Chapter 22

Chapter

Twenty-Two

SELENE

B londe curls pressed against my neck as Minka's fresh scent of patchouli oil and pink rose calmed my racing heart. "Are you sure you're okay?" I pulled back but still held tightly onto her as I looked up and down her short form.

Her ankle was no longer wrapped in bandages from the kelpie attack she'd told me about when I woke up, scenting her blood in the air. And even though she had been right at the cusp of losing her life to those malevolent spirits, she looked perfectly healthy and fine now. Her gray eyes were still lit with the same fire she always carried, but her normally pale face was now slightly tanned from spending so much time on the beaches with Cordelia.

Her story had been told in a rush, with only a finite amount of time for her to catch us up on my adopted Uncle Arron, the former King of Argyll, saving her from the flesh-eating water horses. It was the first sighting of him that I had heard about since I killed Radha. And now he remained in Argyll, his exact location unknown, and none of us fully trusted him still.

After all, he was fully bound by Blood Oath to Radha, the callous female who had betrayed my family and countless others. I didn't know how much he'd been aware of during his marriage to that traitorous bitch. Either way, none of us were comfortable blindly trusting the male with kind brown eyes, despite him saving Minka's life.

Even with our aversion to the male and his marital choice, we wouldn't write him off completely. Arron Lennox was the King of Argyll before he ran from his kingdom and disappeared for months. He was powerful before Radha and Falkur, the Right Hand to the King of Argyll, took control over the kingdom, draining Arron's power of emotional manipulation through the Blood Oath.

We wagered he still had connections from the long bloodline of powerful High Fae monarchs he descended from. He could possibly sway more soldiers into fighting with us, or even know of another sanctuary or two for those still seeking shelter.

And even Minka was in agreement about keeping in contact with him, feeling almost indebted to the High Fae male. She said that some people were deserving of a second chance and to at least hear him out on the possibility that his armies would still follow him faithfully. Minks was as cunning and smart as she was beautiful and sweet.

But her glazing over the story wasn't only because of me rushing to meet the Sibyl. Minka was also concerned with Cordelia's parents, the Queen of the Circadian and her husband. It seemed there was story after story to divulge and each one was making my stomach twist in knots.

"Don't worry about me," Minka chided at my pestering, hugging me again tightly. "We want to know what happened with the Sibyl."

My gaze stretched to behind her, to the table full of people waiting for the answers I'd received. Jude, Igor, Keva, Crodic, and Ric sat with ink pots, parchment, and books around them.

Cordelia remained in the corner with Ausra, leafing through books and trying to find anything about enchanted mirrors or crackling portals. I had no clue where Phaedra—Ausra's wife—was, but Magdalene had joined the Siren and healer.

Mags had spent most of her life working in the Castle of Umbra and witnessing Medies infection firsthand, so she had essential knowledge that could help the two.

But one person stuck out more than the rest, my throat tightening when our eyes locked.

Then my gaze trailed down the whirls of inked and scarred skin down his neck and onto his broad chest. It was only covered with such a thin fabric that his scars and inked skin still managed to peek through in the firelight. The human warrior before me wasn't truly human at all—he was actually half mortal, half monster.

Son of Durreos Seraphim.

He'd always been stronger and faster than the other humans, but I had assumed it was from a life of hardship and wanting, no, needing to be better for survival. The elements never affected him as greatly as they did Minka or Phaedra, their human blood needing continuous warmth; all small things I chalked up to the strength of his will, the continuous need to never stop fighting.

And that may have still been true, but now it was more than that.

He was more than that.

And the power that coursed through his veins was just as strong as Emrys', their blood shared. There was always this kindred connection between us, from the first moment I met Ric. His soul had felt familiar, like I'd known a semblance of him, but that must have just been the blood he shared with my Mate coursing through his mixed veins.

He was the hidden Prince of Atrium, the bastard of an abusive ruler, and I didn't know if I should even tell him. He had the right to know but he was my friend, my family, and I couldn't lose him too. Couldn't give him the opportunity to sacrifice himself, because he would do it for Emrys.

Ric would do anything for him.

Settling down onto the bench, I averted my gaze to the wooden table and crossed my arms. "More cryptic messages, but we got confirmation on where the High King will be when he tries to perform the sacrifice."

