Page 68 of Blade of the Nightking

He pulled his hand away, dragging it down his face instead, anguished.

“There are things…” he began shakily. “Things I can’t tell you about… For your own safety. One day, I promise you’ll know everything.”

I swallowed hard, trying to steady the emotions swirling inside me.

“You swear you didn’t kill him?” My voice was barely a whisper.

He looked at me then, the tight line of his mouth giving way to something quieter, heavier. “I swear it.”

His gaze drifted to the horizon, distant, as though he were looking at something far beyond the water. “Levinica is Rìan's half-sister.”

I stared at him.

“When he was sealed into the Veil, we needed someone to rule this Court—someone with Dusk magic, someone strong enough to take the throne. And after the Firstborn Wars…” He wet his lips. “There was no one else left.”

My heart hammered. The silence that hung over the castle—over all of Noctharis—had never felt so horrifying.

“It had to be Levinica.” His hand closed around a fistful of sand, the grains slipping slowly through his fingers. “To ensure that loyalty, we took her son. It was a decision made by the Full Circle.”

“What happened to him, Aedric?” My blood was pounding in my ears.

“He was placed within one of the Courts. His identity was concealed. That’s all I can tell you.” Aedric’s gaze darkened. “It was done so if Levinica ever stepped out of line—if she ever turned against the Realm⁠—”

“You’d kill him.”

He nodded grimly. “I'm not proud of it, El. But we needed loyalty. And we needed the Dusklands to yield.” His fists tightened. “I've done terrible things, El. You saw the library. But this… this was war.” He choked on the last word.

Slowly I reached out, tentative, resting my hand against his forearm. He looked back at me at once, but his gaze didn’t settle on my eyes—it caught once again on the side of my face.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly. I tightened my grip, accepting the apology without quite understanding it.

Carefully, I ventured another question. “Is that why she’s gone… mad?”

“Yes.” His other hand came up to cover mine where it rested on his sleeve, his palm uncomfortably hot against my skin. “Levinica's magic is second sight. She sees visions. They're as murky as riddles, though they sharpen through touch—through connection. She’s never stopped searching for her son—for Dannis. Not in three hundred years.” He exhaled deeply, sadly. “Her grief… It’s consumed her.”

“How could the Full Circle decide something like that?” I asked, the memory of Levinica's despair still clinging to me. “How could they take a child from his mother?”

His thumb traced slow circles over the back of my hand. “I don't know, El.” He watched me for a long moment. “How did you do it?”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“In the mortal lands.” His gaze held mine, unwavering. “You cut off an arm to save a life. You took a head to save a village.”

I opened my mouth to answer, but he spoke first.

“You made the choice you believed would save the most people.”His thumb stilled. “This is no different.”

The truth of it struck like a physical blow. Tears burned behind my eyes as faces flashed through my mind. Every life I'd condemned. Every family left behind to mourn them. Even the ones I'd tried to spare, I'd only doomed to a slower death. Ayron Brighthall. His leg burning in the fire. Had he survived the winter? Or had he died before the Veil fell?

Aedric's hand moved slowly over my back, the touch achingly gentle. “Levinica made her choice, El. She stood beside the one who tore this world apart. Don't pity her. She decided her own fate.”

How could someone choose that? Choose to stand beside something so monstrous, knowing what it meant? Levinica hadn’t seemed cruel when I saw her—only broken, a grieving mother. But that was who she was now. What had she been before? When she’d stood at the height of her power, her brother seated on a throne of blood and terror?

The horror must have shown on my face, because he rose smoothly, pulling me gently to my feet.

I winced as the sea breeze brushed across my cheek. I lifted a hand to touch it, but the lightest graze of my fingertips sent pain flaring through me. I gasped.

“You’ll be fine,” Aedric murmured. He tilted my chin, studying the side of my face.