Chapter Sixty-One
Aelia
Across the Luminoc, the sky bled orange as the sun sank behind the blackened mountains. Long shadows trailed across the courtyard, as restless as my pounding heart. Soldiers moved like clockwork around us, cinching armor, checking weapons, and murmuring oaths into the starlit night.
Reign stood beside me, dark armor glinting with a violet sheen. A storm of shadows rippled just beneath his skin, the perfect counterpart to my own sun-kissed gilded trappings. He looked like a king forged in war, my mate, my love.
And tonight, we’d ride together.
“Feywood is just a few hours’ flight,” he murmured, his hand finding mine as I checked the binding on my vambrace. “Since Ruhl has held them back thus far, if we strike hard now, we can push them out before they can regroup.”
I nodded, but my gaze drifted toward the trees.
Then my thoughts traveled to the Feywood Forest and the Kin.
The powerless. My childhood friends. The kind, hard-working neighbors I’d grown up with.
I could already feel the copper tang of war clinging to the air, like the realm itself braced for blood.
A sharp wind rustled my hair, carrying with it the scent of pine and ash.
“We won’t let them fall,” Reign said softly, as if he’d plucked the fear straight from my chest. And given the new all-arching bond, he likely had.
Before I could answer, the piercing call of a horn shattered the evening hush.
Reign and I both snapped toward the sound. Luminescent wings lit up the sky, and half a dozen soldiers appeared, the golden sunburst crest of the Light Court glowing across their alabaster uniforms.
“What in the gods?” Reign growled, shadows flickering around his fingertips.
“Wait,” I whispered, a strange chill creeping up my spine.
The first male landed, luminescent wings tucking behind his back, then the others filed in beside him. He held no weapon, only a scroll sealed with my family’s crest. Elian’s crest.
“My Lady Aelia,” the envoy said, bowing low. His voice was strained. “By order of His Ethereal Highness, King Elian of the Court of Ethereal Light, I bring you word.”
Reign stepped forward before I could speak, his voice like thunder. “You serve a usurper. Elian is not the true king. There is only one Fae with the right to sit atop that throne, and you will address the princess as her lineage demands. As Your Ethereal Highness.”
The male scoffed, a chuckle rippling through his fellow Royal Guardians.
Reign’s shadows unfurled, a tempest of pure wrath descending across the field. The air thickened, a torrent of nox and zar pulsing in the air. Fear flashed across the males’ faces, a visible tremor coursing through their feeble forms.
The male in the lead clenched his teeth then dipped his head lower. “Your Ethereal Highness,” he gritted out.
“Now, why have you come?”
The envoy flinched beneath Reign’s glare. “The king sends an invitation.”
My brows pinched. “To what?”
“A meeting. He requests parley with the Princess of Twilight and the Shadow Prince.”
Reign snorted. “Convenient timing.”
But my blood ran colder than the northern winds. Elian never made a move without strategy. And for him to ask for a meeting now, on the eve of two wars, one political and the other prophesied, meant something had changed.
Was Ruhl right? Had he sensed the sealing of the Twin Tempests? Did he know of the Tetrum Cordis?
The envoy extended the scroll to me, and I hesitated for only a breath before breaking the wax. Elian’s handwriting was as familiar as it was infuriating.
Aelia,
The time has come for us to speak, not as king and rebel, but as family. The realm cannot survive what is coming if we remain divided. I await you in an hour’s time at the Elaren Summit. Come alone, or with your mate. But come.
—E.
I closed the scroll, fingers trembling.
“What does it say?” Reign asked, his voice low.
“He wants to talk.” My gaze lifted to his. “At the Elaren Summit. In an hour.”
Reign’s jaw ticked. “It could be a trap.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But if there’s a chance he’s willing to listen… if there’s a chance to avoid bloodshed, we have to take it.”
“Aelia…”
“I know you think I’m na?ve.” I could feel it pulsing through the bond. “And I really don’t believe his intentions are pure, but we owe the realm any chance at peace.”
“This is just another ploy, starlight. He’s already betrayed us twice. How many times must we allow him to do it again?”
“We’ll be prepared this time. We go ready for war, and if we come back with peace, we’ll be all the more blessed for it.”
A beat passed. Then Reign nodded, just once. “Fine,” he grumbled. “But gods’ help us, Aelia, this will not end well.”
I looked past him to where Sol and Phantom stood waiting at the edge of the courtyard, wings spread wide. Perhaps fate had offered us one final breath before the storm.
The wind howled through the narrow pass as our dragons touched down on the sun-kissed plateau just north of Feywood at the foot of the Alucian Mountains.
