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“That day I was convinced Krew was the true heir. And that because of his bond, he was now stronger than my father, so my father was going to kill him to prevent him from ever ruling.” I paused. “Because so long as my father breathed, no one was allowed to be more powerful than he." I took a deep breath. “So my father had us pulled from bed using devices which blocked out our magic.” I didn’t explain those further because someone from Dra Skor already obviously had a penchant for iron and didn’t need any more ideas. “So we stood before him without our powers. The pain of knowing we could end him if only we could get to and use our magic, but our hands were bound, and we couldn’t do a thing. We were stuck.”
It was not as painful as I thought it would be explaining what happened next. “My father even mentioned how he could make more heirs through Jorah since she was now the most powerful Enchanted woman. He would’ve killed us both if he had to, forced himself on Jorah if he had to, so long as he could retain being the most powerful.”
Multiple snorts of disgust and murmurs were heard.
So how did you do it,Malachi urged, still very much into the story.
I smirked. “In the end, Jorah managed to do something that very few of our Enchanted ever have. She sent magic out of her feet instead of her hands. We have tried doing this multiple times since, but while using magic out of our hands is as easy as moving a limb, it takes an extreme amount of concentration to use magic from elsewhere. Whether it was the extreme emotions, her will, or the soul bond reacting, she managed it. My father moved to kill my brother, her husband, and she stomped down, using her magic. She got the dead king’s guards off of her and ran, throwing up her gauntlets just in time to save Krew.”
I didn’t add that Krew, Owen, and I had all managed to send magic out of our feet since. It was still a worst-case scenario, but at least it could help if one ever found oneself in gauntlets.
I shook my head as I remembered the exact moment. “We were all knocked to the ground. My mother’s magic was in the sword, and it shattered Jorah’s shackles somehow. John here thinks that when my mother willed her magic into the sword, she somehow willed that it never be used to harm her own sons. Whatever the cause, Jorah got free. She got the keys and immediately got Krew and me free.”
“Oh, we about to have a fair fight now,” Otis responded while rubbing his hands together.
I smirked. “We were still weakened from the fires the day before, but yes. It was now a fair fight. The sword which held my mother’s magic had been thrown in the blast, and I sent Jorah after it. Krew focused on my father, and I focused on the guards in the room. Four of which I killed and feel little remorse about even today. There was no time for second chances. For what felt like the next hour, magic poured from all of us as we fought like hell together.” I paused. “And in the end, the thing which truly turned the tide was a wolf.”
“A wolf?” Amory asked.
I quickly explained Rafe and how Jorah had gained his trust back. That the wolves and the forest were known for odd happenings. That the wolves instinctively knew what was happening that fateful morning and were clawing at the kitchen doors trying to get in. And that was why the kitchen staff had armed themselves and followed. Because of the wolves.
“So when Rafe arrived we were still struggling to fight my father, his magic too strong and too quick with his guards also attacking us at the same time. It was chaos. But Rafe attacked the king, and for only a moment, his focus faltered. It gave Krew and me an opening. We are kin bonded so our magic can combine. But also my magic and Jorah’s can combine because of our bonds with Krew. So the three of us together threw magic onto my father. And it worked. Our joined magic began encasing him.”
Someone let out an excited yell.
“As soon as our magic held down his hands, I took the same magic restricting shackles he had put on us, and I slammed them onto my father.”
Another excited yell, this time from a different direction.
“Did the wolf die?” Amory asked in my pause.
I shook my head and smiled. “In the middle of this wild battle, Jorah and Owen became kin bonded to strengthen her magic enough to heal the wolf. Which annoyed my father to no end. To know that we cared about saving the wolf over him.”
I smirked. “Once the wolf was saved, Jorah handed the sword to Krew. Krew and I were dangerously close to burnout, having poured magic out of ourselves constantly. I had all the guards handled, my father immobile and magicless.”
My palms burned with the emotions churning in me and I allowed my power to heat my skin, traveling up my arms and down my back. “Krew took the sword with my mother’s magic and while I kept sending magic to keep my father immobile, he drove that same sword into the base of his neck.” I looked to the queen and allowed my magic to flare in my eyes as I added, “It was a far swifter death than he deserved.” I looked up to the stars. “And so there we stood. Twin brothers. Heirs. I held my father’s crown in my hands and Krew the sword. We still didn’t know who would be king, only that his reign of cruelty had finally run out.”
It was quiet a moment. I could hear the fire crackling, a few horses munching, otherwise nothing at all.
Malachi finally sent to me,Astra inclinant, sed non obligant. In the dead language it means, ‘the stars incline us, they do not define us.’ We say it here as a reminder that we are not just captive of our fates, rather our will defines us. And it is never too late to rise again.He stomped twice as he finished explaining that to me.
Multiple other shifters did the same.
Zaire himself even gave his head a shake and then pounded his fist over his chest twice.
Amory gave me a tight smile. “Danger unto death.”
Others repeated it back to her.
The significance of the two pounds and the saying were meaningful. I didn’t fully understand danger unto death. That sounded like a lot of danger, and well, damn exhausting.
The story over, as some of the others moved back over to the fire and started speaking, I realized just how many people were listening in to my story by the end of it.
“Danger unto death?” I asked Amory quietly.
“It means we embrace the danger of this realm, until our deaths, allowing no room for fear. So when we all said that to you, we were acknowledging your courage and character in taking down your father.” She paused. “Malachi can be pushy, but you didn’t have to share. I am glad you did though. We knew the basics of the story, but none of those details. Thank you.”
I gave her a nod. I wasn’t feeling as emotional as I thought I would be. Somehow airing the story was reminding me of the pleasant outcome of it all. On Wylan’s throne sat a king and queen for the ages. I might not have always made the right choices along the way, but when it came down to it, I had made the correct one in the end when handing them the throne.
