The Elven Gate (Hidden Legends: Prison for Supernatural Offenders #6)
Chapter One
CHARLIE
Silence stretched for an eternity and back. The beach that quaked only moments ago became completely still, and I couldn’t be sure of how long the stillness lasted. I felt completely detached from my body, as if I existed outside of all time and space entirely as I marched onward into Ilamanthe.
My powers noticed the magical signatures of soldiers surrounding me.
I recognized them as the young guards who’d sworn to fight for me, though they’d turned against me now.
Their hands gripped tight to my arms, and I couldn’t find it in me to fight back.
After what happened here, nothing mattered anymore.
An entire battalion of guards patrolled me through the city streets, escorting me to be judged by my father.
My father didn’t want to take any chances.
I wasn’t there to lead my soldiers in the rebellion, nor give orders on where to go and what to do, and so, the Elves fighting against my father’s guard became disorganized.
The soldiers had come for me because they didn’t have a choice.
When I was distracted, Cameron had clearly rushed to the temple and gotten the Great Mystic to coronate him quickly, so he could become Emperor and gain control of the palace’s guard.
Once he did that, he won automatically, because now the entire military was magically sworn to follow his orders without question.
My father had cheated to obtain the throne, because he couldn’t beat me out of his own power or merit, though I hardly cared at this point. The crown, which I’d been so desperate to get my hands on earlier, seemed useless and trivial now.
More guards joined the battalion to give extra support as they marched me in the direction of Ilamanthe’s palace.
I could’ve taken them all out easily, but I just didn’t care to.
Why even bother? Everything that had ever mattered to me had been ripped out of my soul.
Worse, I was the one to do it. Whatever punishment my father had waiting for me, it’d be child’s play compared to the complete devastation that was losing my bond to Ava.
If he had any mercy at all, he’d take my life. Living this way just wasn’t worth it.
Oberi caught my thoughts and gave a low whine at my side.
He’d joined me once the guards had shown up to escort me off the beach, though I don’t know why.
He should’ve stayed with Ava… except, I realized that Oberi believed remaining at her side would only cause her more pain, in the aftermath of losing him and her magic all at once.
Ava… I’d left her there, broken on the sand and still screaming in pain. Our friends had rushed to comfort her, and that was the only consolation I had. At least she wouldn’t have to be alone right now, and I was certain she wanted nothing to do with me at the moment… not after what I’d done.
Elves gathered on the streets gasped in disbelief as the guards took me in.
Clearly, they were still in shock that the Elvish prince had attempted to overthrow his father.
Whispers of shame and sadness were all around, coupled with the sounds of the dying.
The city was still in turmoil, from the rebellion and from Ava’s destruction, and the citizens were doing everything they could to heal the injured and pull survivors from the rubble.
Ava and I had really made a mess of things, except this time, the blowback from our argument had decimated an entire city. Our city. The Warden didn’t even have to come here, because we’d already ruined it.
We were terrible people who destroyed everything we touched.
I was dragged to the throne room the minute we got to the palace. It was crowded, swarming with my father’s Associates and council members.
The area instantly went quiet as I entered.
I waited at the door for a moment, before a guard shoved me forward.
I proceeded toward the throne at the end of the room with my head down.
I could sense the weak magic of my father resonating off the raised dais.
He sat on my grandfather’s throne… which was now his.
As I walked, I heard the hushed voices of Elves all around me, whispering to each other.
“Deceiver,” a councilwoman said.
“Such a disgrace,” another added.
The degenerating slander continued all the way to the dais. I stopped when I got to the stone steps, and I waited. I bet Cameron thought I would kneel at the steps before him and plead for his forgiveness.
I wouldn’t. Not even now. The only way I’d bow to this man is if he took my head and my body collapsed to the floor. As much as I hated the Warden, I’d rather prostrate at his feet than before the coward who was callous enough to call himself my father.
“Is it true?” Cameron demanded. “Did you sever the magic of our Holy Mother?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. I hadn’t been expecting him to talk to me about Ava first. The rebellion, my betrayal, all of those I could defend myself against.
