Chapter Twenty-One
Reign
Stay out of sight, old girl.
Phantom snorted, dark plumes of smoke curling from her long snout. It would be safer if I remained close. Only Noxus knows how this foolish mission will end.
I appreciate the vote of confidence. With a rueful smile, I stepped out from the shadows of the looming darkwoods that surrounded Father’s fortress home. The ebony turrets climbed high into the night sky, skeletal fingers reaching to the low hung full moon.
I paused at the edge of the forest, taking in the place that had been more penitentiary than home, the stone that had heard my screams and the traitorous shadows that had cloaked every bruise.
It had been more than four years since I’d stepped foot inside.
There wasn’t a single thing about the grand castle that incited any sort of pleasant memories.
It was nothing more to me than a prison crafted of stone and sorrow.
It was where Father made me into a monster, his weapon forged to destroy the child of twilight. Darkness crept into the corners of my vision as memories of the past uncoiled like smoke.
I was fifteen the first time he nearly killed me.
The training yard behind the Fortress of Umbral Shadows was nothing but black stone and cold mist, the sky a permanent slate of storm clouds.
It was always cold there, even when the sun shone devastatingly bright across the Luminoc.
That morning, frost still clung to the edges of the iron railings, and my breath misted with every exhale as I stood, blade in hand, facing the only shadow I could never conquer.
My father.
King Tenebris moved like a wraith across the yard, his own blade an extension of his arm and just as sharp as his piercing gaze. I was already bleeding from a slice above my brow, and the iron tang of it mixed with the chill, grounding me in a way that was almost comforting. Almost.
“Again,” he said, eyes like pits of endless night.
I lifted my blade, somehow gripping it tighter even though my arms shook.
I lunged, aiming for the opening I thought I saw, but he was faster.
He always was. He knocked my blade aside with a flick of his wrist, stepping in close enough that I could smell the cold on him as he pressed his sword into my neck.
I winced as the sharp blade pierced my skin.
The scent of ash, steel and shadow closed in around me.
For an instant, I thought he would do it. End me for my incompetence.
“You are too slow,” he growled, finally withdrawing his blade and striking my ribs with the hilt instead. Pain exploded through my side, but I didn’t drop, didn’t falter. I forced my eyes up to meet his.
He sneered. “Your hesitation will cost you everything.”
I bit back a retort, swallowing blood from where I’d bitten my tongue, and repositioned. My shadows flickered around me, thin and weak, but there. I reached for the tendril of nox, forcing it to form into a shield, just as he’d taught me.
Tenebris’s eyes glinted. “Better.”
He struck again, and the shadow caught the blade, but the force of it sent me skidding across the slick stones. I hit the ground with a smack. My breath came ragged, pain flaring up my spine, but I didn’t cry out. I didn’t give him that.
“On your feet,” he ordered.
I pushed up, every muscle screaming, and faced him again. My blade was heavy, my arms trembling, but I lifted it and positioned myself in the stance he’d drilled into me day after day.
“Your purpose is clear, Reign,” he said, circling me like a predator. “You were born for one reason alone: to destroy the child of twilight. To end her before she can plunge all of Aetheria into eternal dusk.”
His words seared into me, carving themselves into the marrow of my bones.
He’d been saying them for as long as I could remember.
Father had been whispering them in my ear since I was too young to understand, drilling them into me when I could barely hold a blade.
And he reminded me with every bruise, every scar.
“She is your enemy,” he continued, voice a cold promise.
“There is no room for weakness. No room for hesitation. When the time comes, you will strike, and you will not falter. Because if you do, Reign…” He stopped in front of me, the tip of his blade pressing lightly against my sternum, right over my hammering heart.
“If you do, I will finish what you could not.”
The shadows around us shifted, drawn to him like iron to a magnet. I felt them pressing against my skin, cold and heavy, reminding me of what I was. What I was meant to be.
“Yes, Father,” I forced out, the words like ice on my tongue.
He pulled back, lowering his blade, but his eyes never softened. They never did.
“Again.”
And so I lifted my sword, blood dripping onto the cold stone, and I lunged. Because in that moment, I believed him. I believed that was all I was meant for.
The dark memories faded, shoved back by sheer will. I wasn’t that helpless, young boy anymore.