I could feel Minka's gray eyes on me, watching me like a hawk and inspecting every movement I made. The tiny warrior stood again, looming over my seated position. "There's something else."

Putting my head in my hands, I sighed. The guilt weighed on me because Ric deserved to know and there was no point in holding this off. "There's always something else."

Jude reached across the table, her milky white shadows caressing the sleeve of my shirt. She then grabbed a hold of my wrist, comforting me into speaking but it wasn't my emotions I was worried about. "What is it, Selene?"

My green eyes went up to Ric's hazel ones and he tilted his head in curiosity at my gaze.

Telling him this could put him in danger if the word got out. People would want to kill him for his blood relation to that tyrant. Even Ric himself would go as far as offering himself up to the High King.

He'd already been mistreated the entirety of his life for appearing human and now he shared the blood of our realm's biggest offender. I had already known that his mother was a slave at the Umbran Castle, but I hadn't even considered that the male she'd been raped by was the High King himself.

"It's okay, babe," Ric leaned forward in his seat, his white teeth gleaming in a soft smile. I studied his canines, looking to see if they were longer than the rest, but his teeth were straight and blunt as he said, "You can tell us."

Bile churned low in my stomach the longer I stared at him. That cocky attitude and swagger he possessed matched Emrys' and it all made too much sense. Although Elric was Demi-Fae, his heart was completely human. And he deserved to know the truth that lay in his blood despite what could happen.

I spoke slowly, not wanting to voice it, but needing to. "The High King has two sons."

Minka gasped while Jude recoiled in shock, but Ric made no movement as he responded, "Okay… And?"

"And…" I started while Keva placed a deep brown hand on my shoulder. I looked up into her sparkling blue eyes that were so full of kind encouragement and understanding that I found the will to finish the sentence. "And it's you, Ric." The anxiety in my chest didn't ease after the admission. The words soured on my tongue, "You're his son."

Elric let out a loud and hoarse laugh, like the world was playing another joke on him. My eyes widened at his outburst, because I had just told him a monster sired him and he laughed. He was always able to find the humor, the bright side in things, but this… this news had no bright side.

"You thought I didn't know that, Sel?" He points at his nose, crooked from too many beatings without proper healing. Ausra, Cordelia, and Mags were now staring in our direction, looking at all of our stunned expressions. Two pairs of shocked eyes were wide, but Magdalene's bright ones only stared at Ric with softness and understanding. "Of course I fucking knew. I have the asshole's nose, granted it's been broken a couple hundred times, but I always knew ."

There was no time for any of us to react, to even form another thought before his hazel eyes darkened. A hint of his half-brother—my Mate, the Shadow of Death—came through. "Mags was one of the few that tried to keep me hidden, especially from the High King. They lied, covering up who had fathered me in hopes that I wouldn't face more abuse, or worse, death. My mother may have been murdered when I was young, but even at that small age, I could sense there was something more to the story when his name was brought up."

I didn't realize my hands were shaking but Ric moved to sit next to me and held them tightly. His eyes were a lighter hazel, specks of green swirled throughout whereas Emrys' were molten honey. I already considered Ric my family but as I studied his features closer, I could make out the similarities of the strong, straight nose. The chiseled jawline and thick eyebrows.

"I and a few others knew of what happened. Fuck ." He ran his hand through the loose hair on the top of his scalp, "A lot of the people in the castle probably knew, but we didn't speak of it. The High King abused a lot of us in different ways, but with the High Fae's inability to procreate as quickly as humans, he would require many of the women to be sterilized for that reason." His jaw clenched harshly at the reminder of the corruption and how horrid it truly was. "So they couldn't bring more humans into this world, couldn't create something like me, a half-human half-fae bastard, but my mother was unlucky in that sense."

"Does Emmie know any of this at all?" Minka voiced and Ric shook his head in answer. She sat down with a hand to her chest and I didn't miss the way it was now trembling in fear for her best friend and what could happen to him. "Are you sure, Ric?"

"Pretty damn sure," he patted my hand before removing it. "I didn't tell him, not because I don't trust him with my life, but because I know the High King can make him do anything, and I wouldn't shoulder Emrys with another burden. Especially my own." Ric shrugged while Keva studied him, surely looking for the resemblance to the High King or even Emrys.

