Chapter 41 Homecoming
HOMECOMING
The sky was wrong.
The sun burned an angry orange, its rays bleeding across the horizon, and a warm wind blew from the sea. The wrongness had tainted the wilds, too. Shadows stretched at odd angles and everything was darker, and silence filled the forest instead of bird calls.
When the castle came into view, the courtyard churned with activity. Blacksmiths bent over whetstones, sharpening weapons in the strange red light. Servants hurried past with sealed scrolls and healers carried bolts of white linen.
I lifted my head from Kairos's shoulder, groggy. I didn't remember falling asleep, but the journey was a blur of dreams and the steady beat of his heart against my cheek.
Kairos helped me dismount. Other mairen were snorting, ears flicking, refusing to settle. Morvaen jerked at the reins, forcing Kairos to clench them tighter.
I stroked the mairen’s neck. “Do they scare easily?”
Kairos frowned. “Not usually.”
“Kai, we need to meet with the clans.” Uther handed the reins of his mairen to a younger male, who fought to control the skittish beast. “Was destroying the palace intentional? Who aren’t we at war with?”
“One crisis at a time.”
A door to the keep burst open and Elwen rushed out. Her hair was wild, eyes frantic.
“Thank the gods.” She grabbed Kairos’s arms, checking him over. “You’re alive. We couldn’t reach you, none of the warriors responded. I-I thought—”
“I’m fine,” Kairos said. “What’s happened?”
She let out a hysterical laugh. “Everything. Soren’s sent seven messages demanding reparations. He’s mobilizing the fleet. Three ships already patrol our waters. The guild masters are panicking because Thalir is blocking our ports. Our merchants can’t get goods out.”
She thrust a handful of scrolls at him, words tumbling out faster.
“Taressa issued an ultimatum. She’s threatening to break the alliance unless you answer for the destruction.
Caelir’s backing Thalir’s claim. Vaeris is calling you an oathbreaker.
Two tsunamis hit our shores yesterday, and both hit the southern coast. They’re saying it’s an omen, that we’ve brought this on ourselves. ”
She looked at me, then away.
“Coastal villages are evacuating and people are flooding inland. Our grain stores can’t handle it. We need to activate the seaside runes before Soren’s fleet moves against us—” She sucked in a breath. “What happened at that summit?”
My mother’s hollowed face flashed in my mind—the thin, cracked lips and her eyes, glazed over with pain in those last few weeks. After she died, Rheya and I lost everything, and now I’d made more families like ours.
Kairos’s jaw tightened. “Vaeris set a trap. I walked into it.”
“A trap that destroyed the entire palace?” Elwen’s voice rose. “Kairos, what did you do?”
“Nothing,” I blurted. “It was my fault.”
Elwen’s gaze flicked to me, then her brother. I lifted my chin, bracing for her judgment. She had every right to hate me for what I’d unleashed on her realm.
“Heal her first. Then ask your questions,” Kairos growled.
Elwen’s glare softened as she hooked an arm through mine, tugging me toward the keep. Kairos waved off a group of warriors pressing in around him, striding after us.
The stone in my gut grew larger. I felt like a goldfish in an ocean, tugged along by a merciless current I couldn’t fight. Once we reached my chambers, Elwen pushed me into the chair by the fireplace. Uther raced in, closing the door behind him.
“Where are you injured?” Elwen asked.
I sighed. “I’m okay.”
“She’s not,” Kairos muttered, hovering over me. “She drowned.”
“Gods. I told you not to bring her. Didn’t I say this would be a disaster?”
Uther grimaced. “Disaster undersells it. Catastrophe is more like it.”
Kairos glowered at his sister. “Will you please fucking heal her.”
Elwen brushed her thumbs over my temples and threads of crimson light skimmed my skin. Coolness spread from her palms, coiling down my spine, unspooling through every limb. My lungs expanded against the pressure until the magic eased, and then Elwen drew back, her brows knitting.
She pressed a hand to my sternum, then my wrist, her fingers tightening. Only when she seemed satisfied did she let me go.
“She’s alright,” Elwen announced. “No lingering damage.”
Uther threw himself into a chair. Kairos didn’t move, but the line of his shoulders relaxed.
Elwen rounded on Kairos. “Tell me what happened.”
“Vaeris attacked us. Aelie defended herself, which triggered the binding rune to attack me. Then the palace fell apart,” Kairos said gruffly. “As soon as she broke the rune, everything started breaking. The floors, walls, support structures. We had to fight our way out.”
The door opened, and Lioren stepped in. “Apologies for the interruption, but this can’t wait. Soren is calling through the scrying pool.”
