Bonds Eternal (Fae Hearted #4)

26. Throne Room

26

THRONE ROOM

ELDRIN

I charge down the hallways of my father’s main castle wing, with Corwin and Baelen hot on my heels.

I feel torn in two. As if I’ve left my heart behind. I want to be with my mate, helping to figure out how to help my friends. The righteous anger inside me needs to rip my father to shreds for all the destruction he caused. My dominant warrior self demands that I protect my mate and the rest of the realms from his evil.

The tortured look that Wyn gave me when I said my goodbye was like a dagger in my heart. It almost brought me to my knees. But I’m doing this for her. Will she come to understand that I wasn’t abandoning her, but protecting her? Will I ever see her beautiful face again or look into those intelligent eyes that pierce right through all of my defenses?

I fucking hope so.

There’s another yank in our bond. She wants me back with her. I can feel how much she worries about me. I imagine her love wrapping around me like an embrace and pray to the goddess it will be the armor I need to win this challenge.

Because if I don’t stop my father, no one—no fae, no creature, no human will ever be safe until this monster is eliminated. He is no longer my father and I must behave as such so I can manage this feat.

Unsurprisingly, the door to the throne room is closed. However, it’s also locked, which is unusual unless there’s a dignitary inside and a chance of an assassination attempt is likely.

When did my father become this paranoid? Sending the entire castle population away? What is going on inside his head? He didn’t even do this during the realm war.

I suppose when all one does is lie and deceive, it’s easy to think that everyone else is like that as well. To be fair, right now, he has a reason to be worried.

Death is at his door.

I step aside while Corwin tries his security keys to the castle. We hear the lock disengage, but it still doesn’t open.

“Spelled,” Corwin whispers.

“Let me try,” Baelen says in a hushed voice. She presses forward and places her hand over the door. “Give me a moment. I might be able to absorb the sealing magic.”

I squeeze the hilt of my sword, resisting the urge to pace. Instead, I close my eyes and focus on my magic. I narrow my attention to a sharp point, directing it to the mission before me. I push away my thoughts and worries about Wyn, Jaden, and Oakes. If I’m going to beat my father in a battle, then I can’t allow for any distractions.

Finally, the door swings open a fraction.

We all take a moment to listen to what’s happening inside. It’s deadly quiet. I don’t like how quiet the entire castle has been up to this point. I never realized how energy constantly swirls around inside these walls, or how much noise, until it is gone.

Baelen waits for my signal. When I gesture for her to proceed with a flick of my chin, she throws the door open and reveals King Magnus slumped on his throne.

No one else is inside.

I eye the door that leads to Magnus’ private office. Turgon or the mage could be hiding there.

I return my attention to my father. Magnus finally stirs awake at the intrusion of his throne room.

“What are you doing here?” Magnus growls at me.

“What am I doing?” I scoff insolently, finally showing my disgust for my father. “What the fuck are you doing? Why have you started a war? Why have you sent everyone away?”

“You cannot speak to me this way!” Magnus shouts.

“Why not?” I use my unsheathed sword as a pointer, sweeping it in a wide circle around the empty room. “Who is going to stop me?”

Taking the sword in my hand for the unspoken threat that it is, Magnus finally straightens in his chair. “I will!”

“Answer me!” I scream. “Why are you doing all of this?”

“Because it needs to be done!” Magnus screams back louder.

Confused by this flimsy logic, I shake my head. “That isn’t a good enough answer for putting everyone’s life in jeopardy. So why ?”

“The humans are killing us with their drain on our lands.”

“Then we tell them to stop moving into that area,” I say, my voice returning to a normal volume. I don’t expect speaking rationally will work, but I suppose I feel compelled to try. “We don’t send ghouls through the portal to kill off innocent humans who weren’t even part of that infraction.”

King Magnus narrows his eyes. “Ghouls?”

I blink at my father’s apparent lack of knowledge concerning the ghouls. “Yes. Turgon sent ghouls to attack and kill the villagers near King Nathaniel’s castle. Did you not know?”

“Of course I knew!” Magnus snaps after a slight pause.

Briefly, I wonder how much my father actually knows about the invasion and the war campaign. Did he give Turgon free rein to conduct this war as he pleases?

“We sent our soldiers to King Nathaniel’s castle,” my father says, suggesting he knows enough and is supportive of the war movement.

