40. Chapter 37
Chapter 37
Sometimes, I wish that my mother was still alive. Sometimes, I wish she could see the world that we created. It’s certainly not what I expected, but it’s not as bad as some pretend it is.
~Maeve Arden, The Future of Magic and Dragons
Cole
The cell in front of me holds the only person who’s ever successfully forced me to do anything. He’s hurt my friends. He’s hurt me. He destroyed the entire House of Shadows, and if it hadn’t been for me giving Brenna a chance to escape, the world would be doomed.
As far as I’m concerned, Casimir Cyrus is the most dangerous person in the world. And Maeve is certain that we should let him out of his cell to hopefully fight with us rather than against us.
In theory, that’s a brilliant plan. He’s certainly powerful and will be a boon to our efforts if we have to fight against an army of House of Steel soldiers, but what happens when we’re done with that? What if he decides he doesn’t want to fight alongside us anymore?
I knew the tone of voice that Maeve was using, though. She was certain. As she goes to open the door, I stop her. For anyone else, I wouldn’t. She’s the Queen, and I swore that I’d follow her regardless of what that meant.
“Are you sure?” I whisper. “He’s…”
She puts her hand on my arm and gives me a smile. “I know, Cole. He’s the person who gave you those scars and forced you to do terrible things, but he doesn’t have that power any longer. His last reign is the last one he’ll ever have. Just like we’re going to remove Gethin from power and put Rhion on the Steel Throne, you will sit on the Thone of Flames. You are not the Prince of Flames any longer, and in eight hundred years, when the Painted Crown goes back to the House of Flames, it will go to you.”
A shiver runs through me as I stare at Maeve and recognize that change. There’s no reason my father should have that power over me. He no longer wears the Painted Crown, and Maeve and I will be the ones to save the House of Flames now. Not my father.
“I didn’t think about it like that.” The confession earns me a smile and a nod. Gods, Maeve has really grown into her role as the Queen of Nyth. She sees things differently, in a way that is so human. Everyone and everything has been stuck in the same hierarchy for thousands of years, and now she’s breaking it.
Instead of saying something, I lead the way, opening the door to my father’s cell. The guard standing beside the door nods to us, and when we step into the room covered in steel plates, the door is closed behind us. I hear the loud click of a lock sliding into place in the heavy steel door that neither of us could break.
It all fades into background noise as I stare at my father. His eyes are hard as he looks from me to Maeve and back at me. “You’ve finally come for me,” he says. “Is Gethin dead?”
I smile at him, and I don’t move to unchain him. Instead, just like when Darian came into this cell every day, I sit down at the table across from him. Maeve stands beside me, her hand on my shoulder, and my father frowns at me.
“We rescued you from the House of Steel months ago. You’ve been in a human castle this entire time, and we’re considering freeing you.”
His jaw sets tight as my words fill the otherwise silent space. “My son has kept me prisoner? Do you have no loyalty?”
The words come out as a hiss. “You broke the House of Flames by allying with the House of Steel and shattering Earth and Shadows. My loyalty is to the House of Flames and to the world. Both of which are nearly destroyed because of you and Gethin.”
My words come at a price. An ache in my very soul begins as I stare at the man who I’m bound by blood to follow. That pain is nothing new, though. This is the man who taught me what pain was. He showed me that the strength of a man was based on how much pain he could endure without falling.
“I had my reasons,” he growls. A steel collar is wrapped around his throat, and a chain connects it to the back wall. He is a prisoner, and there’s no question about it. I have every bit of control here, and yet, the way he looks at me is just as overbearing as ever, as if I’m the one who’s lucky to be in his presence.
“Father, sit down.” I say it without an ounce of question in my voice.
His eyes arch in surprise, but he doesn’t move. Shadows slide across the floor, and I know that the steel is draining Maeve quickly, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. The shadows wrap around his body and lift him into the air. He tries to struggle, but they don’t give an inch until they deposit him in the chair across from me, the chain attached to his throat at its full length.
“So you have a Queen who will do your bidding? Shouldn’t she be the one who’s sitting here instead of you?”
I want to lash out at him, but I can feel Maeve through the bond, silently reassuring me and calming me. “You don’t deserve to talk to her,” I say.
He smirks at Maeve, surely still seeing her as the woman who sat at his dining room table and ran when he burned me. He doesn’t understand just how much has changed.
“We are the last resistance that Nyth has against Gethin. We are offering you a chance to right your failures by joining us in fighting against him.” I say the words slowly and solemnly, and they echo softly off the steel walls.
Father silently stares at me and then Maeve, and then refocuses on me as though he’s not entirely sure who is in charge. “You want me to help you fight the House of Steel?”
