Crown of Flames and Ash (Courts of Aetheria #2)

Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

R eign

The moment I spoke the dreaded words, the crushing weight I’d been forced to carry for all these months began to dissipate. I’d wanted to admit the truth to Aelia since the moment I suspected she could be the one. The desire to protect her, to prove she wasn’t the child of the prophecy had become all-consuming. But the more I observed, the more time I spent with her, I only seemed to achieve the opposite.

“…Destroy?” Aelia’s whispered question drew me from my musings. She had stiffened beside me, her brilliant aura dimming. Her breaths quickened, as if sitting beside me were suddenly painful.

I reached for her hand, tentatively, my fingers barely brushing her palm. While she did not return the gesture, I was comforted by the fact that she didn’t bolt for the door either. “You’ve heard the prophecy yourself,” I whispered. “The destruction it speaks of must be avoided at all costs. Or, at least, that was how my father understood it.”

“So he tasked you to come to the Court of Ethereal Light to find this child?”

I nodded slowly, impressed by her calm. “My father has been searching for this pivotal Fae since the seers pronounced the prophecy looming ever closer over two decades ago.” Coincidentally, just before Aelia’s birth. “He has long curated his web of spies within the Court of Umbral Shadows, but he had yet to establish a solid foothold across the river.”

“So he sent you…”

“A seer foresaw the epochal moment approaching, which hastened the king’s resolve.”

“And then he pretended to banish you and forged that false brand to fool the Light Fae?”

I winced as memories of the mystical branding carving into my chest surged to the surface. Screams ricocheted through my skull, and the noxious odor of burnt flesh infiltrated my nostrils. The toxic smell had lingered for hours… A bitter laugh tumbled out. “There was nothing false about the banishment or the branding, princess. King Tenebris had to ensure his plan was infallible. The entirety of the Shadow Court believes I was exiled, a traitor to the realm.”

Stunned horror curved those perfect lips, the ones I could barely restrain myself from capturing. Even while reliving my painful past, it was difficult to focus on anything but her. “But why?” she rasped. “What was your alleged sin?”

“It was no sin of my own, princess, but rather that of my father and some ‘whore’, as the queen calls her.”

Understanding widened her eyes, and she expelled a sharp breath.

“That’s right. There is a reason Prince Ruhl is the heir to the throne, despite the fact that I was the firstborn. I am King Tenebris’s bastard child.”

Aelia regarded me for a long moment, as if she couldn’t quite believe my words. She was not the only one. In all the times I’d practiced this speech in the darkness of my room, I had never intended on divulging quite so much. But this female held an inexplicable power over me, one I was helpless to resist. I yearned to lay bare my broken soul before her, hoping to all the gods she would mend the shattered pieces, that she would accept me, brokenness and all.

“Reign…” Unshed tears glistened in her eyes, and my chest ached at the pain in that gaze. For me. Even after all the lies, she still felt something for me; even if it was only pity, I would take it for now. Pity was better than hate—or worst of all, apathy.

“You must know that despite keeping the truth from you, I’ve also kept all my theories from my father. From the moment I met you, I suspected, but I would never betray you to him.”

“Why not? Isn’t that what you were bred for? To find this child and put an end to the threat to our realm?”

“Because, Aelia, you are everything. You are the light that banishes the darkness within me, the hope I never thought I could find. You are my reason, my anchor, and I will protect you with every fiber of my being, until I no longer draw breath.”

Her cheeks burned an enticing crimson, stilling my tongue to admire her fierce beauty for a moment longer.

Then, unable to stop myself, I continued.

“And I refuse to believe that you would be that ‘harbinger of oblivion’ or the Fae to ‘plunge all into eternal dusk.’” I shook my head, my resolve, my certainty growing with every word that tumbled free. “On the contrary, I believe you will determine the fate of our worlds as a beacon of hope.”

