Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

I use my magic to transform Terrin, because if we're going to have a serious conversation, it's going to be when he's in his human form, even if it takes me a few hours to regain the strength after the fire test. Lysander has healed the wounds I had, and I'm mostly on the mend as I curl up on the sofa, a fluffy silver blanket draped over me from Grayson. Terrin's guilt is written all over his face as he comes off the balcony fully clothed in a dark grey shirt and jeans. But worse, I feel it in my soul, like it's my own emotion and it's eating me up inside.

Lysander is leaning against the wall by the balcony, his gaze watching Terrin like a hawk. Grayson is sitting on the edge of our bed with his legs spread, and Arden is by the fireplace, tired but alert for whatever Terrin has called us together for. He wanted them here, and that alone tells me it's important, whatever secret he has been keeping. A part of me feels betrayed that he kept any secret from me. All the kings, in different ways, have kept something from me, but Terrin? It felt like there was never anything between us, and it was easy from the moment we met in terms of our hearts. We only had to fight the physical problems we had with him being trapped in dragon form.

Terrin takes the seat next to me on the sofa and offers me his hands, which I slide my own into, enjoying the heat of his touch and how it sends sparks down my body. "I'm going to tell you everything that I've not said. I didn't mean to keep anything from you, but it never seemed like the right time recently. We can go and see the tsar downstairs and my sister and tell them everything when you're ready. Because this changes everything."

"Changes what exactly?" Arden questions.

"It will be easier if no one interrupts me with questions till the end."

"Like fuck are we doing that. Just spit it out, and if you hurt her, I will beat the shit out of you—" I glare at Lysander and he pauses in his threat, one I know Terrin isn't taking seriously or addressing at all. "Fine."

"Terrin, I trust you." I straighten my shoulders. "But get talking."

"From the beginning…" He looks at the fireplace. "The castle, I'm going to start there. Its name is Lares and its soul-tied, like mates, is Hestia."

How does he know the castle's name? "Who are Lares and Hestia?"

"Hestia is a Greek goddess that came to this world a millennium ago. She actually lived in hell for a while, from what I understand of her history and her fate. She grew stronger there, and she came here with a part of the darkness from hell itself, Lares, except for that darkness was destroying this world and she couldn't send him back. Hestia couldn't part from it because it was her one true love, a man made of a darkness so never-ending, and she was his opposite. A light that never ended. They decided, in order to save this world, to cast a spell on them both. She became part of this castle, part of this land, and the darkness itself became the castle. They are together, forever, and immortal here." I don't know what this has to do with us, but it's interesting, nonetheless. "Hestia has another name, the Matron."

My eyes widen. "Matron is a goddess?"

He nods once. "Yes, but she has no power left. All her power was merged into this place to make sure that it didn't destroy everything to hold the darkness down below, to hold the castle in place. I know this because Matron used the darkness to come and take me as a baby to save me because I am a direct descendant of them. They had a child thousands of years ago, and the darkness watched our family line all the way to me. They took my sister later on too, and we were brought up here, with you and your parents, until the Spirit Court was lost."

My heart is racing, and I don't know what to ask first. The kings are silent, and I don't blame them one bit. "Save you from what? Why take you?"

"Our parents. They were experimenting with evil magic. Using pregnancy and evil magic to try to create powerful children. It didn't always work. I had four siblings before me, and they all died. The pregnancy and the magic would kill them. I was the first one that was born alive, but they didn't stop their experiments. They tested on me. I don't remember this, but a part of my soul does. I know, when the matron told me everything when I was younger, it was true. They had another child after me, and the matron claimed they were kind to that one. He had no magic, nothing like me, so they kept him to be an heir. Then they had my sister, and for a while they were kind to her too. They had another son not long after."

Terrin. I squeeze his hand. "So, it was only you that they hurt? I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Listen to the rest first. Then they started being cruel, but only to my sister for some reason. She started showing signs of magic, of dark magic, and Matron sent the darkness to grab her. My parents might not have missed me, but they went mad looking for her, so wrapped up in their quest to find their missing daughter that they ignored their other two children and left them to it."

A missing child. A girl. It all sounds familiar to me, but it's Grayson, who pays more attention to everything happening than anyone I know, who figures it out. "You said heir. Only royals need heirs and would have the money, power and more to do what you say. There is a missing princess of the West, and she was taken. I believe you are telling us who you really are, Terrin."

"Are you…" I stand up and straighten. "Are you trying to tell me what I think you're saying?"

He nods. "I'm the royal heir to the West. The first tsar to be born. Downstairs in the dungeons is my brother, and yes, the commander was my brother too. My sister is the missing princess of the West." A silence echoes around us that makes my skin crawl, and I don't know what to make of it, but how could he keep this from me?

"That's a really big secret to keep, Terrin. How could you not tell me?" I get mad and my words rush out. "You knew the whole time when we were in the West, and you said nothing!"

He shakes his head and reaches for me. I can't pull away from him, not Terrin, not my mate. "I didn't know the whole time. I only remembered recently, when I came back to the castle here after being in the other world. Something snapped in my mind, and my memory came back. I should have told you straight away, but I hadn't gotten my head around the idea yet. I didn't want to add any more pressure when it changes nothing between us. I had no idea my brother and sister would come here so soon and have power."