No, you are not. Phantom’s voice sailed through my mind, banishing the lingering images.
Twisting my head over my shoulder, I found a pair of silver orbs locked on my own. My skyrider’s dread leeched through our bond, an unexpected twist of anger, pain and fear. I hate what Tenebris did to you, Reign. Still, there must be another way to ensure Aelia’s safety from the vow.
There isn’t. And don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the exact same thing for Solanthus if the situation were reversed.
Another huff.
I can defeat him, Phantom. I know I can. I’m stronger than he is now.
I believe you. There was reluctance in her tone, but her response was still satisfying.
And I appreciate the concern all the same. Offering her a reassuring smile, I forced my legs toward the fortress, wrapped in a dense cloak of concealing shadows.
The air inside the fortress was cold, sharp and biting, much like I remembered it as a young boy.
Flames flickered from the torches hung on the obsidian walls, faltering against the darkness that seemed to swallow everything whole.
Unease churned in my gut, but I forced it down, steeling my nerves for the moment I’d waited for my entire life.
A heady swirl of nox and zar swam through my veins, my boots silent across the stone floor as I passed unsuspecting guards and traversed the quiet corridors leading to Father’s private chambers.
Would he recognize the change in me? Would he sense the zar and question its origin?
If he sensed the cuorem, I’d have to move quickly before he put two and two together.
Shadows seeped from the cracks in the obsidian walls, and the long, narrow corridors whispered with every step I took. It was as if the fortress itself remembered every order he ever barked, every punishment he ever gave.
When I reached his private chambers, I paused and drew in a breath to slow the wild drumbeat beneath my ribcage.
Slowly, I pulled open the door and peered into the dark room.
The king was seated behind a massive onyx desk littered with scrolls.
The hearth burned low in the corner, throwing jagged shadows across the chamber and catching on the edges of the blackened armor mounted along the walls.
Ordering my concealing shadows away, I revealed myself to the male who’d been more tyrant than father.
Tenebris didn’t look up right away, dipping his quill in ink as if I were nothing more than another shadow drifting in.
His aura coiled around him like a living thing, thick with nox, oppressive even now.
“Reign.” His voice was the same, cold and clipped, cutting through the quiet. “What in Noxus’s name are you doing here?”
I stepped inside, boots silent on the polished stone, and looked him in the eye. “I came to speak to you.”
He placed the quill down with precise care before leaning back, his eyes narrowing slightly as they met mine. “Speak to me? And what if someone had seen you? Did it slip your mind that you were banished from Shadow lands?”
I clenched my jaw, feeling the familiar burn of rage beneath my skin. Shadows flickered at my feet, restless and hungry. “This is more important than the damned farce you forced me into all those years ago.”
His mouth twitched, a cold mockery of amusement. “Careful.”
“No.” My voice was steady, even as my hands curled into fists at my sides. “You don’t get to tell me that anymore. I am not a boy, and I am done pretending you were ever a father to me.”
His gaze darkened, shadows pulsing around him in warning. “You tread dangerous ground, Reign.”
“You were never a father,” I pressed on, stepping closer, ignoring the cold prickle of nox in the air.
“You were a tormenter. A taskmaster. You forged me in pain and shadow and called it duty. You told me my only purpose was to kill the child of twilight. You made me believe that was all I was meant for.”
For a moment, silence pressed down on the room, broken only by the crackle of the hearth. Then his gaze dropped, narrowing on the shadows twisting around my boots, weaving with something darker, sharper—the zar, rippling beneath the surface.
His eyes snapped back up to mine. “What is that?” he demanded, voice low and dangerous. “What have you done?”
I drew in a breath, the bond with Aelia thrumming steadily in the back of my mind. Before she woke and found me missing, I focused on the onyx wall I’d perfected over the years, blocking her out.
“Why are you really here, Reign?” he asked, his shadows pulsing. They thickened, filling the chamber like smoke. “Why now after all these years?”
I met his gaze, unflinching. “I’m here to deliver you to King Elian, Father.” The words fell between us like a blade, sharp and final.
Shock flickered across his face, then it was gone an instant later, replaced by cold fury. “You would betray your blood for the Light Fae?”
“For Aetheria,” I growled, not daring to mention Aelia yet. “For the realm you claim to care about while you sit in your fortress doing nothing.”