I nod to him. “We know Gethin is still searching for relics from the Great Houses. We have the Shadowed Cloak, and he has the Burning Brand. It’s unclear if he has either of the other two, but he’s sent an army of five hundred House of Steel soldiers to hunt for something. The two of us will struggle against that many in an open field. We would like you to stand with us.”
He doesn’t respond immediately. His fingers drum against the steel table for several moments before saying, “You won’t be able to beat Gethin without more help than that.”
“We know. There are plans in the works to gain more allies and soldiers, but these five hundred soldiers need to be dispatched immediately to protect the human kingdom we have been in all this time.”
Father frowns for a moment and then shrugs. “I don’t care to help humans, but I’d be more than happy to burn an army of Steel soldiers with you. Let me go, and we can leave immediately.”
I shake my head. “No. We’ll release you in the morning. There are still things that need to happen before then, and I won’t have you wandering inside a human castle in the meantime. I just need to know if you’re willing to fight with us. And if you’re willing to take orders from Maeve. She wears the Painted Crown, and you owe her fealty.”
He looks Maeve up and down. “You really believe that you’re strong enough to fight both Gethin and the House of Steel?”
She smiles at him. “No, I don’t, but I don’t need to fight everyone tomorrow. I need to prevent him from becoming any stronger. I need to keep him from attacking future allies while they prepare. I need to stall, Casimir. That’s all I’m asking for help with today. Tomorrow night, when the pressing threat is dealt with, we can discuss fighting Gethin and the full might of the House of Steel.”
My father is quiet as he takes her in again. When she’d first come to Draenyth and met my father, she’d been afraid. She’d known that he was going to hurt me. She hadn’t even known how to dress or act, but now, there’s no need to help her navigate discussions with one of the four most powerful Immortals.
This is not the woman who nearly died to harpies. She’s not even the woman who was furious when the Painted Crown appeared on her head. Maeve has grown into the woman that the world needed.
The woman I knew she would become. She is her mother’s daughter, but she’s also her father’s daughter. It’s strange to see the humanity in her still just as vibrant as ever, and yet it makes her stronger than Immortals like my father, who have forgotten the effect of kindness and empathy.
Casimir smiles at her. “Will you put me back in this box when you’re done wielding me at your enemies?”
“Is that what you’d have done?” she asks. “You have hurt Cole too many times to count. You tried to kill my mother. Every time that you’ve been given the chance to do what is right and what is easy, you have taken the easy path.”
Without giving her a moment to finish her statement, he interrupts. “Hurting Cole was never easy,” he snarls. “He… It had to be done, and every time I caused him pain, I felt a part of myself breaking. Every time he screamed, it took every ounce of strength to continue pushing him.”
I watch him as he says the words. I know what Darian said, but I can’t truly believe it. I need to hear him say the words, to somehow try to blame the millennia of torture on someone else. I look into those orange eyes and see them burst alight. “Why?” I ask softly. “It never seemed to bother you before. You’ve beaten and burned me more times than I can count. What could have forced the great King Casimir to do anything against his will? Especially to do his best to break his only son?”
“Calyr.” The word comes out as a hiss, and the world becomes sharper and blurrier at the same time. “All four of us, when we were given our crowns, talked to Calyr. He offered us advice on what would happen during our reigns, and the only thing he told me was about you. He refused to speak about anything except you, and it all boiled down to a single thing. Your son is the only one who can save the House of Flames. Its very survival will depend on whether he is strong enough. I made you strong, Cole. I sacrificed your loyalty and any kindness you would have ever had in your heart for me to preserve our House. To save…”
He looks beyond me, as if he’s reliving memories. “I might have been too cruel, but how could I have known where the line was? Who was to say when you’d be strong enough? I…” He looks at me, and there’s none of the anger I’ve always seen in those eyes. “Now I know. You’re strong enough. My reign has come to an end, I can finally tell you. You’re not the Prince of Flames any longer, are you?”
I feel wave after wave of emotion roll through me. My fists shift from stone to flesh and back again. Flames explode around me and flicker out. My face shows none of those emotions, though. Just as I have since I was a child, I don’t show my father anything beyond acceptance of his words.
“You don’t have anything to say?” he asks, and for the first time in my life, I see a need to be answered, not a demand.
I don’t know the man sitting in the chair across from me. I stand up without saying a word and turn to Maeve. “Do what you want with him. I will not continue this conversation.”
She hesitates for a moment before nodding to me, and I walk out of the cell. Over and over again, the emotions roll through me, and my body shifts, flames igniting in random places. I don’t even care that I don’t have control over my powers. At any point, I could erupt in an inferno, and the only thought I have is that I need to get out of these hallways. I need air. I need to be free.
Because I don’t know anything anymore.