“Something my dad told me as part of my history lessons,” he started, looking down into his lap to avoid Kade’s eyes, “Was that Queen Soleil had a husband—or, well, I guess a partner. But he was a human, and somehow she brought him into the Veil.”
“I know,” Kade replied. “Jerah taught me all that too. That she tried to make him a fae, and he died. And that’s what they think caused the Blight.”
“Well,” Florian sighed. “It’s him.”
A beat of silence passed, then Kade repeated uncertainly, “It’s him?”
Florian nodded. “It’s him. Her partner. His name was Thaddeus. That’s who’s connected to me. I could see his memories. And...” He hesitated. “She did turn him into a fae, and it did kill him, but I don’t think that’s what caused the Blight. I think the Blight happened right after that, when she tried to bring him back to life.”
Kade sucked in a sharp breath, and Florian chanced to look up at him. He looked first surprised, then his brows furrowed in concern.
“She tried to bring him back,” he repeated slowly. “That’s... definitely not allowed, with any kind of magic.”
“That’s what Elodie said,” Florian murmured, nodding. “So... I don’t know. It feels like that should be important, that he was such a major person in all this, but I don’t really know what it means.”
“You have to bring him back to her,” Kade said quickly, looking up to meet his eyes. He made it sound like the most obvious thing in the world. “That’s why it has to be you.”
Florian blinked, dumbfounded. It was completely antithetical to what Elodie had told him—that what they had thought was a prophecy was only a prediction on her part, that if he had not stepped up to start gathering the Arrows, then someone else would—or someone else might, it was all so confused now. After all, someone else had tried before, he thought, and failed. It had made the Blight worse. They had failed so miserably that their names and identities had been lost to time; and maybe that someone else didn’t carry the soul of her partner with them.
“Could that be it?” he murmured, pressing a hand to the place in his chest where the thread, Thaddeus’ soul, had connected to him.
“It would make sense to me,” Kade replied.
They were both silent for a long moment, Kade watching Florian with his eyes gleaming orange in the dim light, his expression inscrutable. Florian couldn’t put a name to the emotions making his chest feel tight and his hands tingle. He missed his father. Jerah would know, he thought. Jerah could tell him if that was the truth.
“I don’t know,” he finally said, barely above a whisper. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t know. I guess it does make sense.”
“The witch was wrong,” Kade said, as if reading his thoughts. “Maybe she didn’t think it was a prophecy. But I know you’re special, you’re important. I know it has to be you. And now we know why.”
Weakly, Florian nodded. He wasn’t convinced, but Kade seemed to already believe it fully. It was only a theory, really; but if Kade believed it, he would trust him.
“Yeah,” he said. “Okay.”
Kade reached out and squeezed his free hand. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Florian said quickly—too quickly, he thought, as Kade looked completely unconvinced. “Just... thinking about it all, I guess.”
Slowly, Kade nodded.
Florian sucked in a sharp breath and blurted out, “There’s something else I have to tell you.”
“Something else?”
“Well,” he sighed, looking down at his hands. “When I was… with the witch, she was able to figure out that I… Um, I haven’t been using fae magic right.”
For a moment they were both silent. “What does that mean?” Kade asked, but something in his tone had changed. Florian knew, somehow, that Kade knew.
“I guess I’d been using old magic, on instinct,” he said slowly, still unable to look Kade in the face. “Elodie said she thinks it’s because of the fae spirit—because he had so much old magic infused in him, and that’s how we’re connected. So when I tried to use magic that first time, it’s what came to me most naturally and then I just kept… kept using it. I didn’t know at the time.”
He felt more than heard Kade breathe out, long and slow, deflating as he processed.
“I see,” he finally said, his voice tense. “I… It’s a good thing nothing went wrong up until now, then.”
Hesitantly, Florian glanced up at him. His expression was careful, but he didn’t seem angry. His eyes flickered to Florian’s, and the corners of his mouth twitched in an attempt at a smile.
“You’re not mad?” Florian asked, and Kade let out a huff of a laugh, shaking his head.
“No,” he said. “No. Maybe I would have been, but… I’m just relieved you’re safe.”