The sun hung over the peaks, casting radiant light over the summit’s jagged stones and ivory spires.
Once a sacred meeting place between all three Courts, Elaren was now nothing more than a deserted stretch of land.
I slid off Sol’s back, my boots crunching against the crisp grass. Reign landed beside me with practiced ease, his shadows already curling along his arms like restless serpents sensing a trap.
“I don’t like this,” he muttered, scanning the cliffside where a trio of Light Guardians waited in their gleaming armor.
“Neither do I,” I whispered, pressing my palm briefly to the spot over my heart. The cuorem beat steady, but beneath it something felt off.
Ruhl and Mordrin are at the ready with a troop of Umbral Guards should the need arise. Reign’s deep, steady voice was like a caress to my chaotic thoughts.
Good.
A golden canopy had been erected between the cliffs, flanked by columns etched with the Light Court’s ancient symbols. And beneath it stood the King.
Elian.
Draped in ivory robes chased with gold thread, he looked every bit the noble monarch. His crown sat low over his brow, his golden-blond hair shining like burnished metal in the fading light. His expression, however, was unreadable.
“My dear niece,” he said, spreading his hands in welcome. “And the Shadow Prince.”
The way he addressed us made my stomach knot. As if we were both pawns on some familial chessboard.
“Elian,” I said coolly. “You’ve changed your mind? You finally want to discuss peace for Aetheria?”
“I do,” he replied, voice warm and smooth. “Come. Sit with me. There’s much to discuss.” He motioned to the chairs placed in a neat circle around his throne.
Neither of us sat.
Elian smiled thinly. “Or stand, whatever you prefer.”
I kept my posture poised, but every muscle in me was taut. “Why now?” I asked. “Why parley after marching your Royal Guardians toward the Shadow Court? After sending countless troops to the Luminoc border?”
His eyes met mine, calculating. “Because everything has changed.”
My blood cooled a fraction. “What do you mean?”
He took a step closer, just enough for the sunlight to catch in his irises.
“I’ve felt it, Aelia. The realm has felt it.
Something ancient has stirred.” His gaze drifted between Reign and me.
“You carry something more. Both of you. The bond between you is no longer just that of bonded Fae. It is… other. Stronger.”
I said nothing. Neither did Reign.
“With every day that passes, we come closer to fulfilling the prophecy. You can’t be so blind as to not see that?”
“I will not be this realm’s ruin,” I gritted out. “You and Helroth are to blame for everything that’s happened.”
Elian’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. Ignoring me, he continued, “You’re stronger now. And strength like that cannot be ignored, nor should it be fought.”
“Forgive me if I don’t believe you’re suddenly ready to kneel before us,” Reign said, speaking for the first time, his voice low and lethal. “Last I checked, you were still calling her a traitor.”
“I was a fool.” Elian’s tone shifted into something almost vulnerable. “But even fools can see when the end is coming. You were right, Helroth won’t stop at Shadow or Light. He wants all of Aetheria. Perhaps, even all of Crescentia. We must unify before it’s too late.”
“And what? You’ll bend the knee?” I asked.
“No.” His voice hardened. “But I will offer an alliance.”
I arched a brow. “On what terms?”
He hesitated just a beat. And that pause was enough to crack the illusion of peace he was attempting to weave.
“You’re not telling us everything.” Reign stepped forward. “What else?”
Elian’s jaw clenched. “I had hoped to speak plainly before revealing this. But I see now, truth earns trust.” He turned toward his guards and gestured sharply. “Bring him.”
I didn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.
Then I heard them, the chains. The scrape of iron against stone. Heavy footfalls. A presence that chilled the very marrow of my bones.
And then he emerged.
Gaunt but still regal. Bound at the wrists with enchanted cuffs imbued with rais that hissed against his skin. His once midnight hair was now streaked with silver. His face carved from shadow and fury.
Tenebris.
Reign stiffened beside me, his breath sharp and shallow. His hand drifted to the inside of his cloak where he’d tucked away the Moirai Shard. I never thought we’d need it today, but…
“Elian,” I whispered, dread coiling beneath my skin. “What is this?”
The king didn’t flinch. “A show of good faith, of course. Surely, your mate would be happy to see his sire alive and well. Wouldn’t he?”
Reign didn’t speak. He couldn’t. I could feel the war raging inside him, the pull of blood and betrayal. But mostly of undiluted fear. For me.
Aelia, I can’t leave you with them, but if I stay… His voice was frantic across the bond. His fear racing through the delicate strands of our connection, bloating my insides.
Tenebris lifted his chin, those eyes of pure void landing on us, and, for the first time, I saw something entirely unexpected as they darted toward Reign.
Pride.
“Hello, son.”