Chapter 6 #4
“I question the wolf because I need to know the truth… I must know the seelie did not lie about the identity of… her father.” Darkness rushed through my veins, seeping into every molecule of my body to snap the tethers on my feelings as I pushed those last two words from my lips, struggling to admit what I feared might be the truth to Jenavyr.
My sister looked around behind us at Falkyr and the boats that shook in the docks as the water in the bay grew dangerously turbulent and rain lashed the city, and the wind bent the trees that hugged the mountains, pushing them close to breaking.
“Who is her father?” She turned sharp eyes on me, eyes that were filled with suspicion and told me she already knew the answer to that question.
“The Summer steward declared that it was him.”
She knew instantly I was not speaking of Sylvan.
She reared back, her voice a bare whisper. “The Summer King.”
A chill tumbled down my spine as I nodded, as I dealt that blow to her, one that felt like a blow to myself as I told someone that for the first time.
She needed to know.
“Her blood was responsible for orphaning you.” But I laid no blame at Saphira’s feet. She was not responsible for the acts committed by her father, long before she had been born.
Crimson lightning struck the cliff close to the mountain that curved down into the sea behind her and she tensed, her hand suddenly tightening against my arm, and then her touch lightened, becoming a soothing caress, as if she had seen or sensed that I was falling apart as I waited to hear what she would say in response to that revelation.
“Saphira is not to blame for what happened to our parents.” Her words shook me, cutting away my fear as her silver eyes hardened and her rosy lips compressed in an unyielding line. “She is not to blame, and her blood does not define her. She is still a wolf. She is still Saphi.”
She was. She was still my little wolf. Still my Saphi.
Her blood meant nothing to me, and goddess, I was relieved to hear it meant nothing to my sister either.
But I was sure there were many within my court who would not look so lightly upon Saphira’s lineage.
I was sure there would be some that would want her gone from this kingdom, and deem her unworthy of the position I wanted to bestow upon her.
My queen.
I did not have to fight my sister to make her approve of Saphira, but I would have to fight my court.
I would go to war with it if it meant I could have Saphira.
“Calm yourself, brother.” Vyr lifted her hand from my arm and placed it over the centre of my chest. My heart thundered against her palm and she splayed her fingers, her gaze softening as she felt it and said, “She would not want you to harm her beloved court.”
“Her court is the Summer Court,” I snapped at her, darkness branching from beneath me as lightning whipped from the sky and cracked off the mountain, sending several boulders tumbling down its onyx face.
Jenavyr saw my words for what they truly were.
A desperate reach for reassurance.
“You are wrong, Kael. The knowledge that she might have Summer Court blood shook me too, but I have no doubts, not as you do. No matter what blood may or may not run in her veins, the Shadow Court is Saphi’s home. This is her court. Her home. Her allegiance lies with it… and with you.”
Great Mother, I had needed to hear those words.
I had not needed to hear the ones that followed them.
“You should have told me this yesterday. Did you not tell me because you were ashamed?”
“No.” I snapped fangs at her, shadows lashing at the ground near her boots but not reaching her. “I could never be ashamed of her.”
That moment replayed in my mind again, unfurling before my eyes, tearing at my soul and making my heart bleed as I saw her standing there, surrounded by those seelie.
“You did not see her,” I whispered, voice softening and the storm abating as I lost myself in that memory.
“You did not see how terrified she was… and yet she still let them take her. To save me. To save you. To save her friend. To deliver vengeance to me even when she knows what it might cost her. If I did not tell you sooner, it was because… it was because I was ashamed of myself. I was weak. I let them take her. And now I do not know what they are doing to her.”
I toyed with the ring on my finger, all my focus falling to it.
“I can feel her. I know she is alive.” I touched the spot over my heart, pressing my claws into the wet fabric of my tunic.
“The bond between us tells me that much. What I do not know is whether she is in pain… if she is afraid… if she is in danger… and it is destroying me. It is destroying me because I know she will try to shield me from what is happening to her. She will try to avoid summoning me and will try to be strong no matter what they do to her—for my sake. To protect me. To protect you. To protect this court.”
My hand dropped from my chest as cold engulfed me, chilling my blood.
My soul.
“And I am terrified of feeling that bond between us break.”
I looked at my sister, gaze bleak and desperate, not hiding my fears now as they rose like a great wave to crash over me, pulling me under.
“Every second. Every breath. I am terrified I will feel it snap and I am waiting for it to happen.”