"I kept the past from him and gave it back when he needed to heed the call of his blood and be the king of the West. Ayiolyn is to be united under your rule, all six of you, and this prophecy has played out for a very long time." We all turn to see Matron standing next to the wall. I don't know how she got in here, but she did. I look at her differently now that I'm aware she is a goddess and is in a weird relationship with the darkness below, which has killed my ancestors.

"Why didn't you take all of them? If you knew that they were being abused, why not take them all from the West?" Arden asks. "Why only Terrin and the sister?"

"It takes a great deal of magic for my blessed darkness to travel across a great distance to save a child. We did our best. I knew that bringing him here, closer to his destined mate, would give him a chance to be a better person than his parents were, and it came true. Everything went wrong, of course, when the court fell, and everything changed, but he is now the rightful tsar—or king, as you might put it—to the West. It is time you unite the dragons and riders to stop this war before slaughter happens that no one will recover from. Cronus's army will go out there and slaughter every dragon and rider simply for following their king because they do not know another exists. You are the king of the West. You are the rightful one that I brought up to make sure is a good person, because the West needs a ruler who will choose peace and magic. Magic has been feared for too long out there, and dragons have been hidden away. It's had a long line of tyranny, and that will end with King Terrin of the West and the Dragon Riders."

We all look at Terrin, and I don't know what to say. The title rolls over me though, and somehow, it's perfect. Terrin has been a leader for the shadow dragons, and the others do look up to him. The riders will bow and bend for him if he tells them the truth, and the dragons will stop this fight.

We could take out Aphrodite's army together and win. I want to find a way to save Aphrodite's spelled army and all the innocents she has control over, but I don't believe they are people I can save anymore. They are already dead in every sense. Terrin explained to me how they haven't eaten or drunk water since they were spelled by Aphrodite, and their minds are gone by now. They are walking zombies with only one task— kill us.

Lysander leans off the wall. "Right, but there is a crowned tsar downstairs. Not being funny, but if we kill him, it solves our problems, and you get a shiny crown along with his army."

"He's my brother, he doesn't die," Terrin growls.

Arden comes to Lysander's side. "He attacked Elle and brought an army here, killing hundreds of your mate's people. Where does your loyalty stand?"

"He made mistakes, but he's been enchanted by Aphrodite's magic!" Terrin roars at them both. I grab his arm. "He's lost a lot, but he has a child and wife to go back to. Breaking the spell with Aphrodite's death comes first and then?—"

"Then what?" Lysander challenges. "We need the dragons and riders to fucking stop the war, and waiting is fucking crazy."

"Enough," Grayson shouts, and we all turn to him in shock. "Lysander, Arden, you are asking him to kill his family. We don't do that shit, and it's wrong. I believe speaking to the tsar first is the best way to go and then see where we go from there. He will be punished for this attack if it's what he chose without Aphrodite's magic guiding him. I doubt it." He looks at them. "We have all been under her magic, and it's not easy to control. We give him a chance."

"Everyone deserves a chance." They look at me and I stare up at Terrin. "And as fucked up as it is, we try because it's you. The only part Lysander is right about is the dragons and riders. We need them to know and see you are enough to make them turn their dragons around and leave this war."

"And your sister?" Arden asks. "I don't believe it is safe to let that dragon free."

"She thinks you killed her brother for no reason, and she got her memories back sooner on her own," Matron adds into our tense conversation. "I chose to save her because, deep down, she has a good soul, and she could be a force of good in this world."

"Perhaps when she learns the true reason, then she can be calmed?" Terrin asks me, and I nod. I don't want to ever think of that day, and I still have nightmares of it. I think I always will do, but eventually his face will fade, and he will be nothing to anyone. I will make sure no one remembers him.

I lean up and cup his face. "No secrets. No more of this bullshit. We are one, and your battles are mine; your family is mine and mine is yours."

He kisses my palm. "I made a mistake and I'm sorry."

"I know." I lean my head on his chest and breathe in his smoky scent. I wonder if he will ever not smell like dragon and fire, and I kind of hope not. It's Terrin. He is my mate, and apparently one of my kings. The matron has disappeared when I look back, and I'm not surprised.

Arden walks over and opens the door, swinging it out. He winks at me. "Elle, looks like you have a particular taste—you know, in kings."

I groan, walking past him, and he tickles me. I pout at him. "That's really not funny."

The others are laughing though, and I end up chuckling as Arden chases me down the corridor, the others close behind, only for us all to come to a sudden stop. At the top of the stairs is an earth guard with a dagger pressed through his chest and armour, holding a letter in place. The colour drains from my face, and Grayson walks over slowly, going to his knees. He closes the guard's wide, dead eyes and whispers words in Latin to him before pulling the note off his chest as I kneel at his side. I rest my head on Grayson's shoulder, quietly waiting for him if he needs anything from me, at his own pace. He is cold and shaking as he reads the note and tells us all what the pink, blood-stained letter says. "He was a childhood friend who I cared for, and he had two young children. His name was Paul. The note calls for me to come tomorrow at dawn, alone, to my court, from Aphrodite. First my sister, now him? I'm going to enjoy killing her."

I look at the man and back to my mate, anger burning in my chest like a flame. "I'll enjoy helping you. It's nearly over for her, and she is going to regret every life she took in our world."