42. Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Two
Ena
The Great Antre was quiet in the wake of Ty’s speech and the revelations of the last several minutes.
Those who had been ready to fight seemed as if they had lost the will for it, and instead turned to tending the wounded.
Several daemons had been shot by stryx arrows, and Ty and Steig had wounded some more when they’d been fighting hand-to-hand.
Ena looked over to see Steig next to Lara.
He’d removed the collar from around her neck and the light had returned to her eyes.
Relief crashed through her to see it, and part of her wanted to go check on them to see if they were both alright after everything that had gone down, but she was drawn elsewhere.
She nodded to Turner and Xena, who were organizing the stryx and witches to guard the central areas, as she went off after Ty.
She had a feeling about where he might have gone, and that he might need her.
She took the staircase he’d headed towards down into the depths of the Underworld, all the way to the lower levels where the forge was located.
The walk was longer than she remembered, but she felt it immediately when she got close—the heat from the fires was oppressive, and she started to sweat, even in the measly shift she was wearing.
She walked through the rows of hearths, the glow of their fires dimmed and their anvils untended—Ty must have sent everyone out.
She moved to the back of the cavern where a separate, smaller chamber existed—one explicitly made for cremation. Unlike witches, daemons burned their dead, and she knew this was where Ty would be—to get rid of Cole once and for all.
She entered the small chamber to find that a fire had been stoked inside of the cremator. It burned brightly, illuminating the man who stood in front of it, watching the flames consume the body inside.
He looked up at her as she entered, his eyes drawn to her like she was the flame.
“Are you okay?” she asked quietly.
He looked back towards the flames, watching them burn away his history. “I will be,” he said simply. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “Everyone is settled up there. No more fighting. Your speech worked.”
“Good,” he said, clearly still in his thoughts.
She joined him in silence as the two of them watched the fire consume the man they’d both loathed so much. She thought she’d find it cathartic, but instead, she felt…sad. Sad for Ty and everything he had endured at the man’s hands, knowing that his death would never erase the evil he’d done.
“How did you know?” she asked after a while. “About your father.”
He looked over at her again, giving her a melancholy smile.
“I always knew, in a way,” he said. “I always suspected, but never had any proof or suggestion to think it was any more than my anger and bitterness leading me to believe it. But then…after what Kaya told us, I knew it was the most likely scenario. My father was a healthy man, but the stomach ailment that took him was swift and brutal. I barely had time to say goodbye.”
Ena was quiet for a second, sensing his hurt at learning the truth, and feeling grief on his behalf. Because even though Cole was dead, the impacts of what he’d done remained. They always would.
“How did you know Zak would fess up?” she asked.
“I didn’t. Not exactly. But I had a feeling. Zak wasn’t always Cole’s right-hand man. He was a good uncle to me once, when my father was still alive. I always thought he followed Cole more out of fear rather than true loyalty.”
“Smart,” Ena said, eager to console him. “You did good, Ty. Really good. No one was killed. I think there’s a real chance they might accept a new king, and maybe new agreements with the witches and stryx, without any more violence.”
“I did what I could,” Ty said, shrugging. “It’ll have to be Turner’s job now.”
Ena was silent, not knowing what to say. She knew he maintained this stance that he couldn’t be king—shouldn’t be—because it would endanger her and Ladon, and she understood that. She was scared of that too. But still…having Turner be king instead of him? That didn’t feel right to her either.
“You’re really going to hand over the reins to Turner? You think he’ll be okay with that?” Ena asked, genuinely curious to hear the answer.
“You know I can’t put you and Ladon in danger, Ena.
If I take over, there’s no telling if they would accept you two or not.
There’s no precedence for having a witch as queen—or as anything other than a witch-slave.
And daemons like to lie, so even if they said they would, we’d always be looking over our shoulders. ”
“I know…” Ena said, making note of his comment about there not being precedence for later.
“But?” Ty asked, glancing at her wryly. “I’m sensing a ‘but.’”
Ena smiled despite the grimness of their circumstances. “But…” she said pointedly, “I’m starting to feel like danger can’t be avoided, Ty.”
He looked at her, turning away from the cremator, which had finished the majority of its job, to stand fully before her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…we went over the Chasm Mountains to be safer, but then you were lost. You almost died. And then I almost went mad, and then the storms pushed us out. I’m not sure that safety exists, Ty, not truly.
No matter where we are, where we live, there will be risks because, just like you said, Omnis creates chaos, just as much as it creates balance. ”
She reached out to place her hand on his face, feeling the coarse hairs of his beard under her palm, and stroked his cheek with her thumb.
“I love that you want to protect our family, Ty, but the truth is, you can’t.
Not always. Some things are beyond your control, and I think…
maybe I need to recognize that too. I was so afraid to face things that were new, and unknown, and scary, that I forgot the most important thing—I can keep myself safe.
Even if circumstances change, I can handle it.
We can handle it, just like you told me.
So it’s not just your job to keep me and Ladon safe.
It’s mine too. And with me carrying the load, maybe there’s room for you to care for your people too. Maybe we should give them a chance.”
Ty looked down, stroking his beard as her words sunk in, but something still seemed to weigh on him.
“Unless…maybe that’s not the only thing holding you back?” she asked.
Ty shook his head. “Come here,” he said, pulling her in for a hug. He wrapped his arms around her—his presence warm and safe, like home. He kissed the top of her head, and breathed her in. “I’ll think about it, okay? That’s the best I can do.”
“Okay,” Ena said, smiling to herself. That was a win in her book.
After another minute, they released one another, and walked hand in hand back up to the upper levels, ready to face the unknown of a new era together.