A tear finally lost the fight and spilled over, tracing the soft curve of her cheek. Tentatively, I reached for her and swept it away. Then I pressed my thumb, now coated with her tear, to my lips. For now, it was the closest I could get to tasting her, but I vowed in that moment that one day, she would be mine. Completely.

Her chest heaved, whether from the touch or the subsequent action, I wasn’t certain, but the anger in her gaze fell away, her expression softening. “How can you say those things when you barely know me?”

“That’s not true, Aelia. In the past few months we’ve spent together, not only have I come to understand your true nature, but I’ve also memorized every facet of your soul. If you truly are this child of twilight, you will bring forth nothing but good to this realm. And I will remain by your side, steadfast against any who stand against you.”

Aelia regarded me with that unguarded expression I hadn’t witnessed since that dreaded battle, and it did nothing but embolden my tongue.

“Whether you’ll have me or not,” I added. A wicked grin parted my lips, the one that always made her breaths come more quickly. I stole a glance at her chest, at the wild thrumming beneath the thin linen, confirming my musings, and my grin transformed into a smile of satisfaction.

Because I felt the certainty deep within my bones; the gods had gifted me this extraordinary female, and though fate denied us the chance to be together right now, our paths were destined to intertwine for all eternity. I would wait for that moment, no matter how long it took, for she was worth every second of longing and every sacrifice.

“You are rather difficult to evade.” A bittersweet smile splashed across her face. “As I imagine your father must be.”

“Mmm.” She wasn’t wrong, but my foremost concern at the moment was my brother. As soon as he was pitted against Aelia in the Umbral Trials, he would discover her secret. It was inevitable. “Let me worry about him, along with my brother.”

“What if Ruhl discovers the truth?”

“We must do everything in our power to ensure that does not happen. My brother and I do not exactly have the best relationship.”

“I gathered as much.”

“You cannot use your daggers in the trials against Arcanum, Aelia. Draven has informed me King Elian will be arriving any day now; hiding your blossoming powers from the royal is critical. If anyone catches whiff of your daggers’ origins, I’ll be forced to annihilate the entire class of initiates—realms, the bloody king, included.”

“Reign…” she growled.

“Or wipe their memories, which would be extremely taxing.”

Her expression grew somber as she crossed her arms over her chest, then asked a question I wasn’t expecting at that moment, but knew was inevitable. “Where did you hide Kian’s body?”

“Somewhere no one will ever find him.”

A haunted look darkened the spark in her silver-blue eyes.

“Do not spend a minute grieving his loss, Aelia. He is not worth it.”

Her head fell back against the settee, and after what felt like an age, she loosed a slow breath, turning her head to face me. “Is that it, Reign? You swear there are no more secrets now?”

I’d confessed it all, with the exception of Elisa’s conjectures about the cuorem. But before I even considered revealing the possibility of a practically extinct fated mate bond, I needed to win her trust back. It was the key to claiming her heart.

“Yes,” I replied resolutely. “No more secrets.”

“Good.” That hint of a smile was enough to set my cold, dark heart aflutter. “But that doesn’t mean I forgive you, Reign Darkthorn.”

“Understood, princess.” I pinched a lock of ebony hair entwined with a strand of platinum, and twirled it around my finger. “It seems as if I’ll have quite a bit of groveling to do before I earn that mercy.”

“ Quite a lot.”

“Since you’ve already missed your classes for the day, how about I start by escorting you and Solanthus to Phantom’s most favorite hunting ground?”

Her eyes lit up to shimmering orbs of cobalt as she leapt to her feet. “Phantom would do that for Sol?”

“Why wouldn’t she?”

Her slim shoulders lifted slowly. “It didn’t seem as if they were very fond of each other.”

“That’s only because Solanthus and Phantom were mates in another life, and it didn’t end well.”

Aelia’s brows jumped to her hairline as she regarded me unbelievingly. “Reign! How could you keep that piece of vital information from me? You just said no more secrets!”

“I forgot.” I shrugged nonchalantly as I ushered her toward the door.

“Tell me everything.”