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“Tell me how it happened. I want to know everything.”
4
ANARIA
It took everything in me not to vomit. I couldn’t do this, couldn’t look this decent, wrecked male in the eye and tell him how horribly his son had died. And for what?For nothing.
“Please, Anaria…I die a little more every day not knowing. I just…It’s eating me alive.” His broken plea had me nodding. If he could bear listening…I could tell the story.
“Eat the rest and I will.” I nodded to the plate. “Starving yourself won’t bring Julian back, but eating could give you the strength to turn Fae again.” I tried to smile but couldn’t even manage that. “If you want to know about your son, then you have to eat.”
“You really aren’t anything like I thought you’d be.” But Lucius picked up the food and took a bite, crumbs falling out of his mouth while he tried to chew, those long fangs getting in the way.
“I suppose starting at the beginning…” I blew out a breath, not sure if I was stalling or not. “The beginning, then.”
I told Lucius how I was raised and hidden in Varitus for the first eighteen years of my life. How Solok came and slaughtered everyone at Ravenshade Castle before stealing me away from the only life I’d known, even if it was a lie.
How my life—and Lucius’s—changed in the blink of an eye when Solok threw that axe and a surge of my magic took his son away from him.
“Solok was there?” Lucius bared his deadly teeth, a growl rumbling in his chest.
“Yes. I passed out, and then…” Fuck, this was hard. I blew out a shaky breath at the memory. “By the time I came to, Julian was dead.”
I’d always remember what Julian looked like—how the ash flaked off his cheek when I’d brushed his face, how his unseeing eyes stared up at the sky.Good.I should remember what I’d done.
“Your son was brave and kind, and I wanted so badly to trust him.” I wiped my face on my shoulder before he saw my tears. “I wish I would have left with him that night. I wish I wouldn’t have hesitated because everything would be different now.”
Please, please don’t hate me for this, please…I squeezed my eyes shut. If there was one thing in my life I wanted to take back, it was Julian’s death.
“I do too, lass. But my son’s death isn’t on your head, it’s on Solok’s. That bastard’s days are numbered.” His vicious snarl made the hair stand up on the back of my neck, and I laid my hand on his arm.
“Solok’s days areover. He’s dead. We killed him two days ago then burned him. He’ll never hurt anyone else ever again.”
“Youkilled him?” His voice thrummed with disappointment and a little awe. “Killing such a creature…wouldn’t be an easy task.”
I closed my eyes and nodded, broken images flying back like shards of broken glass—Solok’s head thrown back in a ghastly scream, black vines and thorns erupting all over his body like a blight. Me loving every minute of his suffering when I shouldn’t have enjoyed it at all.
“I did.”
“Impressive. The longer-lived Caladrian Fae, especially those as deeply corrupted as Solok, are nearly impossible to kill. Their magic is too old and too strong for an easy death. And they’ve had the time to learn to use their power in unnatural ways.”
Well, that part was definitely true.
“I saw Solok heal himself almost instantly. But you’re saying they’re truly immortal?”
“The oldest of the Fae grow impervious to death. Carex, Serpens, Solok, the Mistress. All of them are over a thousand years old; Solok and the Mistress…were far older.” His lips twisted into a sneer. “A thousand years of corruption has twisted their souls into something truly immortal. Only your magic—pure, untainted wild magic—can destroy that corruption. Weapons, even the best the Fae can produce, will only temporarily harm the flesh. Because what is housed inside that flesh is pure evil.”
I shivered when I thought about the black line crackling down my side.
The mark on Raz’s cheek.
“Your magic is one of the few powers that can kill an ancient Fae. Or a shifter.” Lucius’s eyes glowed, but not with fear. “You are a weapon capable of killing even the strongest immortals. And don’t think both kings haven’t taken that into account.”
I hated to break the news to him, but I was already a weapon for a monster even bigger than the kings. But Lucius hadn’t mentioned the Oracle, so I wouldn’t either.
“None of this surprises you.” I nodded to the last bite of his sandwich, which he shoved into his mouth in one go. “Julian told you everything?”
“Julian told me enough and Dane brings me news from the Barrens,” he said around his food. “And I keep my eyes and ears open. You’d be surprised how much gossip escapes Blackcastle and makes its way north. I heard there was a Reaper in the Keep just this week.”
