Chapter 34 #3
His certainty left no room for doubt. “You’ve always picked your family over honor, it seems.”
“The love of family is a powerful magic and motivator. I won’t lie to you. If I could have picked any Ederyn prince to save, it wouldn’t have been the ‘Scourge of the Viori.’ But I vowed to protect you. Now my family is suffering for it.”
Guilt blazed through me. The depth of his knowledge was startling.
He changed the subject abruptly. “Do you know why Haldron tried to kill Magnus years ago?”
“Because he wanted to be king. That’s clear enough.”
“No.” A soft chuckle left his lips. “Not at all. Haldron was a good man. Sympathetic to the Viori. Beloved by the people. And most especially, by his wife, Thyra.”
I jeered. “Thyra, who languishes in Suomelin, still trapped in a half-life after his abuse?”
“Your father only gave you the version of events he wanted you to know. Thyra bore the cursed Hrafn mark, and your father destroyed her life—Haldron’s life—for it.”
“Hrafn?” I repeated, dragging the H and R together like he had. The word meant raven in Old Ederyn but I’d never heard of the mark.
“The divine mark—a sign of the old gods that Ragnor Ederyn rejected out of fear.”
A slow, sickly feeling curled in my stomach. “Fear of what?”
“That the old gods would return through their chosen.” Brogan’s expression darkened. “It was how Magnus justified taking Thyra from Haldron.”
“Taking her?” My brows furrowed. “You’re saying my father stole Haldron’s wife?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Brogan rubbed his jaw. “She bore the Hrafn mark—though no one knew until an accident forced her to shave her hair. The mark was hidden beneath it, waiting.”
I crossed my arms. “And you expect me to believe my father kidnapped her just because of a mark?”
“No,” Brogan said grimly. “Because he believed she was a vessel for something far worse.”
He spoke with such openness it nearly made his story sound true. But in all my years living in Suomelin, I’d never heard a word about Thyra bearing this mark—or my father interfering in Haldron’s marriage. “Why would he take her?”
“It’s Ederyn tradition. Anyone born with the Hrafn mark is taken—locked away in a dungeon beneath the keep, where they can never be a threat. Most are imprisoned as children and go mad before they reach adulthood.”
Ederyn children seized and thrown in the dungeons?
The idea sounded preposterous.
But was it? Twins were murdered at birth. The Bound realms were subjected to the Bloodbinding. Lirien’s traditions were built on fear and superstition. “Why?” I demanded.
Brogan drew a sharp breath. “Because the gods might have died at Vornfall, Your Grace, but their spirits endure. They want to return. They should return. But which ones? Valtheron, the all-knowing? Gaelric, god of storms? Or Sly, the traitor who sided with the enemy at the end of the Third Age?”
His brow furrowed as he went on. “A child born with the Hrafn mark has been touched by the divine. Given the right circumstances, one of the gods could resurrect through them. Ragnor Ederyn had everything in his power to eliminate that possibility through the Bloodbinding.
“The only threat left, Ederyn children born with the Hrafn mark, are taken when they’re found. Every infant is searched at their naming ceremony.”
I stared at him, dumbfounded and chilled.
Is it possible?
Could Brogan Ragnall be telling the truth?
I shouldn’t listen to another word of his poisoned lies. I knew who he was. What he’d done.
“But if Thyra was an adult, what difference did it make if she bore a divine mark? Why would my father care?”
His lips pursed. “Haldron asked the same thing. Begged Magnus to see reason—that she was no threat. But Magnus took her all the same. Insisted she had to be locked away.”
He held my gaze, unflinching. “After years of trying to get her back, Haldron lost control. He stabbed your father in his rage. Stole Thyra and took her to Ibarra, where a priest promised to remove the Hrafn from her with an ancient spell. But it failed and she was left clinging to life, her mind shattered. The Regulation caught up with Haldron and he fled, unable to take her with him. After that, he came to the territory.”
“How do you know? You would have already been here when Haldron left Lirien.”
“He found me in my encampment. Begged me to help him plot his revenge. I refused.” Bitterness twisted his scowl. “Turns out he found a way to force my hand.”
I averted my eyes, staring at the floor.
It made too much sense.
And worse, it didn’t contradict what my father had told me. The lies had been in what he hadn’t said. I’d filled in the blanks myself.
Brogan’s voice softened, an insidious mist blanketing all my certainty. “You were born with the mark. Your mother begged Lucia to conceal it after your birth and made us swear to protect you and keep your secret. When the time came to call in her debt, she helped us escape Lirien.”
Lucia had spoken of my birthmark, of concealing it with a rune. But a divine mark? Was that why I’d always had stronger powers than my brothers?
More sickening was the way he spoke about my mother. With admiration. “And yet, you killed her. Even though she helped you.”
“I did not kill your mother. I swear it,” Brogan said, his eyes like flint. “And I don’t know who did or why. But whoever it was found it convenient to blame me and remains beyond suspicion.”
