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“Kingslayer?” I guessed.
“Yes.”
“Because you killed your family?”
“…Yes.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chloe
Ilooked up at Noctus, taking in the way the lights cast a muted glow on his face that seemed to soften its usual sharp angles.
The elves of Calor Villa aren’t the ones who hold that against him, Noctus is.
“Noctus, why did you kill your family?” I asked.
Noctus raised an eyebrow at me. “This is the time and place you want to get into this?”
“Yes,” I said. “Because it bothers you more than I realized.”
“Very well.” Noctus slid his arm off my back and took two steps away from me, putting some distance between us. “What do you know about it?”
I kept my expression bland, but it bothered me that he’d backed away. “Not much. Aristide and Ker said it wasn’t their story to tell, and every record I found of it just said the Mors royal family was wiped out in one incident—which I assume was your doing.”
Noctus glanced up at the sky. “It was. I acted on an evening when I knew my family was going to be together—my parents, brothers, and my few remaining cousins and aunts and uncles. It was a feast. I destroyed them.” His voice was detached, as though he was talking about someone else, but I saw the spiral—the pupils of his eyes—swirl. He had feelings about the situation, even if he didn’t display them. “I used Destruction—the Mors’ ultimate weapon, which had chosen me to wield it shortly after I reached adulthood. Nothing can stop Destruction, so it was child’s play. They were gone within minutes.”
I linked my hands behind my back as I listened, watching for any flicker of emotion on Noctus’s face, but his expression was icy.
“My father lasted the longest,” Noctus continued. “Since he was the king at the time, he had some magical resources I did not. But he still couldn’t last against Destruction. I thought for sure he’d use his last breaths to warn our allies. To warnanyelven family what I’d done. But no, even in his last moments he was selfish and bent on revenge. He cursed Destruction—a blood curse of suffering and torment, but never any death. He was trying to put it on me, but Destruction absorbed the curse, and I separated my magic from it before it spread to me.”
“I saw the painting of you with Destruction,” I said. “Ker mentioned it was cursed.”
Noctus turned so he looked out over the city, which took him yet another step away from me. “Precisely,” he said. “I’ll never be able to use it again. No one will.”
He keeps getting further and further away. Is he really dreading my reaction that much?
“So that’s how you did it.” I pulled the zipper of my jacket up just a little higher so my collar fitted snugly under my chin. “Butwhydid you do it?”
Noctus stared out at Magiford and said nothing.
“I know there’s more to it—everyone I’ve talked to has said you did it for a reason, but no one will tell me exactly what it was.”
Noctus didn’t even stir.
He’s locking up. I’d better make a move, or he’s going to convince himself I’ll leave him over this.
“Noctus, Iknowyou.” I crossed the distance between us, and grabbed his arm so he wouldn’t back away again. “You’re just and responsible. You didn’t do it out of a thirst for power because you don’t like being king. And the elves had been winning the war. Without your family to act as the deadliest army in existence, they lost. You were the crown prince, you knew they’d lose without the Mors,” I confidently said.
Noctus had been raised in death and war. There was no way he didn’t know that in eradicating his family, he would make it possible for supernaturals to win.
Wait…is that why?
“Is that why you did it?” I asked as I struggled to verbalize my thoughts. “You destroyed your family because of the war?”
Noctus was quiet for a moment. “Magic made its choice. It loved—loves, still—humans above everyone else. Attempting to subjugate wizards, oracles—magical and regular humans alike—was folly. Despite our many talents, eventually magic would abandon us elves because of that folly. I saw the signs after the mass extinction of the shadows.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “The elves were at the peak of their power then.”
