Chapter 6 #2
A giant tree rose into the sky. It disappeared into a mass of hazy leaves and branches, competing with the clouds for space.
The milky silver of the moon bathed it in twilight.
Nebulae and galactic clouds puffed out of the sky in bright rainbow hues of bloodred and poison green.
Stars glittered like diamonds and rubies and sapphires.
Soon, they’d left the outpost and the whispers behind, weaving instead around the roots of the giant tree. No houses or other signs of civilization sprouted from the forest. Owls hooted and night insects buzzed. Creatures he couldn’t name howled and squawked. Everything glowed.
The pathways between the giant roots narrowed, and arches were carved into the taller ones to allow them passage underneath. Blue-lit water found its way into streams and waterfalls.
“What is this place?” Cole asked behind Sean, wonder saturating his voice.
“This is Luxoria,” Autumn said, chipper as the midday sun. “The realm of Queen Falan.”
Sean’s steps slowed. “Lux—?”
Autumn’s head cocked, and her red hair gleamed like cherries dusted in gold. Her honey eyes, which had seemed marginally human outside the mist, suddenly took on a sunshine cast.
He looked to Isobel for reassurance and stopped in his tracks.
The curve of her mouth. The gemlike quality of her eyes. The long, delicate column of her throat, adorned with a necklace holding a vial of purple liquid.
“I know you,” he said, even though that wasn’t what he’d meant to say.
Her lips parted, but she glanced away, drawing breath without saying anything.
Sean stepped closer. “How do I know you?”
Her eyes flicked his way. “That girl you see in your head isn’t me.”
“Looks like you,” he said.
She shook her head. “They’re just memories of a past life. If you come with me, you’ll see.”
“See what?”
“Everything. Your past. Your future. Everything your mother kept from you.”
Answers. She was offering him answers. Finally.
Sean scrutinized her painfully lovely face, decoding her expression as something like…pity. “She kept it from me for a reason, didn’t she?”
Isobel’s pretty mouth twisted into a wry smile. “Yes. But your destiny comes whether you want it or not. So choose. Will you come with me and learn what’s coming, or will you go in blind?”
Alarge crack in the trunk served as the entrance to the giant tree, guarded by several people adorned in nothing but leather and weapons. Lots and lots of weapons.
“Guardians,” Autumn murmured to him, and Sean ignored the shocked expressions followed by bows as he passed, each of them tapping two fingers to their temple.
A long, wide entrance opened into a giant staircase carved inside the Tree. The wood gleamed, crisscrossed with flower-studded vines. Crystal lanterns and sconces warmed the inside, flickering with light that wasn’t fire, but something…else.
At the center of the Tree, they reached an open atrium that stretched to a vast height.
Streams fell down the walls at eight intervals, filling the space with the tinkle of water.
The creeks snaked through stone pathways, coalescing in an indoor pond at the center of the atrium. Small bridges connected each section.
People leaned on the railings along the upper corridors. They stared as his group entered, then bowed.
“Pay them no mind,” Autumn whispered Sean’s way.
“Why are they bowing?”
“Because of who you are. Just come with us.” Isobel took his elbow and marched him up the stairs. They ascended several flights, then branched off toward a long hallway of closed doors.
“This is where the Council members lodge.” As they walked, she pointed out various doorways and name-dropped people he’d never met. “We call it the Council Hall.”
Eventually, Autumn skipped ahead and burst through a door etched with intricate carvings—swirls and suns and moons and stars. A stocky man in a blue vest rose from his seat in an antechamber, setting aside a book.
He smiled at Autumn, but it faded as he laid eyes on Sean. A beat of silence passed before he bowed deeply. “’Tis an honor.”
“Kywyn is still awake, yes?” Isobel asked. “He’s expecting us.”
“Of course, Lady Isobel.” He pulled a rope beside the door, then opened the door to announce them.
Inside, a man a couple years older than Sean stopped pacing to take in the gathering at his doorstep. The man had longish black hair and deep blue eyes, but that wasn’t what wrapped a vice around Sean’s heart, squeezing out shock and disbelief with a tightening fist.
Sean recognized him. This was the face that stared back at him in the mirror each morning. Bluer eyes. Blacker hair. Sharper angles. Still uncannily similar. Was this a long lost twin? A brother he’d never known?
Cole’s hand landed on Sean’s shoulder, probably as support, but he could barely feel it. He was numb from the inside out.