Besides the broken nose and jaw, there wasn't much that was similar to Emrys except for how his eyes sat upon his face, and the glower he gave a person before beating the shit out of them. I'd seen the High King once in Jindera and then only in a few portraits, but even I could tell that Emrys and Ric didn't bear much of a resemblance to the corrupt asshole. Ric clearly took after his mother in more ways than just looks.

"I used to hide from mirrors," Ric continued with a tick of his jaw before he exhaled. My heart ached for him, and by the haunted look on everyone's faces, they felt it too.

"I avoided meeting my own gaze because what looked back at me was the monster that haunted my nightmares. The one who had hurt my mother time and time again. But now? I couldn't give less of a fuck that we are related. I already have a target on my head for looking human and it's not going anywhere, it just might get bigger if that information gets out."

"This information is not getting out because I am not risking it. Not risking you . It means that he could have another sacrifice, Ric," I huffed at his nonchalant approach while my nails created crescents in my palms from anger. If not him then Emrys, my soul's other half; but I couldn't lose them both. "It means that if he knows and gets his hands on you, he won't hesitate to use you."

"I've been used my whole life, babe," the Demi-Fae warrior retorted with a snort, but I didn't miss the dilation of his pupils, fear bubbling up to his playful surface.

"It's not going to come down to that," Minka vowed while Keva paced the carpet next to the fireplace, contemplating all of this new information.

Feathered wings mixed with the sweet metallic scent of magic kept my mind at ease before a bloodcurdling scream woke me from my slumber. Drool lay in a small puddle beneath my head, signaling just how drained I truly was and how deep I had slept.

Exhaustion filled my bones as I stretched my sore legs and listened for that bleak sound again. Nothing but pure silence lingered, sending goosebumps up my exposed arms in apprehension.

That scream sounded so close, so imminent, but only a void remained in its absence.

Soft moonlight filtered in through the frayed and moth-eaten curtains of my small chamber as I threw a cloak over my shoulders to combat the chilly night air. My door opened with a creak, its rusty hinges resisting opening fully so I slipped out, not wanting to break it off the wall.

Startled gray eyes met my own as Minka held a hand to her chest. "Gods, Sel!" she panted out and then threw a dramatic hand to her forehead. "You scared the life out of me with all the slipping in and out of the shadows!"

"I'm sorry, Minks. I didn't mean to frighten you," I rubbed her shoulder softly, noting the blanket that had fallen from it just moments ago. Wrapping the woolen fabric back around her form, I asked, "Did you hear a scream a moment ago?"

She nodded fervently, "Yeah, it was so loud that it woke me up and…" her voice trailed off as she looked down at her bare feet. "I…" She let out a breath, "I don't know."

My heart was racing in my chest, "What is it?"

Nibbling on her lower lip, Minka looked back up at me. "I have a bad fee?—"

My hand lightly clamped down on her mouth, silencing her as I whispered, "Do you hear that?"

Her eyes opened wider than I thought possible as she nodded her head and listened to a soft whimpering coming from down the hall. It was so light, so delicate that it was muffled by the cobblestones surrounding our rooms. Looking up, I couldn't trace exactly where the crying was coming from.

Wetness coated my palm and I glanced back down to see Minka's tongue snaking out in between my fingers. Reeling backwards, I mouthed, " What the fuck," at her, not wanting to speak loud enough for the person to hear us. Minka spoke in a soft voice, barely loud enough for my fae ears to hear her words. "You wouldn't move it and I didn't want to scare you by grabbing your wrist."

A soft whimper came again followed by a painful moan before I could tell Minka to stop licking people. There was a time and a place for everything and this was definitely not the time for a lesson on manners. "Ausra and Phaedra's room," Minka tilted her chin towards the left where another sob broke through the wooden door.

Wiggling the handle profusely, the door didn't open no matter how much I tried. There were no locks on the doors in this stronghold of Gambriel, so the door should've popped right open. Its resistance left my stomach churning with nausea. Minka's gray eyes were still wide and staring in shock as I took a step backwards and studied the rotting wood. "Is it jammed?" she whispered.

"I doubt it."

