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But she was right. Tonight, we’d honor those who’d fallen, those who’d been wounded. Tonight, we’d simply breathe and find what joy we could that a new beginning was rising with the dawn.
CHAPTER 50
Kage
We workedthrough the night under the guidance of healers and my mother. I still could not believe they were here, awake. It felt like a hundred lifetimes since I’d heard the rasp of my father’s voice, the sly winks of my mother when she wanted to cause a bit of trouble.
Strange to know for so many seasons I’d had manipulated memories of Markus as my stepfather. The memory I had of him handing me the knife, telling me I was a prince who could speak to him was real, but still edged in the alternate truth. On one side, I could recall it as Markus Wilder’s boy from birth, on the other I could see it as his newly acquired stepson.
It was strange and would take a great deal of getting used to moving forward.
After we’d rested, bathed, and breathed a little more, Adira clasped my hand outside the doors of the great hall.
“Is it odd that I’m almost afraid to hear what she knows?” she whispered.
I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “No. I feel the same.”
“Hetorturedyou,” Adira whispered, a fierceness in her tone. “It was no wonder the degeneration was focused on you—he targeted your blood. The Well, his brilliant idea ofusing it to save your parents, it was all so he could twist the blessing of it and add the curse to your veins. I don’t know how, but it had to be his doing.”
Adira’s eyes burned in angry tears. I understood the feeling. We’d spent the early hours breaking apart all of Destin’s actions during his ruse.
“It is a betrayal I do not know how to accept,” I admitted softly.
Adira squeezed my hand and pressed a kiss to my cheek. I’d wrestled with the truth of it, but also to my own stun, a bit of understanding was there. Destin had lost himself, no mistake. His actions brought death and pain across our world, and I was not certain I’d ever forgive him for it.
But he’d loved my sister. To the darkest edges of his soul, he’d mourned for Arabeth. And I could understand such a love.
I squeezed Adira’s hand once more and entered the hall.
My parents and Gaina were already there, theskallkrönoron the table.
“Nervous, Golden Boy?” Gaina snickered.
“Knowing you are the speaker makes a lot more sense, Gaina.” I waited for Adira to take her seat first, then joined the table. “The way you knew things was always uncanny.”
“Well, memories degenerated as much in me as they did the lot of us.”
“By the way,” I whispered. “I know it was you who stole my arm ring from the palace.”
“Was it?” She winked at Adira. “Souls chatter incessantly and I simply follow their word.”
Adira chuckled. “You really were talking to the mushroom when we met.”
“Ah, that I was. Told me right where to send you, my girl.” Gaina swept a hand over a polished box. “We’ve crafted the heartstone, and it seems he is quite willing to provide insight so our lives can find peace.”
As the only one capable of handling stones without corrupting the soul, Gaina lifted Destin’s. It burned with light. Eyes closed, Gaina whispered, “Ask your questions, my loves.”
“The Well,” Adira said, voice hard as stone. “I want to understand how he latched the degeneration on Kage first.”
Gaina paused with the stone against her ear. “He’d visited the Well of Urd previously to inquire how to restore a soul. He learned the trance that follows a request at the waters would slow the pulse to a proper speed for Kage’s blood to absorb a mark of the degeneration. Tricky spells. To be marked in such a way, a heart must be at a lethargic pace. The kind one might have during a forced sleep”—she gestured at my parents— “or at the Well of Urd.”
“So while I was seeing the battle that would bring his death and the return of my parents, he was trying to kill me. Ironic.” I scoffed with bitterness.
“He did not see that outcome,” Gaina said. “All he saw was a way to deaden your soul so his love’s could return.”
“Bastard,” Adira murmured under her breath.
“Yes,” said Gaina. “You may say that a few more times, my girl.”