“Do you wish to kill off all the humans?”

“They have no use. They are a plague upon the lands.” Magnus sneers, “And you took one to your bed and claimed her. Disgusting!”

My anger rises inside me again. “Disgusting is what you are! Wynstelle is no plague. She is good, kind, and caring, even to those who do not look like her. She treats everyone equally. Her heart is pure, unlike the rotting lump inside your chest.”

Magnus shoots up from his throne and grabs the hilt of his sword.

Baelen and Corwin move closer to me.

I wave them back. “This is my fight.”

They both look at us and hesitantly step back. Corwin nods toward the open door. Baelen takes the unspoken instruction and moves to guard it. Corwin heads over to position himself at the entrance to the king’s private office. He doesn’t get far because Magnus charges at him when he draws near.

Corwin moves back, waiting for Magnus to leave the area.

“I challenge you for the throne, sire ,” I declare. This is the moment where I must step up and change all our fates. The moment I’ve feared all my life.

Magnus’ laughter at that statement echoes throughout the large empty room. “You?” He scoffs. “I was just going to teach you a lesson, but now I see that I have to put you down like a rabid dog. You are a disgrace. You have been tainted by that human whore.”

Fury surges through my veins. I take the bait and charge forward, lunging at my father with my sword.

He easily slaps my blade aside.

I stagger, the momentum of my thrust having thrown me off balance.

He swings his sword at me, aiming for my neck.

At the last moment, I turn and bring up my own blade, barely blocking my father’s killing blow.

We circle each other, watching and waiting for an opening.

Corwin uses this moment, while we are distracted, to sneak into the king’s private office. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Corwin disappear into the room.

Seeing the shift in focus, Magnus takes another swing at me.

This time, I’m not fast enough. I spin away from the stroke, but he slices me along the calf.

“You should have taken advantage of Jaden’s teachings all these years. Instead, you were too busy drinking and getting your cock wet. I suppose some cases are just a lost cause.”

“I’m not a lost cause!” I rage and attack again—not landing a blow, but forcing Magnus backward. “But you are now.”

“You think you can stop this?” Magnus chuckles. “Other Elven kingdoms support my plan!”

“And the Unseelie Mage too?”

“Dark. Light. What does it really mean to be Unseelie?” Magnus shrugs. “It’s all a matter of how willing one is to get what needs to be done, done.”

“No matter who you kill? Or what you destroy?”

“When it is a matter of my life or someone else’s? I will always choose myself.” Magnus cocks a brow. “So call me Unseelie. It does not matter because, in the end, I will drink at your funeral, dancing on the corpse of your mate.”

Blind fury washes over me with the image my father paints. I can’t let him live to do such a thing. My father is so much worse than I ever imagined, and I didn’t hold him in high esteem before this.

“Never!” I cry out and rush at him.

My influencer magic pushes toward Magnus.

Falter… falter.

With a series of maneuvers that Jaden drilled into me, I put my sire through his paces. I force Magnus back farther and farther.

With a flicker of confusion, Magnus is surprised by my newfound ability and his own sudden lack of coordination. The king trips on the rise of the dais to his throne and falls back onto his ass.

I take advantage of the opportunity and lunge forward, sliding my blade through Magnus’ gut.

His eyes go wide, and he grabs onto the blade, trying to pull it loose.

I freeze in place, shocked that I have actually run my father through with a sword. This feels like a strange nightmare where I finally can defend myself.

I lock eyes with my sire and see a flicker of respect in Magnus’ eyes. Have I actually made my father proud with this heinous act? I don’t relish the morbid thought.

I don’t want my father’s respect if this is how I finally win it.

“ No! ” Wyn’s voice cuts through my mental and emotional haze.

Both Magnus and I turn our attention to Wyn charging at us. Her face fills with horror.

“What have you done?” She stops short a few strides from us.

“What I told you I was going to do.” I stare at her in confusion. Doesn’t she realize what my father planned to do to her? To everyone? Can’t she see she’s finally safe?

“He was under a spell!” Wyn brings her hands to her mouth in shock as she watches Magnus bleed out. “He’s been under a influencer spell!”

“Ridiculous female,” Magnus mutters and shakes his head at her. Still on the ground, he grunts as he gathers his last bit of energy to take a pathetic swipe at her with his sword. “Die, whore!”

