84
The open skirt of my white gown, adorned with gold floral decorations and layered over my trousers, fluttered at my sides as I marched through the luxurious corridors of Aegel Palace’s main wing.
The glow of the flames along the walls reflected off the gold of my armguards, shoulder straps, and the short bustier that hugged my waist and hips.
Calien’s Crystal, which I had had our blacksmiths turn into a necklace immediately after our return so that I could wear it—just like my aunt had done before me—felt like a heavy weight pressing on my chest.
I ascended the circular staircase leading to the building’s highest terrace, my furious footsteps reverberating in the stairwell.
The door at the top was already open.
“Why are we still here while the Kingdom of Men burns before our eyes?” I erupted.
Wrapped in pale robes, with his long brown hair cascading over his shoulders like a silk stole, my father did not turn around, his hands clinging to the balustrade.
Beyond his regal figure, away to the west, the white Leukós had vanished from sight, engulfed by a vast curtain of swaying darkness.
Above the city, the sky wasn’t as clear as ours, but with flashes of lightning erupting within the thick clouds.
Black flames covered the hills and plains beyond the Glawar.
Every cry that reached my ears felt like a pinprick to my heart.
“Go back to your chambers,” Father replied gloomily.
I stood next to him, my expression aggressive. “Don’t treat me like a child,” I hissed at his stern profile.
He suddenly turned to me, pinning me with a withering stare. “I treat you like the cause of all this!” he shouted, gesturing angrily toward the Kingdom of Men.
I clammed up, my breathing heavy as my father first looked down at the gold tiara on my forehead, then at the Crystal, almost as if he no longer considered me worthy of being either his heir or the guardian of his mother’s soul.
“I didn’t ask to be his mate,” I said, my soft voice vibrating with both anger and pain.
“But I saw you do nothing, nothing to resist it,” he countered with bitter disappointment. “You gave yourself to him completely.” He looked me up and down as if my sight disgusted him. “My daughter would have fought with all her might to keep him away.”
Anger crested in my stare. “I was prepared to bind myself to another elf and endure an existence filled with desolation. To fall into an eternal sleep if the ritual failed. I did fight.”
“Not enough,” he accused me. “And now the blood of Queen Aloiv, the coven of witches, their elders, and all those humans is on your hands.”
I clenched my jaw tightly to prevent my chin from quivering as I fought back tears.
“Yes,” I replied in a grievous tone. “And that is why I will kill him.” I touched the Crystal to let my father understand that Calien would give me her magic to defeat the enemy once and for all. “I’m the only one who can.”
His eyes stayed on the Crystal for a few seconds. Gradually, the anger in them gave way to sadness, almost as if until that moment he had hoped his mother would communicate with him, just as she had done with me. He let out an exhausted sigh and turned back to the Kingdom of Men.
“The witch people are preparing to leave the shores of the Lands of the East to seek refuge in the unexplored territories,” he said, in a slow, distant voice.
“Our druids are relentlessly praying to the Spirits to grant them the power to raise a defensive barrier along our kingdom’s borders.
” He took a deep breath. His tone hardened.
“We must remain here to protect our people.” I started to protest strongly, but he raised one hand to stop me and looked at me sharply.
“We can’t help humans in any way now. And when the enemy comes for us, you will not be by my side to fight him.
” His face grew more serious. “You will stay here. Safe.”
No, he didn’t mean safe. He meant away from Mornon. He didn’t believe I could kill him. He didn’t believe in my strength.
He didn’t believe in me.
Although I had told my family I’d rejected the enemy’s proposal and had not even considered joining his barbaric conquest, they thought that next time I faced Mornon, I would.
That I would take the hand he would offer me.
Even my mother doubted my determination. My loyalty.
The sense of loneliness that gripped me was terrible, but I tried with all my heart not to be crushed by it. To stay strong for what awaited me.
To stay in Calien’s light.
“You’re right, Father,” I said solemnly. “I won’t be by your side.” I fixed him in my steely, almost menacing gaze. “I will be leading the army.”
I left him there in dismay, walking back inside without a backward glance.
I moved quickly through the corridors until I reached my wing, then went to the first floor to change into the tunic and trousers I always wore under the armor. Then I would gather the soldiers and prepare to ride toward the Kingdom of Men.
With or without my father’s approval. With or without him and Araton.
But when I opened my chambers door, I did not step into the sitting room that came before the bedroom.
I stood in a vast, three-aisled hall that was completely black from floor to ceiling, with no windows and faintly illuminated by candles fixed on enormous onyx chandeliers.
I gasped in fear, glancing around confusedly. What on earth had just happened? Where was I?
Then my full attention was drawn toward the figure standing before the scary raised throne at the back of the hall.