“What is this?” I asked, dangling the chain in front of his face, having no idea how something could block out a Token.
“It was on you when I found you in her cabin. Your mother, her name was Herina. She was the strongest drakin I ever met. She was bonded to a rare breed of a Ferro dragon. She could manipulate metal better than anyone. I don’t know how she did it, but she found a way to isolate traces of metal within the grains of the Black Sands, using it to suppress your Token.” He let out a laugh, but it was dark, emotionless, lost. “She must have known what you’d grow into. That you’d be unnatural. I didn’t think your Vinculum bond would take after you won the Vargothi.That,” his eyes went to the pendant, “was supposed to block all powers. I planned on killing you for not producing magic, but you fucking did. She found a way to isolate the particles to block an individual ability. She made it so only your Token was suppressed.”
“That’s why you selected me for sterilization,” I said, my voice restrained.
“Of course,” Elion reeled. “You think I’d risk people finding out about your Token? That you are living proof of someone who is partdrakin, part Wielder. I banned you from ever forming any relationships so no one could get close enough to find out.”
“If you didn’t want drakins and Wielders to be together, why were you with her?”
Elion’s expression shifted into something I couldn’t read. “You think either of us wanted it? We couldn’t help it.”
My face dropped as realization dawned on me. Nollie and I weren’t the first… “You’re Eclipsisian mates?”
He nodded, the blade scraping against his skin.
“What happened to her?” I gritted.
“Dahes took her. She gave birth to you in her cabin, but by the time I got there, she was gone. I’ve been trying to get her back for over a century now.”
“How?”
“You think I know that?” Elion spat. “All I know is that the second you were born, she was gone.”
“That’s why you were keeping Nollie here,” I said as realization dawned. “You were going to trade her for my mother.”
Elion nodded. “I knew she had to be important if Dahes sent a Tallik after her. She was the only person to ever escape Moriann. All I had to do was make a fucking spectacle of her. I needed everyone talking about her, and what better way to do that than let her be a guest to the Vargothi. I needed Dahes so livid that I was flaunting the fucking scum who escaped him that he’d do anything I wanted to get her back. I was going to trade her forHerina,and you fucking ruined everything!”
Lightning sparked in the air, ricocheting all around him before he pulled it back and cursed. He thought the conversation distracted me enough to lower my shield. I had one encompassing his entire body save for his throat. Dahes ordered it, only the order didn’t stop the second he left the throne room. Elion was still defenseless.
“Help me, and we’ll get her back together,” he pleaded, trying another tactic. “We can finally?—”
“No,” I cut him off. I didn’t care if we shared the sameblood, I wasn’t holding the knife to his throat just because of Dahes’ command—I wanted him dead.
I wantedbothof them dead.
Elion cursed as he tried his lightning again. Only this time I didn’t wait. Instead of the daggerathis throat, it wasthroughit. I cut into him like air, whatever strength I had from this Token, I had honed in on it, pushing the blade into the floor.
I just killed my father.
Chapter Fifty-One
Sorry
MAGNOLIA
The Dome was a bloodbath. All sorts of monsters were packed across the dirt.
Most of the drakins were airborne and the amount of magic sweeping through the air was suffocating. If we survived this, there was no way they’d be able to hide their magic from the Wielders after tonight…
Fire was everywhere. Splashes of water appeared from thin air, but nowhere near what Jaxs had just done with the lake. Vines were snaking around the stands, metal and teeth were clashing violently, and wind was ripping through everything, adding a layer of chaos to the mayhem.
I was still in Bluey’s claw when panic settled inside me.
Aura—she was still in the pit. I tried to reposition, but I couldn’t see anything past Bluey’s claw.
“Jaxs!” I shouted over the onslaught, praying he could hear me. “Aura’s in the Dome.”
Bluey swooped low, circling the pit before heading skyward.