The man’s eyes locked on Sean, his mouth parted, and a single word emerged. “Caden?”
No.
No, no, no.
Sean shook his head. Took a step back. “Who— No. A brother? Are you my brother?”
The man’s eyebrows drew together. “No. I’m—” He shook himself and motioned them inside. “Please, come in. I’ll explain.”
Sean followed Autumn into a luxurious living space, all deep red sofas, golden knickknacks and vibrant artwork. A wide panel of glass doors led to a balcony. The inhuman sky glittered behind the glass, looking more like an AI screensaver than real life.
Sean shoved shaking hands into his pockets and returned his attention to the man who wasn’t his brother.
Isobel glanced around the empty space. “Where is everyone? I thought the entire Council would be here.”
The man’s gaze touched on Sean, but he addressed Isobel. “I made them leave. They were making everything worse. Heleta especially.”
Autumn chuckled.
“Will you have a seat?” He gestured toward a sitting room.
Still numb, Sean shuffled his feet that way, finding a place next to Cole on the largest sofa. The women sat across from them, Autumn wearing a bright smile, and Isobel a more guarded expression.
For fuck’s sake, the woman was beautiful. Like a china doll. Perfectly made. Lustrous. Cold.
“Can I get you anything?” the man said, distracting Sean from that thought. “Water? Food? I’m sure it was a long journey.”
Neither Sean nor Cole answered.
Autumn leaned forward. “I think what Sean most wants is answers, Kywyn.”
“Right. Of course.” The man sank into a cushy chair. “Where to start?”
Sean found his voice. “Who are you?”
“I’m— Well—” His eyes flicked toward Autumn, who nodded. “I’m your father.”
The air vanished from the room. Sean’s heartbeat thrummed behind his ears, eliciting a strange ringing. His vision misted with gray as he remembered the haunted look in his mother’s eyes when she told him his father died before he was born.
Sean reminded himself he’d wanted answers. “I thought you were dead,” he said, his voice some ragged rendition of its normal tone.
The man—his father—rubbed his face and turned to Autumn. “Maybe we should get Blaire.”
Cole’s eyes went wide. “My mom is here?”
Autumn rose to pull a rope near the door.
“Send a request, not a summons,” Kywyn said to her. “We didn’t part on the best terms earlier.”
Sean ignored all that. “You’re—who? You are two years older than me, max.”
The man shifted to the edge of his seat. “I know this is a lot to take in. My name is Kywyn. Blaire says your mother never informed you of my existence.”
“She said you’d been in an accident before I was born,” Sean said.
A pained expression washed into Kywyn’s features before they smoothed out. “She was trying to keep you from me.”
That raised a red warning sign in Sean’s mind. His mother had been overprotective, yes, but Sean had always trusted her instincts. If she thought this man was dangerous—
“To keep you from this place, I mean,” Kywyn said. “From Luxoria.”
“Blaire will be here shortly,” Autumn said before returning to her seat.
A knot of tension released in Sean’s stomach. If it was true, Aunt Blaire could corroborate this man’s story. He exchanged a brief, relieved glance with Cole.
“I know I look young to you,” Kywyn said, “but we age differently here, Caden—”
“Sean.”
The man paused. “Sean. Is that what she called you?”
“She—she called me Caden when we were alone. I prefer Sean.”
“You were born Caden Seán Sidera.” As he spoke the words, Sean’s brain translated the last just it had with the word Ashanta.
Sidera. The archer.
“Why wouldn’t Mom want me here?”
Kywyn pressed fingers to his closed eyes and sighed. “There is so much you don’t know. Blaire arrived only hours ago, telling us where to find you. I should have prepared what to say, but I didn’t dare hope.”
Wait. Aunt Blaire had led them to him? He’d left her home in a fit of pique, and she’d come here?
Autumn, a pleased smile curving her mouth, patted Kywyn’s knee. “Why don’t you start with who he is, and we’ll go from there.”
“Right.” Kywyn took a deep breath. “You are my son, the only heir in the line of Lhynion Sidera, the man who began the Exorcism.”
Uhh.
So many words he didn’t know.
Autumn chuckled. “Baby steps, Ky.” She turned toward Sean.
“Let me try. So… A long time ago, a man named Lhynion Sidera began a campaign against those creatures with the purple eyes. We call it the Exorcism. Long story short, they possess humans and feed on their emotional energy, and we kill them so they won’t do that. ”
Right.
Emotional vampires. The purple eyes were emotional vampires.