I imagined him, only fourteen years old, walking through the halls of the great Meroway Citadel with people running in terror to see the death on his face.
"I thought Aris might shit himself when Io came sauntering into the Reach. None of us had ever seen him like that—with that death's face on him, the shadows so thick you almost couldn't see him inside them."
Aben looked at me. "He told meyousaw that—that you didn't blink an eye."
That did something dreadfully, pleasantly painful in my heart—learning that he had shared with his cousin that I had not been afraid of him. What that meant to him became even more apparent.
"I still think Aris thought Io would kill him, and I never believed a word of what he said when he came across the room, smiling, claiming he was proud of him. He was a true Lord of Darkwatch to never allow himself to be caged when he had the power to free himself.
Io never believed it either, and I think that was the day he truly began to hate the old man. Even if he hadn't put his mother through the same kind of bullshit for so many years."
"His father beat his mother as well?"
He nodded. "A few times. But it was more the constant emotional manipulation of her. She’s Withian. She hated being on dragon back. He never forgave her for that—for not being of Darkwatch."
I remembered the look on Io's face when he said he named his swordVengeance. I was sure it had not been vengeance for the wrongs done to him that inspired the name, but for what his father had done to his mother.
Aben absentmindedly stroked his beard. It had grown longer since I first saw him in Albiyn. It made him somehow more handsome, lending a wild, untamed edge to the face that was normally set with such a clear smile of good humor.
His voice was full of regret as he finished. "Behr is more like his father than even Io will admit to. He's not cruel," he added quickly when my brows snapped together. "But he's not necessarily kind either, not unless it suits him to be so. He's a good king, but with that comes a coldness that reminds me of Aris." He paused again, glancing back towards Io and Britaxia behind me.
"Io is kind. He's done more for the people of Darkwatch than any lord in a thousand years. You'll find an entire city's worth of people who will admit to that even as they shy away from him. He's a good man. So, if you belong to him—” he met my gaze and his eyes were intent, his expression earnest. “Then I'll damn sure do what I can to help you."
"Thank you, Aben," I said, putting my arms around the big mage and hugging him. His words did not offend me. I knew he didn’t mean them in the same way another might—as though I was property. He was only stating the truth of what my own heart and mind told me. We belonged to each other, however ill-fated that match might be. I could never imagine feeling the same way about any other.
Aben pulled back a little. "I knew something was different with you when I realized he introduced himself as Io—no one but his sisters and I call him that. But when I found him sleeping beside you that day, that's when I really knew. You know, I hadn’t seen him sleep since he was eight or nine. I was convinced the man just did not ever close his eyes." He laughed, but it was easy to see the edge of regret and pain in the sound.
"Well, we have that in common," I told him. "I can't seem to sleep without him these days either."
He gave me a companionable pat on the shoulder, perhaps in acknowledgment of what I had been through. I wasn't sure he actually made the connection between my admission of not being able to sleep and what had happened in Albiyn, though.
And if I had to admit the truth, the trouble sleeping, the nightmares, had begun to plague me even before then. Since the night of my coronation and learning that I would be bound in marriage to another.
Once again, the knowledge that I could be so easily undone by him, more thoroughly than the violent assault that had been perpetrated against me, shamed me. It brought everything I was willing to sacrifice to the forefront of my mind. Could I be so black hearted as to let a kingdom fall and another be torn apart for the chance to be with him?
"I'll go to Orin," Aben said, nodding his head as though he was just thinking of the plan. "And if I see that things are about to go wrong in a very bad way, I'll send word to you at the Reach. If I tell you to come, Aelia, I need you to come."
I nodded. "I understand."
"I'll do my best to keep the armies marching to Windemere as well. Perhaps Behr will surprise us all and be just as willing to help you as his sister."
The words, the hope, sent me a little over the edge. I had to look down to try and manage the sob that was crawling its way up my throat. If it really could be that simple...
"You'll tell him that I'm still open to an alliance with Nightfall—any fucking terms he wants." Aside from the one, of course. I would still be open to that one as well, when it came down to it, if it meant Io would stay safe and my people would survive. But one hurdle at a time, I thought.
“I will.” Aben hugged me again, and we turned to make the trek back to where Io and Britaxia stood staring in our direction with matching stony expressions.
"Have you managed to talk her out of this foolishness?" Britaxia said when we reached them.
"Come on, Taxia. Let's go home," Aben said, ignoring her question as he let go of me and gathered her under his big arm to pull her away.
Britaxia jerked away from him. Still glaring at me, as though daring me to speak. I couldn't. Maybe it made me a coward, maybe it proved that I knew everything she said was true, but I had no words of defense.
"This fucking cyungr will see it all fall down around us—"
I didn't see him move. I only felt the faint whisper of air across my skin at the same time the shadows swirled out, throwing the entire clearing into muted darkness.
And then Io was in front of Britaxia, holding her by the front of her gray fur coat as the shadows swirled around them.
