Chapter 37
Aeson
“DON’T WORRY, IT’S GOING TO be okay,” I assure Ever, hoping it will help calm the apprehension coming off her in steady waves. I know this is a massive step for her, but we’ve planned and prepared and everything should be just fine. She’s safe, and the others will be too.
I look over at my father, and his eyes are fixed on the doors the Syphons should be walking through any minute now. He looks regal and ready, but his pointer finger taps on the arm of his throne, a dead giveaway that he’s just as nervous as the rest of us.
Lorn looks as though he’s faring better, but that might be thanks to the two drinks he slammed back in my father’s office before we came down to the throne room.
“Are we sure this was the best choice?” Ever murmurs. “It just feels so?.?.?. formal.”
I look around the empty expanse, taking in the towering walls covered in carvings of every king and queen to ever rule The Horde. Grand arches reach up to the glass ceiling, and the setting sun splashes the room with red and orange.
“Today I welcome more of a lost kith home,” my father answers. “We’ll do it right, by the old laws,” he adds, and I swear all of us jump when the pair of double doors on the far end begin to open.
I look down at Ever with a wide smile. This is a momentous day, not only because the Syphons are finally coming home, but Ever trusted us with this. It’s a gift I’ll never squander.
She looks up at me, and the sadness gathered in her gaze makes my stomach drop. I reach for the bond, trying to discern what’s wrong, but I hit a wall instead.
“I’m so sorry,” Ever whispers, and alarm rings through me as I turn to see five cloaked figures slowly walking up the center of the room.
Ever’s Wing guards them, which is the only thing that keeps me in my seat. I signal my Wing to be ready, suddenly not liking this situation one bit. I lean down to demand Ever tell me what the fuck she’s sorry about, but she’s suddenly out of her seat and striding down the steps.
She approaches the cloaked figures, and it takes everything in me not to race down after her.
Trust her , I tell myself.
Just trust her .
Ever finally stops in front of the group, and the silence is deafening. Then she bows to the figure in the front, and I shoot out of my seat before I can stop myself.
My father raises a hand, and I snap my mouth shut as my mate hugs whoever she just fucking bowed to, and then she moves to their side and turns to face me.
In perfect synchronicity, the five figures reach up and push back their hoods, and I feel like my heart is ripping to shreds in my chest as I watch them.
My eyes don’t know where to look; my mind doesn’t know what to think.
It’s impossible and yet clearly not, because there they both stand, flame-orange hair, light green eyes, one with a dragon mark, one without.
I stare, anger and hurt circulating through me as I take in my Bonded?. .?. and her identical twin sister.
Lorn is suddenly standing, rage and shock detonating through him as he processes the same treachery and comes to the same conclusion. And then Ever’s twin steps forward and speaks.
“Hello, King Noctis. My name is Enslee Tenebrae, Queen of the Syphons, and I believe you’re in my seat.”