For a split second, my body rejected my brain's command to kick in that door, because they could've just had a bad dream or an argument or something. Between the way Minka's shoulders shook and the low muffled cries, my foot barrelled through the oak door, sending splinters of wood flying in every direction.

The scene before us took the breath from my lungs as we both stared in horror at Ausra, with her usually pristine healer attire drenched in blood and gore, tear streaks running down her face. The glow of candlelight bathed the room with sweltering heat, too many of them lit at once.

Looking past Ausra's hunched-over form, we could make out Phaedra convulsing on the bed with her wrists and ankles tied by defiled bedsheets. Blackened veins ran across her deeply colored skin, matching the black brand of a slave on her arm. She was covered in blood too but I couldn't see any wounds. All we could see were her auburn eyes losing all color and draining to a murky charcoal hue.

Medies.

Phaedra's head swung from side to side, the gag in her mouth muffling her screams as she fought against the bindings. Her wife's hands pressed onto her chest, the golden tint of her healing magic a stark contrast against the darkness overtaking Phaedra's light. "Ausra…" I called out her name gently, not wanting to frighten her with our presence.

Ausra's striking brown eyes zeroed in on Minka and me as we stood in the doorway like we were her prey. She snarled at us, "GET OUT!"

"Oh Gods," Minka breathed and took a step back, her bare feet stepping in the splinters.

Ausra's nostrils flared, her anger so palpable I could taste its sour tang on my tongue. Her soil-colored eyes bore into Minka's as the blanket around her shoulders fell onto the floor, leaving her in only her disheveled nightgown. Ausra looked utterly feral, like she was on the precipice of losing her last ounce of humanity as she glared with hatred at Minka.

"Do not move another inch, Minka," my voice was soft and soothing despite the tense situation.

Ausra stood to her full height, her white apron covered with streaks of Phaedra's blood, likely from her clawing at the bindings. Her golden hair was matted and tied to the top of her head, and loose tendrils covered in sweat framed her face as she flashed us her elongated canines. "I said, get out ."

Holding my hands up, I took a tentative step closer to the bed as Phaedra's body flailed about. "Let me help her."

Minka's hand grasped the back of my cloak, trying to stop me from getting too close to a feral High Fae female protecting her wife. "Just let me try."

Her head swung between me and her convulsing wife on the bed, thinking it through before she gave me an answer, so I prodded once more. "Please, Ausra."

A sob wracked out of her middle as her look of desperation replaced her ferocious one. Ausra's shoulders dropped in defeat as she cried and spoke quickly, almost too fast for us to make out the words. "She's infected and I tried to get it out."

I wanted to ask why she didn't grab me at the first sign of Medies so I could've helped Phaedra, but that question no longer mattered. Our friend was dying, the light of her soul being snuffed out by that coarse, dark magic. We'd have time for questions later.

"She's been fighting it for hours. I can still see the light in her eyes. It's there, she's there, Selene. Please, oh Gods," Ausra started sobbing uncontrollably as she fell to her knees and gripped the soiled sheets, leaving more bloody handprints. "She's there. She's not gone. She's not. She's not. She's not."

Phaedra's eyes were watching me, the darkness swirling in them bringing shivers up my spine. Her skin was already flaking away, clawed fingertips sprouting from her russet hands. The Medies had taken hold of her body and her soul, and the latter had been fighting for dominance over the dark magic.

Until now.

"Minks, go wake up Ric and Keva and get them in here."

Minka stuttered, too distraught with trying to console Ausra, who was sobbing the same words over and over.

"Minka, now!" my voice vibrated, some of the candles whooshing out. Her footsteps pattered as she ran out the busted door, leaving me alone with a Raken and her distraught wife.

Kneeling beside the bed, I reached out and placed my hand onto Phaedra's as Ausra bawled beside me, still sputtering her words. "Please, please, please," she grabbed a hold of my bare arm, covering it with a bloody handprint. "Help her. She's there. My Phaedra , she's there. Bring her back." Her face fell to the sheets as the once human woman's head lulled to the side. "Bring her back! Bring her back!"

My magic seeped into her mind, into the very essence of her being as I conjured the light pink magic blessed by my mother and pushed it into Phaedra's shaking body. Using two powers at once, I forced the light gray tendrils blessed by Bomris out and into her as well, trying to search for any remainder of her within her vessel.