I block the wild swing and kick my father back to lie flat on the floor. “See, this is him. He hates humans—you in particular.”

She moves closer and whispers to me. “No. He might hate me on his own, but I was talking with the brownie. She believes the mage has been using her magic on him. She could feel it.”

I glance back at my father, assessing whether Wyn is correct. “For how long?”

“She thinks it might have been since your mother passed away.”

“Sure, he became a bigger ass after the war ended and then when my mother died right after, but that was the mate bond?—”

“I don’t think it was,” Wyn cuts me off and steps closer. “I suspect Mage Idril may have killed your mother to manipulate your father.”

“What?” I gasp and glance over at my dying father. Could it be? If so, why didn’t I notice when it happened? Probably because I was drowning in my own grief and getting lost in distractions. “No. He is one of the most powerful at creating mind shields in Elfhame. The mage would have to be frighteningly adept to break him.”

“From what we’ve seen? It seems she is.” Wyn gestures at my father. “We have to try. Use your ability. See if you can break a spell and discover if it’s true.”

I shake my head. “I can’t. I don’t know how. I couldn’t do it with the soldiers.”

“Remember, we could do it with the ghouls. I’m here. I will help,” Wyn encourages.

I focus on my magic. Energy swirls in my chest.

Wyn’s magic slides around me, embracing my magic like a lover. We are connected, bonded. I let our two magics entwine and feel her power magnifying my own.

My chest swells with energy. This is no time for finesse. I need to be a hammer and smash the spell… if there is indeed one.

I form the thought that I needed to make this work.

Break .

With that thought, the power shoots forward and smashes against my father’s mental and psychic walls. With my magical senses, I see them come crashing down.

Magnus’ eyes go wide at the sensation, feeling the dismantling of his protection.

“What is happening?” Magnus whispers.

I send another wave of power at my father so he can fully regain his wits.

“Eldrin?” Magnus says in confusion. He glances down at his bloodied torso with my blade still protruding from it. His own sword drops from his hand with a clatter. The echoing sound makes me wince as I wonder if he never meant to raise his sword against me.

Wyn takes a step closer.

I throw my hand up and order, “Wait.” I turn my attention back to my father and ask, “Was it you? Did you want to kill all the humans?”

I need to make sure this war wasn’t his goal. I have to ensure Wyn’s safety.

Magnus blinks and frowns. “I didn’t want a war. Not at first. When your mother passed, I was angry. I couldn’t shake my anger and rage. Then Turgon told me the Mage Weaver Idril we had used for the changeling could help ease my suffering. But… I think all my anger just was redirected against the humans.” Magnus looks at Wyn, and his eyes soften. “But I had done you a disservice long before that day when I sent you away to be a servant. Although I believe hiding you from the mage saved your life.”

Wyn swallows down her emotions. “Merlara was a kind keeper. And I didn’t die as a sickling.”

“Child, you weren’t a sickling. You were a sacrifice—an offering.” Magnus closes his eyes. “Callous as that sounds, it solidified the pact all these years. Until… now.”

“ Fuck! ” I’ve made a fatal mistake. I should have guessed what Wyn discovered. If I hadn’t just reacted, but taken a moment to talk with the brownie instead, I could have broken the spell before we had come to blows. I allowed my anger and protective nature to consume me.

I fall forward, pull the sword free, and ineffectually try to staunch the flow of my father’s blood.

“Help me!” I plead with Wyn. “Can you heal him?”

She sees how much blood surrounds my father. “I… I don’t know.” Wyn cautiously approaches the king. “I’ll try.” She glances over her shoulder, feeling vulnerable and exposed as she hovers over a dying monarch. “Where is everyone else? Daylor and Captain Oliver came with me.”

I stand up and give Wyn space to work. Keeping her question in mind, I scan the room and note Corwin hasn’t returned. And now all four are missing. “I don’t know. Maybe they went to find help?”

I return, dropping to my knees at my father’s other side, and hold his hand. “I didn’t want to kill you. I thought it was the only way to stop the war—to stop you from hurting Wynstelle.”

Magnus sighs heavily. “I know. But you will be a good king. Better than I was.”

“You aren’t dead.” I grip my father’s hand harder. “Stay with us. We’ll fix everything. Together.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be possible,” Magnus whispers, blinking slowly, as if it takes everything in him to remain in his body to say our farewells.

Then his eyes fly open in surprise.