Chapter 54 #2
“Has it been fulfilled?” Storm clouds gathered overhead to blot out the beautiful aurora, hanging heavily in the air as it charged.
I curled my fingers into a tight fist at my side as I stared him down—the architect of all my pain.
“I learned some things in the Summer Court, thanks to my spy who was able to freely move among them. I learned some things that made me realise that my vengeance did not end with the death of Sylvan, the steward of that court, because he was not the one who engineered the events that led to the attack on Belkarthen. He was not the one who ordered the murder of my mother and death of my brother.”
My hand cut through the air again, the letters I had taken from his office during my visit to Ereborne appearing in them, together with the journal that had revealed his role in what had happened.
“I know how I came to have no parents—no brother—and was left to rule a court when I was no more than a boy, and how I was manipulated into signing a contract that acted as a leash for my loyalty, forcing compliance from me. But those gathered here do not know, and perhaps I should tell them. What do you think?” I stared him down, my voice a cold blade that cut through the tense silence as that electricity that charged the air grew stronger, raising the hairs on the nape of my neck.
Any moment now, the storm would break.
Any moment now, this cold and pressing feeling inside me, this numb sort of rage, would fracture and I was not sure what I would do when it did.
I looked at Kalyn and Vaeleryn, and then at Rhyn, before returning my gaze to Elduin, holding his as I let the truth spill from my lips.
“You conspired with the seelie high king, and with Sylvan, then general of the Summer Court, to murder my parents and kill my brother.”
The air turned cold, frigid against my skin, and my breath fogged before my face.
Rhyn stepped forwards, his look so sharp it could have cut the ice forming in my veins as he stared at Elduin. “Is this true?”
Elduin half-laughed, half-scoffed. “Not at all. He will say anything to get out of his end of the agreement so he can wed his little wolven whore.”
I growled low. “Saphira is not a whore, and I warn you to watch your tongue when you stand in my court, and when I have all the evidence I need to prove that you turned the seelie against your own breed.”
Elduin did not look at all afraid of me. “You have nothing.”
I glanced at my sister, fearing how she would take this next part, and told myself she was strong. She would be furious, and hurt, but she was strong enough to make us pay for that pain, taking it out on us rather than withdrawing from us and leaving us. She was strong.
She could find it in her heart to forgive us. She would.
“The steward of the Summer Court went against your orders though, did he not?” I advanced a step towards Elduin. Only a step but the ground trembled beneath it, the mountains quaking as crimson lightning ripped from the sky, striking one of the ships offshore.
A vessel flying the flag of Ereborne.
Fire erupted as wood exploded, and I could hear the screams from here as I kept my eyes locked with Elduin’s, refusing to grin as that first flicker of fear ignited in them.
“Your arrangement hinged on him murdering my brother… but he was wise. Rather than doing as you wanted, fulfilling his side of the bargain you struck with him, he took the boy as leverage to force you to carry out your side—convincing the seelie high king to restore the old laws of succession that would see his cousin removed from the throne of the Summer Court, replaced by him.” I took another step and the ground shook again as another glorious bolt of lightning shot down from the black clouds, forking into two, one of which struck another galleon.
Kalyn growled low.
One of his boats then.
I canted my head, smiling coldly at Elduin as he struggled to hold my gaze.
“You will say anything to negate this agreement that has stood between us for centuries. Anything to have your little whore,” he snarled.
Shadows shot towards him, wrapping around his throat.
“I warned you to watch your tongue.” One command from me and they would tighten, cutting off his air supply, but the feel of everyone looking at me had me loosening them instead, releasing him before I could do something reckless and make myself the villain rather than revealing him as a monster.
“You targeted my brother for one reason.”
Elduin paled and the skin around his eyes darkened several shades, veering towards black as his silver eyes brightened. “You will say anything—”
“You violated my mother the night before her binding ceremony to my father and sired the boy.”
My words fell like a blade, slicing through his own to silence him and everyone around me.
No one breathed.
No one moved.
“What evidence do you have for such lies?” Elduin rallied first, scoffing at me despite how his calm demeanour fractured, revealing his fear to me and to Kalyn, whose eyes darted to him.
The Nightmare King fed off fear, and I had been banking on him sensing it in Elduin, all the evidence I needed to prove to Kalyn that the male he had chosen to ally with was a liar.
A monster.
“Me.”
Elduin’s wild gaze darted over us, landing on the male who had spoken.
Oberon stepped forwards, revealing his hand, doing exactly what he had refused to do when we had discussed our plan in the Forgotten Wastes. “I am the evidence of your sin.”
I was glad he had changed his mind when Elduin’s face blanched and not because his darker side was coming to the fore now. Vaeleryn gasped as she looked at him, blinking as she backed away from her father, her brow furrowing as her mouth flapped open and closed. He did not look at her.
He levelled a black look on me.
“That’s the reason you’ve tried to control Kaeleron all this time.
” Saphira advanced a step towards me and Elduin.
“That’s the reason you struck a deal with a seelie and aimed them at the Shadow Court.
It’s all there in those letters and journals, and I intend to make sure every court in the seelie and the unseelie side knows what you did. ”
“That is the reason you were so quick to leash me with an agreement when you saw I needed an ally, and have been manipulating me ever since,” I growled.
He laughed in our faces.
Neither Rhyn nor Kalyn looked amused. In fact, both looked ready to leave this second to spread the word for us.
“These accusations you throw at me to tarnish me are groundless. What evidence do you have beyond forged letters and journals, and the word of a Forgotten Prince?” Elduin continued to laugh, as if that would convince anyone of his innocence.
Vaeleryn said, “Do they speak true? Did you do something so… so… despicable? Have you treated Kaeleron in such a terrible manner?”
“No.” He reached for her.
She backed away, shaking her head. “I do not believe you. How could you do that to an innocent female? How could you force yourself upon someone? How could you do such a… such a heinous thing to someone? You are not my father. You are a monster.”
His lips peeled back off his fangs as he snarled at her. “Come here this instant.”
“No.” She backed off. “No, I will not.”
She moved as he looked as if he might lunge for her, taking swift steps towards my allies, tucking herself behind Morden of all people, as if the wolf was powerful enough to protect her should her father decide to take her back by force.
I did not care if he tried it, my focus was elsewhere.
On my sister.
Jenavyr had grown very still and very quiet.
Darkness branched from her bright silver eyes, and her hands trembled in fists at her side.
Saphira tracked the path of my gaze and went to her, sliding a hand around her wrist and snaring her attention.
Vyr’s look carried weight and pain that tore at me, making me want to comfort her too, even when doing so would place everyone in danger.
I could not take my focus off Elduin, not now that he had been backed into a corner.
I could not retreat in any fashion. Not yet. Not until it was done.
I summoned the agreement I had foolishly signed as a desperate boy and tore it in two. “I shall not wed your daughter. I shall not have my vengeance.”
Elduin growled at me as he gave up trying to get Vaeleryn to come to him and turned on me, dark claws scraping against my mind as he tried to infiltrate it.