Walls of midnight-colored webs met me with resistance, their strong barriers keeping me from diving in further and flushing out the darkness within. My heart became a painful ache in my chest, my glowing magic not pulsating with its lively warmth.

It was too late…

Phaedra was gone and only the Medies remained.

Pulling from my well of powers, I took every ounce of that healing magic that was swirling within me and urged it on, trying with all of my might to bring her back. To search for any tiny shard of her soul, but my magic shot back, its force sending me careening backwards and onto the floor.

Strong arms lifted me from the ground and I looked up to see Ric above me, his eyebrows drawn in a concerned expression. "She's gone," I whispered to him as Ausra held onto Phaedra's twitching and decaying body, still trying to push more of her magic into healing her. "There was nothing left."

Keva gripped my head in her hands, the look of love mixed with guilt shining in her cerulean eyes, "You know what you have to do, Selene." Ric released my waist before he nodded and slowly approached Ausra.

"I don't think I can do it," I admitted, but Keva shook her head, her gold-tipped rainbow braids gleaming in the candlelight.

"Is she gone?" the Queen questioned even though she already knew the answer.

Phaedra was gone.

Her soul and mind were lost to the darkness. There was no bringing her back once Medies embedded that deeply into her. The body before us was no longer Phaedra but just another nameless, faceless creature that wanted nothing but destruction and death for our realm.

But to Ausra, it was still her wife, her true love and companion of years. The woman who had fought and defended her against me when I had wanted to kill her for being my old nursemaid's sister. Phaedra was love and light and everything that was good in this world, and now that light had been snuffed out, leaving nothing but bleakness and terror remaining.

Ric's tattooed arms wrapped around Ausra's middle, lifting her in the air as she fought and kicked against his hold. "LET ME GO!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as I tried to hold back tears from the agony in her voice. "Don't take me from her! She's there!"

My whirling power of emotional manipulation, so similar to Arron Lennox's, simmered at the surface of my well, begging and pleading to ease Ausra's suffering. But I wouldn't manipulate her like that, wouldn't bleed into her mind to make her wife's death easier, because she deserved more than that.

And Ausra would never forgive any of us if we took away her choice to grieve.

"I'm so sorry," I stated to her as she continued to ramble in distress, a tear falling from the corner of my eye.

We had to do this.

Phaedra was gone and we couldn't let her soulless vessel hurt or infect any of us. But I couldn't step forward towards the Raken taking form. All I saw was Phaedra and her bright smile and love for animals, her nose wrinkling at having to read another boring book rather than being outside or spending time with her wife.

But that woman no longer remained, that horrid but rightful voice whispered in my mind.

"Wha–what are you doing?" Ausra was in hysterics now, fighting with everything she had to escape Ric's hold as Keva tried to calm her down, tried to explain to her that her wife was no more.

"She's gone, Ausra," the Queen of Gambriel said tenderly but sternly, her words hitting their mark. "There's nothing else we can do. You know that better than anyone else."

And that she did.

Ausra had seen person after person shift into a Raken with no way to stop that change once it got a hold of their mind and soul. We'd lost countless lives due to Medies and the High King's quest for his undead army. We could save the few who were right on that brink of darkness, teetering towards the edge but not fully lost. With my powers or an advanced healer's, we could bring them back.

But Phaedra wasn't like that.

All the light had seeped out of her eyes along with the warm color of her brown skin. She was utterly and truly gone and there were no words that we could say that would make Ausra accept it.

We wouldn't let Phaedra's body suffer, though. Her skin had begun flaking off, the decay setting in. Bones cracked and her teeth elongated as she jerked uncontrollably, only her withering bindings keeping her from attacking all of us.

Ausra screamed and clawed at Ric's arms, covering him in scratches, but he held tightly as Keva kept repeating over and over, "I'm sorry. She's gone. I'm sorry. She's gone. I am so sorry."

Fire lit up in my palms and ran down my arms, its wicked flame building brighter and hotter the more Phaedra struggled against her restraints. Those once hazel eyes, now turned black, stared into my soul as she bit through the cloth in her mouth and let out a bloodcurdling screech.

"I'm sorry, Phae," I whispered as I granted her the only mercy I could…

A swift and painless death.