’d be destitute, but at least we’d be together. Now, with everything…it’s probably better, I guess. This way, she’s far away from me.”

“We can find her after this is all done.”

“Kase, this is the end, unless my uncle has found all the Essence wielders. We’re still missing the Essence of Spark, who I think you know was Abram Loffler.”

Kase felt like he’d missed a step on the stairs. That was right. The card game. It was one of the things he’d revealed during that awful event. The bombing run had been the next day. Someone had told the Cerls. Probably Eravin, though he’d denied it.

It was then that the curtain opened to admit the Stradat Lord Kapitan, Fely, and Saldr. The Yalven man kept a hand on the shadow sword.

Kase cursed in his head. He was going to pay for that slip-up. Now they knew who had been the one to leak the information. He would never find Hallie.

It was Harlan who spoke, “You, Asa aven d’Correa, also known as Benjamin Reiss, are thereby under arrest by the power vested in me from the High Council of Jayde, as Stradat and Lord Kapitan. Any attempt to flee or use the Yalven power in your possession will result in your immediate execution.”

He nodded toward Saldr, who unsheathed the shadow sword.

“I understand, and I deserve the punishment for my crimes.” He stood and bowed to Harlan. “However, I do wish to help you, truly. My power is under control, and I fully intend to cooperate and share all the knowledge I possess.”

It was Fely who spoke up next. “You are different, Asa.”

“As are you, Lady Fely. Where is Filip?” Skibs looked around as if expecting the Cerl King to be hiding in plain sight. “Or Uncle? Have you abandoned them as well? I’ll applaud you for it, if so. They deserved it.”

Saldr shifted in front of her, the sword shimmering slightly in the light.

“How do we know you are in full possession of your senses, that the Essence you wield is not controlling you? This sword will sever it, and you will die, your soul slipping away through a wound only Toro can fix. It is our only assurance. Can you offer a better one?”

Skibs looked a little puzzled by that. He shrugged. “All I know is that I woke without the weight that usually pushes my real self aside. That’s the best way I can describe it. I feel like myself again, like I was before my uncle forced me to take the Essence power from Owen Christie.”

Kase glanced at Saldr. He nodded, seemingly knowing exactly what Kase was thinking.

Not only had Hallie slowed down time or whatever to save Skibs from falling to his death, but somehow…

somehow, she’d healed him. No wonder she’d nearly burnt herself out.

That was the only explanation. “Hallie’s the one that saved you. She’s the—”

He didn’t finish the sentence. Screaming started in the ward. And Kase knew.

Eravin had arrived.