Circular walls rose to a domed ceiling, and in the center sat a shallow pool. Moss clung to the rocks surrounding it, the swirling pattern of a rune glistening at the bottom. Its strange power vibrated through the rock, a low hum emanating from it.
Kairos bent to the pool, his large body perched awkwardly on the rocks, the water reflecting him in distorted fragments.
The surface rippled, and a face formed. Copper hair, bronze skin, those distinctive scales kissing his cheek. The image flickered, and Soren’s elegant features morphed into a chiseled jaw, his black eyes turning blue, his mouth pulling into a familiar shape.
“Finally,” Vaeris sighed. “I was starting to think you all drowned.”
“Cheap tricks,” Kairos spat, his teeth bared. “As always.”
Vaeris held up his hands. “I only want to talk.”
Kairos seethed. “You don’t get to talk after what you pulled.”
“Oh, but I do. Because your realm is hanging by a thread, and you need me.” His eyes glinted, sliding past Kairos. “Now. Where is Aelie?”
“She didn’t make it.”
Vaeris rolled his eyes. “Aelie, come to the pool right now.”
Kairos swore viciously as the rune beneath my ribs flared, a fishhook through my sternum, yanking me forward. I locked my knees, refusing to move, and the rune blazed. White-hot. My vision swam, and I stumbled toward the pool. The pain eased, and another step gave me relief.
I reached the edge, shaking.
“Good girl,” Vaeris murmured. “You can stop there.”
The compulsion released, and I sagged, catching myself on Kairos. “Call me that again, and I’ll break something you actually need.”
Vaeris smiled. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
I sneered. “I barely made it out alive.”
“I never meant to hurt you. You misunderstand what happened in that palace.”
“You must think I’m an idiot,” I snapped.
“I think you’re young.” He leaned closer, his shadows rippling around him. “Twenty-five. A child, by fae standards. You don’t understand what it’s like to wait centuries for a future that never comes.”
My stomach twisted. “Release me from the deal.”
“I can’t,” Vaeris said gently.
“Then you’re a monster.”
“I could be.” His smile darkened. “There are a thousand ways to abuse this deal, and gods help me, I want to. But I haven’t. Do you know how hard that is? To own someone completely…and refuse to touch the power of it?”
I flinched, but he kept going.
“You were only supposed to be a tool, but those nights we talked until dawn. You told me about the dreams you’d buried. Dreams that life had already stolen from you.” He swallowed sharply. “How was I supposed to pretend it was nothing after that?”
Silence as brittle as glass stretched.
“That is why I’m asking,” he said roughly. “Not compelling. Asking you to come home.”
“Vaeris,” Kairos said softly. “I’m going to drown you in your own blood.”
A month ago, this speech would have destroyed me. I would have believed every word and convinced myself that maybe he did love me.
I crossed my arms. “This isn’t about me. He wants the dragons released.”
Kairos’s head snapped toward me. “The what?”
Heat crept up my neck as I faced him. “When the palace fractured, a rune underneath also shattered. It was one of the seals.”
Kairos stared at me. “You knew about this?”
“A dragon told me,” I whispered. “In a vision. I had no clue if it was real.” How was I supposed to explain that? That something ancient had crawled into my dreams?
Kairos clenched his teeth.
“The dragons aren’t free,” Vaeris said. “Not yet. But the tsunamis hitting your coast is their power bleeding through.”
Kairos rubbed his forehead. “Gods. We broke a dragon seal.”
Vaeris gestured at me. “She did, yes.”
“You planned this,” Kairos hissed. “You reckless fool.”
Vaeris’s eyes glittered. “There is one seal left. If that breaks, the dragons return.”
Kairos swore. “Where is it?”
“No idea,” Vaeris drawled. “Dr?thmar was obvious, the palace was built directly over it. Any scholar studying the old texts could piece it together if they knew what to look for. But the second seal? I’ve spent decades searching and found nothing.”
“Convenient,” Kairos spat.
“But she can find it.” Vaeris’s gaze shifted to me. “You sensed the first seal, didn’t you? At the palace.”
My stomach hardened. Yes, I’d heard roaring under my feet, deep and furious voices.
“The seals have protected this world for thousands of years,” Kairos shouted.
“The dragons deserve to be free,” Vaeris said calmly.
“You’re talking about creatures who enslaved entire civilizations.” Kairos’s baritone trembled. “They burned cities for sport. Is that what you want back?”
“They were betrayed.”
“Because they were out of control!”
Vaeris’s lip curled. “The fae were the victors. Of course they painted themselves as heroes and the dragons as monsters.”
“It’s the truth,” Kairos snarled.
“I’m trying to right an ancient wrong.” Vaeris swiveled toward me. “Think about it. Two thousand years in a prison—no trial, just eternal suffering because they feared their power. Does that sound familiar?”
My chest tightened.