I held his stare, my heartbeat dull. He had every reason to lie. But something in his words felt true and I loathed the inconvenience of my instincts. “That doesn’t change that you murdered my father and brothers. My family. I should run you through right now.”
“You see, Your Grace, we’re more alike than you know.
Willing to sacrifice for the women—the people—we love.
I can’t kill you without hurting Seren, but I’d give everything to go back a few weeks, when the only consequence of your death would have been destroying what remains of my honor.
Now, I’ve risked my entire family. I have no love for you or for Lirien.
Not anymore. No loyalty to the Viori. My only loyalty is to my family. ”
My jaw clenched at the brutality—and honesty—with which he spoke. “What do you want from me?” I asked at last.
“Tell Seren who you are. Convince her your life is necessary and to flee with you into the mountains. Take her away from this. She won’t go otherwise.
She’s too good—too loyal. She will never leave her friends and family.
I will do what it takes to save the rest of my family, but she’s in your hands now. Please. Save my daughter.”
Of course.
The coward wanted, once again, the easy way out from all this.
Seren had spoken of her father with such admiration … would she still idolize him if she knew what he really was?
His pleading eyes may have convinced someone else. Maybe I should have considered it, but he was Brogan Ragnall. His pleas meant nothing to me.
I shook my head, gently. “When have you known your daughter to do what anyone else wants her to do? I’ve only known her for a short time and even I can tell you that. It will make no difference. She still won’t leave and the knowledge of who I am will only endanger her further.”
“You have to try,” Brogan growled.
“I have to do nothing.” I gave him a hard look. “You forget yourself, Ragnall.”
“She might die and then where will you be? Where will Lirien be? Going through the Skorn is lunacy.”
The corners of my lips turned up as I felt her at the edge of my consciousness, trying to push through the walls I’d put up while I spoke to her father.
Beautiful, loyal, fierce Seren.
Temptation filled me. When I’d arrived in the territory, thoughts of escape had consumed me. Return to Lirien. Now I knew it was my duty to go back. But without her?
That was torture.
Practicality aside—yes, she was a huge vulnerability. But I couldn’t stomach the idea of her staying behind while I went to Lirien.
Brogan’s plan was interesting. Force her to come with me. Take back my kingdom now, before Ivar could be crowned, and prepare for the coming war with Haldron. But she might hate me for it. She didn’t want to go and would be separated from her family and people forever.
The options before me were grim, my head aching as I considered them. I’d spent the night with Seren in my arms and, for that one moment, the outside world had slipped away.
I wouldn’t leave without her. But I would never make her leave, either. Not if there might be another way.
I rubbed my eyes.
And what if the war could be stopped?
Seren’s idea had merit.
“We do it Seren’s way. We kill Haldron during the trial.
End this war before it ever starts. You’ll get your family back, I’ll give them a place to live in Suomelin, and you’ll turn yourself over to me to face the consequences of murdering my family.
It’s a much neater ending for everyone, wouldn’t you say? ”
Anguish lit his features. “You can’t guarantee—”
“And neither can you. But we can try.”
Brogan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Seren will never survive that trial. Haldron will make certain of it. And he may not know who you are yet, but it’s only a matter of time before he does.”
“How did you learn? Only two people knew my name in exile and I’m sure both would be willing to die for that secret.”
Brogan nodded. “One of your father’s guards—Ulf—confessed under torture that you’d been Sealed to Pendara. After that, it was a matter of finding the right Sealed man. Only Madoc and I knew your name after that … but if I was able to find you, others can too. Haldron has many spies.”
Ulf?
The disgust I had in Ragnall had no bounds. He was a mercenary, but damn if a man with Brogan’s knowledge and skill wouldn’t be an asset in the future. Yet a man without loyalty was more trouble than he was worth.
“It doesn’t matter. Seren’s plan is sound. I’m staying. And rather than argue with her, I’d suggest you learn not to underestimate your daughter. If you’re here to help, then help her. Otherwise, you’re a waste of breath.”
A few beats of silence passed, then Brogan nodded. “I won’t sacrifice any of my family, Your Grace. We have to get them out of the House of the Veil. And my tribe deserves better than to suffer for our actions. They’ve suffered enough, wouldn’t you say? They’re innocent.”
Innocent was an exaggeration, but I focused on those moments after the skinwraith attack—when I’d seen children and women, elderly people, crying or dead. Injured. Men who’d tried to help their families and failed.
And then turned their wrathful savagery on me.
“There are innocents among them, yes,” I admitted at last. “And they may not acknowledge me, but I will protect all the people of Lirien as best I can. I’m not my father, Ragnall.
I never will be. This wasn’t a role I wanted or prepared for, but I won’t hide from it or from Haldron, either. I’m no coward.”
Shame burned openly in his eyes. “All I wanted was to be left in peace.”
I stepped closer. “Then you shouldn’t have started a war. But this may be your chance to redeem yourself. Once and for all.”