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“He’s more than just my lover,” I corrected sharply.
“Oh, yes. I forgot. Correct me if I’m mistaken, but he’s not your husband any longer. I heard he allowed them to annul your marriage. If it had been me, I’d have murdered the entire assembly before I allowed them to remove vows spoken before the gods.” His words caused tears to swim in my vision before I pushed them away. “That was uncalled for, Aria. I was good at killing dragons, but we were at war against them. I didn’tenjoykilling them, if that’s what King Karnavious told you. In fact, I am the reason his brothers survived for this long within this realm.”
“He thinks they’re lost to him,” I admitted, not forgiving him of the low blow he’d hit back with.
“He had good reason to believe they were. As you’ve noticed by now, we have both within our line. Dragons and phoenixes both are born to the Prometheus and Fafnir lines. When this realm was created, they weren’t our enemies. Griffon is king, but his reign depends on his brother not seeking to depose him. Hagen never forgave the dragons. His son Aldred was slain in a battle against them, and he has made it his personal mission to slaughter any dragon in the Karnavious bloodline. Your connection with them sparked the uprising that occurred today. He and your brother Vane, they nullified the power the land feeds you.” Turning to the percolating tea, he pushed the upper basin of boiling water over, which sent the boiling water into the strainer, and then the water steeped in briefly before trickling to the glass teapot.
The heady scent of earthy undertones with citrus filled the chamber. My mouth watered as I continued to study the trickle of dark water as it journeyed to the glass below.
“These herbs are from my homeland, Alfheim.”
“Scylla was from Vanaheim, though. Right?” I countered curiously.
“Correct,” he stated, smirking when I chewed my lip, waiting for more. “I was a gift to your grandmother from Freyr. The Vanir and Aesir were often gifted and captured in raids on one another. Freyr, who bound me to Scylla before she was even born, raided my village. Since I held Aesir blood, warriors trained me to fight tactical battle strategies, and once I’d mastered warfare, they then sent me to the harem of an aging elf lord who couldn’t satisfy the needs of his concubines. There, I mastered the art of…loving. After, they gave me to Frejya. She forced me to drink the flames of Muspelheim.”
“The primordial realm of heat and flame? She forced you to drink flames?” I asked in a horrified tone.
“It is the same flame her daughter housed, which I needed to be immune to in order to serve at her side, but also to protect her. They tethered my life to hers, after all.”As a slave.He didn’t need to elaborate the last part. I felt his anger of being one within me.
“Your grandmother wasn’t born a phoenix, Aria. She was born of a dragon, but never took dragon form. When the Queen of Dragons first changed, then burned through our realm, Scylla refused to retreat. I searched for her for a long time. On the sixth day, she rose from the ashes. Your grandmother was gloriously lovely in her rage, which compelled her to transform into what she became.”
“The first Rise of the Phoenix,” I said with a sad smile. “On the seventh day, she demanded those who’d perished join her rising. One by one, they rose as if born from the ashes. On the eighth day, they erected the palace. A palace which was created from the sand and ashes forged into glass, from the intensity of the dragon’s flame that consumed the lives who failed to rise.” I felt a shiver racing down my spine as he nodded, but there was agony in his eyes that told me he’d lost someone in that battle. “On the ninth day, the Kingdom of Fire rose from the same sand they’d waged war on.”
“Your love of reading anything you can get your hands on is paying off, princess.” Zyion poured a cup of tea, then added something sparkling from a jar he’d retrieved during my recital of the Rising Phoenix.
“I get the history, but I don’t understand why you killed my grandmother.”
“She forced me to make a vow to her days before it happened. I didn’t agree, which caused her to remind me of how she’d received me. I wasn’t merely a slave, Aria. I was magically bound to do as she ordered, even if that meant doing things I didn’t want to do.” My face tightened with disdain, which had him slowly exhaling. “Scylla only reminded me of my position in her life twice. Once on the night I was sent away to spy on the Karnavious dragons, then again when she bid me to do the unthinkable.”
“I’m going to need you to tell me more than just that, Zyion. I need to know why you and I are now tethered together.”
“Fine, then you can drink as I explain from the beginning of your creation. The tea may make you a little dizzy as the land fuels you with mana. Unfortunately, I cannot remove the bitterness of the tea leaves. It cannot be altered or it won’t undo the nasty binding spell Vane nullified. The link between you and the land won’t be removed again.” My lips parted, but he shook his head slowly. “I don’t know how he managed to do it, but once you drink the tea, he won’t be able to use it on you again. You’ll be immune if he attempts any magic on you, princess.”
Accepting the tea, I lowered my lips to it, blowing on the steam spiraling up from the delicate glass cup. A small sip revealed the bitterness Zyion had spoken of, which caused my stomach to rebel against indulging in any more of the tea.
“If I were you, I’d drink it one drink instead of sipping it, Aria.”
Moving away from me, he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms to wait for me to do as he’d instructed. Once I had, he began to explain from the very beginning.
“Scylla was skilled in the old ways of foretelling the future. She’d asked the seers if a champion would be born to end the suffering of her people. The answer was grim when it came. No one was coming to save us from the monster who’d created darkness in the lands. There was no balance to the dark swelling over the realms. Scylla asked what she could barter to create a being of light. One to push the darkness from our land, returning the balance lost when Hecate was sealed inside the Nine Realms.”
“Her life for mine,” I whispered against his palm.
“Not just her life, Aria. Scylla used seidr. A type of magic that can determine the outcome of the future, while shaping it as well. In order to achieve her prophecy, she needed something from both the Vanir and the Aesir, which, when combined, would make a worthy sacrifice that not even the old gods could ignore. No one else knows what I am or where I came from. They only know I served Scylla because she was of the Vanir. I am not of her people, Aria. I was born with Aesir blood within my veins. My sacrifice couldn’t be the same as hers. I had to forgo what I wanted most.”
“What did you want most?” The question escaped with sadness crushing my chest.
“I wanted to find love with a woman of worth, to watch her grow round with my child growing in her womb. I wanted to have a family of my own. I sacrificed any chance of that to bring forth one who would drive the darkness back into the shadows so that the light could once again shine in the Nine Realms, which is my home.” Tears slipped from my eyes as heat seared behind my nose. “Are you crying for me, princess?” he asked, stepping closer, even as he wiped away the tears falling down my cheeks.
“I hate knowing that Scylla gave her life for mine and that you sacrificed being a father for me.” It was the truth. I wasn’t worth the sacrifices they’d made. What if I fucked up? Then they’d have done it for nothing.
“I am of the Aesir, Aria. You hold a piece of me within you. As you hold a piece of Scylla, as well. We bless you with both of our tribes from our sacrifices, which forged you into life. They forced part of our blood into the Fate’s cauldron, which was then threaded into the fabric of your soul. It’s one of the reasons you’re war-like, but still delicate and graceful. Griffon may have created you, but he did so because Scylla ensured the child, his sire would hold the mana she and I removed from ourselves. The thread you feel? It’s because you house a part of me within you—the part that gives you the ability to love that dragon of yours so faithfully. Scylla gifted you with the power to remake the land.”
“That’s why I feel you within me?” I whispered as my mind whirled with the overload of information.
I was relieved that it wasn’t something more profound, such as a mating connection, but it also made sadness swell inside me until my heart ached with it. He’d given up his chance to become a father in order to save the Nine Realms. All he’d gotten in return for that sacrifice was me.
“I don’t want your pity, princess.” A soft glow filled the room as he stepped back and turned away.
