Chapter Five
Aelia
The hurt etched across Reign’s face when I ordered Ruhl and Gideon to pull him from Kaelith’s cell still throbbed like an open wound, but it had been a necessary evil. Reign needed a moment to get a handle on his powers, and I needed a word with my former jailor.
As I turned to Kae, Reign’s face once again flashed across my mind.
Raysa, I’d seen rage in his eyes before, but this time, it was something else entirely—it was fear.
Not of Kaelith. Of himself. And I hated how much it scared me.
I knew exactly what he was going through, a prisoner of your own abilities.
I simply didn’t understand where this new surge was coming from.
Drawing in a breath, I steadied myself for what came next. Besides, I would make it up to Reign before long.
As soon as the iron door slammed closed, I approached the big Night Fae sprawled across the wooden bench in the corner of the dimly lit chamber. Thick fingers pressed into each temple, the damage my cuoré had wreaked with his invasive shadows obvious in the tense set of his jaw.
“You should have just told him, Kae.”
“I don’t know how to break his influence,” he gritted out, eyes fixed to the low ceiling. “Helroth isn’t simply any ordinary Night Fae. He’s the king. The royals contain powers far beyond those of us lowly commoners.”
A harsh laugh parted my lips, the sound too high pitched and slightly unhinged.
“I’m starting to learn that.” Moving closer, I could feel the pulse of zar across his skin, emanating from his very core.
“You don’t strike me as a mere commoner, Kae.
I doubt Helroth would’ve entrusted you with my training if you were. ”
The corner of his lip twitched, the dark ruddy hue of his complexion deepening. “Very observant, Light Fae.”
“Why do you still call me that?”
His broad shoulders lifted. “Because despite the Night blood coursing through your veins, you are Light, princess. And as much as I despise the Light Fae, Helroth hates them more. Knowing that his heir has the blood of his greatest enemy pumping through her heart gives me more satisfaction than you’ll ever know.
” A wicked grin curled the corners of his lips.
My brows puckered as I regarded him. “You aren’t loyal to your king?”
“Oh, I am, Aelia. He made sure of that long ago.” Darkness, and more than that, utter defeat, streaked across his face.
How had I not seen it sooner? “The king forced you into a blood vow?”
He nodded, lips pressed into a tight line.
“Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“What did it matter? I can do nothing against him. He owns me, has for decades.” Straightening, he winced as his back pressed against the stone wall.
“Now, I assume it’s only a matter of time before your Shadow Fae cuoré kills me.
Either way, I’m soon destined for permanent night in Noxus’s icy embrace. ”
“I won’t let Reign kill you. Not if you help me.”
“I can’t,” he hissed.
I recognized the look of desperation. It was so similar to the one Aidan often wore when I questioned him about my past. “What was the vow?”
He clucked his teeth, lids slipping closed. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does. If you’ve come to care for me even the tiniest bit over the past few months, please tell me.”
His eyes slowly opened, irritation written across his features. “You assume too much, Light Fae.”
But I was certain he cared. He might have been bound to Helroth, but I’d seen slivers of his kindness. Inching closer, I slapped my hands on my hips and stared down at him expectantly.
With a frustrated grunt, he finally mumbled, “I swore my allegiance to the king in return for a life spared.”
“Whose?”
“For Zaroth’s sake, Aelia, you don’t know when to quit, do you?”
A grin stretched across my face. “Some find that one of my most endearing qualities.”
“Not me.”
“So, tell me, and I’ll leave you alone.” Besides, I could feel Reign’s anxiety dribbling through our bond every second I was in here with the Night Fae. It wouldn’t be long before he burst into the cell and dragged me out.
The errant thought was oddly exciting.
“Come on, Kaelith, out with it. If you can’t provide any useful information, at least you could entertain my curiosity.”
“You’re impossible,” he ground out. “Just remember to share my candidness with your cuoré. If anything, it should serve as further proof that I truly know nothing about how to stop Helroth’s hold over you.”
“Deal.”
With another pained sigh, he muttered, “Helroth spared Vaelora’s life in exchange for a lifetime of servitude. Both of ours.”
“Vaelora?” My thoughts swirled back to my time in captivity at Helspire Keep. The older female had been my only source of light and companionship in that bleak castle. “Who is she to you?”
“She was my brother’s wife. That is, before Helroth murdered him and stole her as his own.”
“Wait, Vaelora is the Night Queen? That would make her my—”
He shook his head, slowly lifting his hand as if even that slight movement was painful. “Vaelora was his first wife. Your grandmother was Morvanya, a Shadow Fae royal. As I’m sure you’ve heard, before the Two Hundred Years’ War, Night and Shadow often intermingled.”
“Morvanya.” I swirled the name on my tongue, another piece of the puzzle that was my muddled bloodline. Why hadn’t Helroth told me about her?
“Yes,” he murmured. “You see, Vaelora was unable to give him a child. Complications from her first pregnancy. Therefore, once Helroth tired of her, he moved on to Morvanya.”
“And they had my mother, Sable.”
He nodded.
I’d often seen Kae and Vaelora together around the Keep, but as they were the only living souls I encountered during my captivity, I’d never thought twice about it. So Vaelora was his sister-in-law. “Do you have any other family?”
“None alive, Light Fae.” He closed his eyes once more and slid down across the bench. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to rest. Having your brain sliced into shreds by shadows is far from pleasant.”
“I can’t imagine.” I paused for a long minute before turning toward the door. “Thank you for telling me the truth.”
Without opening his eyes, he drawled, “You better not let your cuoré hear you thanking me. I doubt he would stand for that. And at the rate his zar is intensifying—”
Twirling back around, a trickle of fear sharpened my words. I’d fought so hard to grapple with the foreign energy and still found myself at its mercy. “What do you know about Reign’s zar?”
His eyes finally opened, a drowsy haze clouding the brilliant citrine. “Nothing, other than it’s powerful.”
“I suppose that makes sense, since it’s coming from me.”
His dark brows furrowed as they regarded me, lips pinching. “No, I don’t believe that’s correct.”
“What?”
“You heard me, Aelia. I’ve been working with you for months now. I’m well acquainted with your zar and that of the king. Though there is something familiar about his, it feels different from yours.”
That whisper of fear burned brighter.
“There’s an echo in it... something old. Not yours. Not even Helroth’s.” He paused, eyes distant. “It reminds me of someone I once knew.”
“Someone you knew?”
He shook his head, his gaze unfocused. “But then again, it’s likely the madness talking now. Your cuoré certainly scrambled my thoughts.”
“Where is the zar coming from, Kae?”
His shoulders lifted lazily before he rolled over, resting his head on his arm as a pillow. “The same place all power stems from, Light Fae. His blood.”
The walk back to the upper levels of the manor passed in a blur, my mind swirling with the implications of Kaelith’s words.
Reign was a bastard. He knew nothing of his birth mother, other than the fact that she’d been a servant in his father’s home.
There had been a moment before I understood the depths of my true heritage that I’d considered the possibility of Reign’s mother being Night Fae.
Then, when the truth came out, I never thought of it again. But what if it were true? Reign’s Shadow abilities were growing stronger by the day, but it wasn’t only the nox which grew uncontrollable. It was the zar.
And realms, if it wasn’t coming from me, then from where?
I thought I had finally learned who I was. Kin. Light. Shadow. Night. Princess. But maybe I’d been so focused on my blood, I’d ignored what ran in his.
Who was the Shadow Prince?