Chapter 50
Chapter Fifty
Herina
HAEL
My dagger was pressed against Elion’s neck. Dahes’ command coursing through my body, begging me to break skin, to push harder.
He was gloating, sitting on Elion’s throne as I pulled him beneath it. My legs straddling his chest to stop him from moving.
“Tilt his head to me,” Dahes commanded. “I want him looking at me as the light leaves his eyes.”
Elion grunted as I shoved my other hand against his jaw, forcing him to stare up at the Dead King.
Dahes let out a slow smile. “Just because the Suns and Moons cursed us from killing each other in this life, does not mean you won’t die a hundred times over in the After,” Dahes droned, tapping his finger idly against Elion’s throne.
“But first, I’ll keep you tethered to me, force you to watch what I do with your kingdom. ”
“You fucking bastard,” Elion spat.
Dahes opened his mouth, his grin widening, about to say something when his face distorted. Anger took over his features as he rose from the throne, storming down the steps, and leaving me alone with Elion.
Shit.
I went to press the blade the rest of the way through his neck when Elion spoke.
“He has your mother,” he rasped, blood started to bubble around his mouth.
“What?”
“Dahes is keeping your mother hostage,” Elion said again, his voice strained from me pressing against his ribs.
“I don’t believe you.” My voice echoed across the room as I pushed the dagger further into Elion’s neck. Dahes’ command to kill him was coursing through my body, begging me to keep going.
“You want… proof…” he staggered. “Take off your necklace.”
I reeled back, just a fraction. “Why?”
“Because you’ll know the truth once you do,” he choked. “Your mother specifically made it for you, but I was the one who allowed you to keep it.”
“I was told it was a family heirloom.” My eyes narrowed. I knew he was stalling, knew he was trying to figure out a way out of this, and fuck, it was working. Not once had anyone brought up my mother…
I couldn’t stop Dahes’ command—I would kill Elion or die trying—but he didn’t tell me how fast I had to do it. He didn’t tell me I couldn’t ask questions first, and I needed to know. I had no idea when he’d come back. This might be my only opportunity to find out.
“How do you know anything about this?” I asked, pulling my chain out from under my shirt.
“Because I’m your father.”
“My father is dead,” I spat. I wasn’t going to believe this bullshit. There was no way in hell he was—
“Take it off and see.”
I didn’t need to do this. I didn’t have to listen to him. But if there was a chance my mother was still alive…
Keeping the knife pressed against his throat, I pulled the necklace over my head with my free hand.
I never took it off before, had worn it ever since I could remember. It was the only piece of my family I had, even if I never knew my parents, I had this. But fuck, there was no way it was all a lie. There was no way he fathered me…
The same man who abused me, who forced me to kill, who made it his vendetta to ruin me.
“You have a Token,” Elion said, but he didn’t need to. The moment the necklace was off, I felt it. “Super strength, gifted by Nessium. It happened when you were four during one of your punishments.”
I couldn’t process it, couldn’t believe it…
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What difference would it have made?” Elion huffed. “I loved her, not you.”
My grip slackened on the dagger, and Elion grinned. “I only kept you around in case I got her back. I knew she wouldn’t forgive me if I let anything happen to you, but then you surpassed everyone. Your skills were far better than any other drakin I had ever seen, so I used it to my advantage.”
He paused, blood pouring down his throat, as I leaned back.
“What is this?” I asked, dangling the chain in front of his face, having no idea how something could block out a Token.
“It was on you when I found you in her cabin. Your mother, her name was Herina. She was the strongest drakin I ever met. She was bonded to a rare breed of a Ferro dragon. She could manipulate metal better than anyone. I don’t know how she did it, but she found a way to isolate traces of metal within the grains of the Black Sands, using it to suppress your Token.
” He let out a laugh, but it was dark, emotionless, lost. “She must have known what you’d grow into.
That you’d be unnatural. I didn’t think your Vinculum bond would take after you won the Vargothi.
That,” his eyes went to the pendant, “was supposed to block all powers. I planned on killing you for not producing magic, but you fucking did. She found a way to isolate the particles to block an individual ability. She made it so only your Token was suppressed.”
“That’s why you selected me for sterilization,” I said, my voice restrained.
“Of course,” Elion reeled. “You think I’d risk people finding out about your Token? That you are living proof of someone who is part drakin, part Wielder. I banned you from ever forming any relationships so no one could get close enough to find out.”
“If you didn’t want drakins and Wielders to be together, why were you with her?”
Elion’s expression shifted into something I couldn’t read. “You think either of us wanted it? We couldn’t help it.”
My face dropped as realization dawned on me. Nollie and I weren’t the first… “You’re Eclipsisian mates?”
He nodded, the blade scraping against his skin.
“What happened to her?” I gritted.
“Dahes took her. She gave birth to you in her cabin, but by the time I got there, she was gone. I’ve been trying to get her back for over a century now.”
“How?”
“You think I know that?” Elion spat. “All I know is that the second you were born, she was gone.”
“That’s why you were keeping Nollie here,” I said as realization dawned. “You were going to trade her for my mother.”
Elion nodded. “I knew she had to be important if Dahes sent a Tallik after her. She was the only person to ever escape Moriann. All I had to do was make a fucking spectacle of her. I needed everyone talking about her, and what better way to do that than let her be a guest to the Vargothi. I needed Dahes so livid that I was flaunting the fucking scum who escaped him that he’d do anything I wanted to get her back.
I was going to trade her for Herina, and you fucking ruined everything! ”
Lightning sparked in the air, ricocheting all around him before he pulled it back and cursed.
He thought the conversation distracted me enough to lower my shield.
I had one encompassing his entire body save for his throat.
Dahes ordered it, only the order didn’t stop the second he left the throne room. Elion was still defenseless.
“Help me, and we’ll get her back together,” he pleaded, trying another tactic. “We can finally—”
“No,” I cut him off. I didn’t care if we shared the same blood, I wasn’t holding the knife to his throat just because of Dahes’ command—I wanted him dead.
I wanted both of them dead.
Elion cursed as he tried his lightning again. Only this time I didn’t wait. Instead of the dagger at his throat, it was through it. I cut into him like air, whatever strength I had from this Token, I had honed in on it, pushing the blade into the floor.
I just killed my father.