Chapter Six #2
“Now it makes sense.” He frowns, a crease forming between his brows. “He took away your ability to see the living realm, and you lost control of your innate.”
I hate how well my twin can read me.
“I didn’t lose control. I just…let go.” I say, my tone sour and resentful.
“You really wanted him to end you,” he says, bewildered by the truth of my earlier words.
I remain silent, and he purses his lips with a tight nod.
“Kassil has been meeting with Netharis in secret,” he relents with a sigh, shifting his weight. “Kassil hides it, but I have eyes in his House.”
“Again with Kassil, Vae,” I drawl annoyed, rolling my eyes.
I almost laugh.
He’s the perfect heir of the hells.
Having informants in the Layer Lords’ Houses is something Netharis would do.
“Listen,” he says, “when I brought him up last, it was before I knew about these meetings. These last few weeks while you’ve been…recovering have changed my perspective.”
My brows raise.
Vaelyn admitting a mistake?
Netharis would never.
“Don’t let Netharis hear you say those words.” A weak smile tilts my lips.
Vaelyn grins, flashing his fangs. “We all know Netharis turns a blind eye to what I do.”
The truth of his words make them no less irritating.
“There’s a meeting tonight. The Layer Lords, Netharis, and I will be present. I’m confident you will be on the topics agenda.”
“Amazing,” I drag the word, unamused. “Am I expected to join?”
“I’m not sure,” he replies with a callous shrug. “Netharis has been tight lipped the last few days. I learned of the meeting this morning when I was advised I needed to be there.”
“I see.”
“Ves,” Vaelyn starts, and he leans forward in his seat, “I don’t know the depth of things between you and Kassil, but I believe he’s not finished with you.”
A knot begins to form in my stomach.
My mind travels to the past, flashes of moments between Kassil and I—few loving, most abusive, all behind closed doors. In public view, especially before Netharis, we were the perfect couple.
A perfect couple in a hellish court with a closet full of dark secrets.
I would still be with him if it weren’t for Druka.
She saved me. And that’s an entire separate mess I wish would have ended differently.
Silence fills the room between us, and whether it’s been a gradual shift or it’s always been this way, Vaelyn and I stand worlds apart. I’ve never felt so distant from him, and a twinge of sadness tightens in my chest.
We’ve always been compared to one another, and I’ve always been second-rate. I lack traits and skills demons value, and I’ve been denied the opportunity to improve with little or no reason given. For centuries it bothered me, but looking at Vaelyn now, seeing what he’s becoming, I don’t want it.
I never truly wanted it. I simply wanted to be accepted.
“Why would Netharis strip you of your status as Death Bringer?” Vaelyn’s question jars me out of my thoughts.
“To punish me for Celesta’s actions,” I say, giving him a cynical smile.
“Celesta?” His expression grows confused.
“Our mother,” the words are heavy with sarcasm, “insists Netharis has kept me from my Fate,” I answer and Vaelyn’s brows raise. “She pulled me into the living realm when I went on a reaping with Ylara—”
“Impossible,” Vaelyn interjects, wildly shaking his head. “Demons can’t—”
“I thought the same. We were lied to.” I hold up a halting hand, keeping my tone even. “Apparently the rules are slightly different for half-demons.”
Growing unnaturally still, Vaelyn becomes statuesque in his seat. He stares at me with wide eyes, his throat bobbing as he swallows.
“You can’t listen to her, Ves,” he says with a slow shake of his head. “She is the goddess of deceit. She seeks revenge against Netharis for keeping her bound to the moon.”
“It seems you know more about our mother than I do,” I say and he’s unable to meet my stare. “I’ve only recently come to learn about her history with Netharis.”
I shouldn’t be surprised Vaelyn knows more about our lineage than I assumed. He would have to learn all the secrets of the hells to become a successful ruler. But it stings all the same.
Finally, he speaks. “How did Celesta pull you through the veil?” he asks the question in earnest.
“I don’t know exactly. Whatever she did, however she did it—I stood among the living in a mortal body.”
“How can you be sure it wasn’t a glamour?” His tone is scathing.
Irritation flares up my spine, straightening it. “I felt the breeze upon my skin. Saw the night sky without the filter of the veil. A hundred mortals saw me.”
“Light take me,” Vaelyn mutters, his voice barely above a whisper.
Staring with a mixture of surprise and awe upon his face, my twin remains silent. His eyes race to mine.
“What did she look like? How did you return?” The questions rush out of him in a tumble of continuous sound.
I’d have those questions too.
And I’d probably ask them the same way.
Giving him a weak smile, I answer. “You have her eyes and her feathers. She is tall, nearly as tall as you.”
Vaelyn leans back in the seat, letting his back rest against the edge of the desk.
He shakes his head as he says, “I’ve met many of the other gods, but never her. Netharis keeps her locked away except for that night, her ascension anniversary.”
Why would he keep her locked away?
Why one night of freedom?
“Because it’s easier to control someone when you give them just enough to have hope,” Vaelyn answers my unasked questions followed by a tight-lipped frown.
Foolishly, for a moment, I expected a sliver of genuine compassion from the god of death. Allowing Celesta the chance to see the realm she once lived in. But no. Her night of release isn’t a kindness; it’s a reminder of the power Netharis holds over her.
“Did she tell you what your Fate may be?”
I shake my head. “No. Neither did Netharis. At least not entirely. Whatever it may be, I’m destined to change the realms.”
Vaelyn’s eyes widen slightly. He’s masking his surprise.
“What could Nektos possibly want?”
“I don’t have an answer for that,” I reply, smoothing my hands over the comforter around me.
It’s a worn and tattered thing, held together by my haphazard attempts at stitching. I could have a new one, if I asked for it. But I refuse to ask Netharis for anything.
“All of this proves I was right.”
Vaelyn gives me a narrow-eyed and confused stare.
“I’ve never belonged to the hells.”
Sighing, likely because he knows it’s a futile argument, Vaelyn reaches, pushing the stack of books closer to the edge of the desk. “Ylara sent these. Reading through the titles as I brought them, they didn’t make sense. Now they do.”
Dragging my eyes to the desk, I tilt my head slightly as I read through the titles. Fae Customs, The Joining, Human Customs, The Vampire Courts, Major Cities of Eldoterra… She’s sent an assortment of titles relating to the living realm and its inhabitants.
Straightening myself, I stare at the stack of books and a small laugh escapes me. Clearly, Ylara already knows what I’m going to do, and she wants me prepared for life among the living.
“The one on fae customs and the Joining I thought was a joke,” he admits, letting his hand fall atop the stack. It lands with a muted thunk. “Her way of teasing you about your dream fae.”
Honestly, I haven’t thought about him since the night with Celesta.
But now his words echo in my mind. While I’ve never believed I belonged to the hells, I’m not sure I belong to the living realm either.
I would take the living realm over an eternity of servitude to the god of death if given the choice.
“I’m going to leave, Vae,” I say quietly, shoving the thoughts of the fae back into the dark corners of my mind.
“Don’t be stupid.” Vaelyn glowers. “Netharis will never let you leave.”
“I know.”
“I need you to understand that if he finds out, he will lock you away in obsidian again.”
Meeting his stare, my jaw clenches. “Are you going to stop me?”
“We both know I can’t do that,” he says with a sad smile.