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LUCIAN
Ifelt as off-balanced as Natalie, and that surprised me. Rumir and I didn't have a real connection outside of Natalie. But I could feel Natalie’s ache for him, and it was slowly tearing me apart. From above, I’d watched everything that had happened between Cedric, Natalie, and the Goddess, unable to join the fight because I’d been busy fending off dragons.
Natalie had done what she could, and so had the Goddess—Morana.
I hadn't had much time to process the fact that the Goddess had told me her real name while we’d been in the Kruard territory. Rumir and I also officially dealt with the bad blood between us. But everything leading to us coming to Natalie's aid in Esavale, and then to Aerilon, had happened so fast.
It was insane to think that there had been a time when I would have been happy for Rumir to have vanished from Natalie’s life, leaving me as her only mate. But now, I wanted him found as badly as everyone.
Without him, Natalie wouldn't find peace. And that was all I wanted for her.
I made my way through the castle halls, ignored by dragons running back and forth, until I came to the end of a hallway, with two doors on either side. When I glimpsed a white coat entering the room to my right, I followed. But as I approached the door, I heard a high-pitched sizzle of electricity.
I stepped inside, and saw lightning bolts coming from Morana’s body, burning the ground, the walls, and the ceiling. Her back was turned to me, her fists clenched at her side, and sparks flew when the bolts connected with something metal.
I moved away from the door but didn’t leave. I could feel Natalie’s sadness, but not Morana’s. Still, I had no trouble understanding the panic she must have been feeling, her terror at the thought of losing her only son. Her relationship with Rumir had been strained, but it was on the mend. Still, it hadn’t mattered. Even when things had been rocky between them, she’d still loved him. He was her flesh and blood, born from her womb and raised by her.
He was the only other blood relative she had left.
Morana’s fists clenched tightly, her body jerking a little, and a pulse emitted from her, sending everything in the room flying. Books on the shelves exploded, and the shredded pages danced in the air like confetti.
Morana turned to me. “Lucian?”
"Goddess," I replied.
The bolts vanished. Her face was hidden, as it always was, but I could see her silver eyes in the darkness that was her face.
She waved her hand slightly, and all the paper fluttering to the ground started to stick back together. The furniture started to readjust itself, as did the books on the shelves. When the room finally looked the way it had, she walked away, her hands crossed over her chest.
I came fully inside and stood beside her as she looked at a painting of Aerilon, the beautiful forest outside depicted perfectly on the canvas. Neither of us spoke for a time. We just stood there, staring at the trees in the painting that moved. It was as if we were looking out a window.
“There is no trace of them,” Morana said after some time.
"Cedric can cloak his presence the same way Natalie can. He won't be found easily," I admitted.
She turned to me.
“And what of Rumir? What am I to do? Just wait until Cedric's done with my son?" She turned her back to the painting. "If only I’d gotten here a few minutes sooner.”
“Rumir shares your blood, Goddess. He’s your son and twice as determined,” I told her. “Cedric couldn’t have picked a worse person to mess with. Rumir won’t break for him or anyone else.”
The Goddess sighed but said nothing.
"All this time, Cedric's been Ash." She shook her head. "It's hard to regret being with him because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have had my son. But still, it was a mistake. Why didn't I see that he was capable of doing this? Cedric always made his distaste for the gods known. Even when we were together, he was—distant, which eventually led to the end of our relationship, once Rumir was born. But I spent time with this man. He was never this … filled with hate. What does that say about me?”
“Your relationship with Cedric, mistake or not, happened centuries ago,” I told her. “The ties you had to him in the past mean nothing now. What he’s become doesn't reflect on you—you can't be blamed for not seeing this coming. He fooled everyone. We’ll find him and Rumir, and we'll end this war. We know who's behind this now, and that counts for something."
“I didn’t know he had another child,” she said, turning her back to the painting. "All this time, Rumir had a sibling eager to meet him.”
"And he thought he was hated by all," I added. She nodded. “They’ll get the chance to know each other.”
“They must. I can’t lose anyone else, Lucian,” the Goddess said, turning to me. “I can’t.”
“You won’t,” I said. “This war will end, and there will be a lot to recover from, but I think, in the end, some good might come from this mayhem. We’ve all been forced to face things we were otherwise comfortable ignoring.”
Just then, Armen appeared at the door, his frame filling the entrance.
“Pardon me for interrupting,” he said. “But you both need to come with me. Yelena and Natalie are waiting for us in the dungeon.”