I couldn’t stand up for myself when it came down to hurting my wife.
In that aspect, for wounding her beyond repair, I deserved every brutal pain that this world could give…
and I was paying that price, even now, for merely existing without her was agony.
Whatever Cameron could do to me would be nothing in comparison to the loss that was my love.
My lack of response told him all he needed to know.
“You insolent child,” Cameron sneered. “Do you realize what you’ve done? If the princess has no magic, we are not only unable to contact our goddesses; we are also defenseless against Ophio Taurus! She was the most valuable weapon we had!”
“I didn’t have any choice,” I replied, nearly devoid of feeling, because it was just so hard to feel right now. “If I hadn’t, she would’ve—”
“Silence!” Cameron shouted. He wasn’t going to even let me explain.
“Whatever the princess was in the process of, it was up to you to keep her in line, and you failed miserably. Worse than that, you attempted to take the crown from me, something that has never been done in the history of the Elvish monarchy.”
“This boy is not one of us! He never has been!” an Associate cried, and other voices rose up to join his.
“He is an outsider who was never raised among us, and is not of our kind! Cassiel made a mistake taking him in. We should’ve left him on the streets, where he belongs!”
“This is an outrage! We were looking for trouble the moment we brought him into the city!”
“He is a greedy child, raised in hatred and spite by strangers we do not know, so he cannot understand our ways, no matter how hard Cassiel tried to instill our values in him. We cannot forgive this!”
“Enough!” Cameron bellowed, and the slurs halted as he spoke. “I am the Emperor, and I will decide his fate!”
“Sire, you know what must be done,” a councilman encouraged.
“This insurrection is unforgivable. We must take his life. Drea cannot become Empress, but she is still young by Elvish standards, and is able to bear children. You must produce another heir to rise after you, and wash this stain of your name.”
I hoped to the gods they killed me, because I didn’t want to live anymore. Ava, my friends, the world, they’d all be better off without me. I’d hurt all of them, and the death sentence would be more than a fair sentence for my crimes.
At least it’d be a mercy, because then I wouldn’t feel like this.
But my hopes were dashed as Cameron replied, “I will not conceive another child. Not after this one has turned out to be such a colossal disappointment. I do not desire to be a father again, and I cannot take another chance that a second child would turn out to be even worse than he is. Charlie will still rise after me, and he will become Emperor after I am gone.”
Outrage shook the walls of the throne room once again. “Your majesty, it cannot be so!” an Associate yelled. “We cannot expect this corrupt, depraved deviant to become Emperor after you step down! You cannot forgive your son for this!”
“We cannot blame him too harshly. After all, he was raised without a mother,” Cameron argued. “Kelly wasn’t there to guide him as she should’ve.”
“Because Kelly gave her life for this spawn,” another hissed. “An unworthy sacrifice.”
He had no idea how much I wished that my mother had survived and I had died instead.
If she didn’t outright hate me from the afterlife, she had to be ashamed of me now.
That was the only thing that held me back from wishing for death— the terror that somehow, I might encounter my mother on the other side, only for her to berate me and tell me how worthless I was, and that her gift of life to me had been for less than nothing.
Because all of it was true… it had to be.
“Charlie will still rule, but it will be in time. He has much to learn before he does,” Cameron stated.
My father came closer to me, walking down the steps until he was perched on the one above me, only a few feet away. Oberi pressed closer against my legs, his body tense in warning.
Cameron paused and whispered, “After all, your grandfather planted this idea in your head, didn’t he?”
“What?” The word came out in a gasp. Was he really implying what I thought he was?
“Don’t lie, Charlie. I know my father never wanted me to ascend to the title of Emperor. He made that very clear,” Cameron sneered. “He put you up to all of this— betraying me, the rebellion, everything.”
My grandfather would never do such a thing. Nobody disrespected my seanari like that.
“He never mentioned any of this to me, or conspired with me to plot the rebellion,” I spat. “All of this was my plan, and mine alone!”
“Don’t take me for a fool!” Cameron screamed, and spittle fell across my face. “You aren’t clever enough, nor are you experienced enough, to have done this all on your own!”