20. Raia #2
“I haven’t seen or spoken to my father in nearly a decade. You’ll have to forgive me if I find it hard to believe that a male who has remained entirely indifferent and perpetually absent since the day of my birth has any interest in whether I live or die.”
Lucen gives me a look of disbelief. “You really think that your father, King of Sinsól, and God of the Sea, has zero interest in the life of his sole heir?”
Fuck...
His eyes dip to my finger. “That ring is enchanted so he can track your every move.”
My jaw drops as I instinctively attempt to rip it off. “You’re lying.”
Lucen smirks. “You once had a necklace from him. A little gold conch shell, I believe?”
Every ounce of my earlier rage seems to shrink away, like the tide being called back to sea.
The word is a scarcely audible whisper. “What?”
The memory of my mother’s funeral rises to the surface—tossing the necklace into the sea, only for it to find its way back to me.
Lucen wears a look of small victory.
“Give me your vow, Raia. I’ll tell you everything and remove that ring. If you wish to have any chance of leading a peaceful life, I am your only hope.”
My eyes scan him as though something in his expression will reveal his deception.
“Spoken with the conviction of a desperate man.”
Perspiration drips from his brow as he stares at me from behind a coif of sweat-slicked hair.
“Answer one question, and I’ll consider it.”
He remains silent.
Just thinking his name makes my eyes burn.
“Why did you have Thessaly killed?”
I’m fairly certain I’m hallucinating as I see a hint of guilt shadow his expression.
“I didn’t. Your father did.”
His words cause my voice to rise several octaves.
“I saw you, Lucen! I saw you kill the male who killed Thessaly! Saw you take the satchel of gold he stole! The satchel with his crest on it!”
Lucen’s anger matches mine. “Because he nearly raped you!”
I rear back in shock like I’ve been slapped.
My grip on the blade’s handle tightens.
As if you didn’t violate me yourself last night.
“You’re only saying that to save your life.”
His scowl deepens. “There is nothing I can do or say to make you believe otherwise, and I recognize that is no one’s fault but my own, but I did not arrange Thessaly’s death nor plan for him to be robbed.”
Swiping my tears away, I wrench the blade from his chest, summoning his roar.
“Why the fuck would my father give a shit about a local flueratheurge, Lucen?”
Lucen’s chest heaves as he speaks through clenched teeth.
“Your vow, Raia. Give me your vow or kill me now and be done with it.”
His brow firms into one hard line, sweat dripping from his brow as he musters the words.
“But know that if I die, the ring will remain—and you’ll never be free of him. Everyone you ever come to love will be at his mercy, and your life will be forfeit.”
Grim determination fills Lucen’s gaze as he remains silent.
Finally, I swipe the blade first across my wrist, and then across the top of Lucen’s hand, where it is still bound to the arm of the chair.
Blood trickles onto the floor where whorls of dark blue, like his eyes, rise and dance before sinking down, down, down, and disappearing beneath the floor and into Selcarimi soil.
My own magic swirls and writhes around our puddle of joined blood in varying shades of darkest purple to soft lilac.
“I vow to speak only the truth, answer all of your questions, and remove your father’s ring from your finger.”
I feel as though I’m standing half outside my body, only observing as the words pour from my lips.
“I vow that if I one day find my father, I will do my best to try and rescue Soriya Adonir-Hope from him.”
It’s clearly not worded as Lucen had intended, but only his jaw clenches in protest.
The magic of the vow permeates the air around us and settles around our shoulders like a palpable weight. Our pool of blood on the floor seeps into the marble before disappearing entirely.
My eyes lift to his expectantly.
“Thessaly worked for him. Mother Jamila worked for him. My entire family. Everyone works for him. Everyone you have ever loved was orchestrated into your life.”
My knee-jerk reaction is to accuse him again of lying, but now that he has been rendered incapable of deceit, leaving no room for doubt... My heart is shattering all over again. Another yanking of the rug out from beneath my feet. I feel like I’m on a fucking hamster wheel of deception.
Even Mother Jamila?
My stomach churns from the force of my mind and body’s rebellion against this endless betrayal as my mind conjures recent memories of Thessaly.
Of me destroying my father’s necklace.
Thessaly’s eyes shine with pride, and a subdued smile hints at one corner of his mouth.
See how brilliant you can be? If only you have patience, darling?
Of Thessaly, giving me the elixir to protect me against Lucen...
And him wishing to move.
Thessaly’s lips twitch, affection twinkling in the dark pools of his eyes.
Darling... do you ever think about moving?
Moving? Move where?
I don’t know. I just suppose I’ve been feeling restless as of late...
My blood runs cold at the realization.
He was trying to free me.
And he was killed because of it.
My hand lifts to my mouth to stifle the whimpering sob crawling up my throat.
“But why?”
The look on Lucen’s face tells me the answer should be obvious.
“You’re the daughter of a king. What else do you expect? For him to wait for you to steal his crown?”
My tears return, quiet with shock and disbelief, as the facade of my reality is torn away. Lucen remains silent as he watches.
“Where is he?”
Lucen arches a knowing brow. “Plotting your revenge already?”
The tap, tap, tap of Horus’s beak hammering the window draws our gazes to the balcony doors where the drapes are pulled shut. Shoving away the pang of guilt, I ignore Horus and push forward.
“No. I want nothing to do with him or his throne. I need to know where not to go. Find a far corner of this realm and hide.”
Anger simmers behind Lucen’s gaze. “But your vow?—”
“—was hinged upon whether or not I find him, and I never determined when.”
Under any other circumstances, I might feel shame beneath the vitriol-filled look he gives me.
Horus’s knocking becomes more insistent, before giving an annoyed caw, muffled from behind the glass of the balcony doors. Silence follows.
“Where is he?” I repeat.
“Sinsól... Though I have no idea how to access it. Only he can bring you there.”
The largest city in all of Bellorum. A city beneath the sea.
“... And if I were to go there, wouldn’t he just kill me if I show up?”
A fraction of hope gleams in Lucen’s eyes.