27. ~Orpheus~

27

~Orpheus~

“Look at her. The damage I’ve done… I’ve ruined her. For you and anyone beyond.”

I couldn’t get the monster’s words out of my head.

His voice taunting me.

Sounding so proud of himself.

That he’d been able to lay hands on her.

That he’d defiled her.

That he’d caused her so much suffering.

And none of us had been there to do a thing to prevent it.

It had me sick to my stomach.

I could barely look at her lying there still unconscious. Even in her sleep, she looked so pained, a grimace etched into her beautiful features.

We should have been able to do more.

We should have been able to spare her entirely. She was ours. Ours to love and protect.

I looked away and pushed out of one of the two chairs X and I had moved right beside her bed.

Then I turned around and went to check on Talon.

His sleep seemed more peaceful, he had a little smile on his face. Although, it could be no indication of what state his mind was in, because he often slept that way.

He was shirtless, the covers pulled halfway up his torso. According to the Healer who I’d near interrogated when I’d arrived back here with an unconscious Alena, her mom instantly at her side and working on healing her, Talon’s burns that he’d sustained from the iron had already healed. It was just a matter of time before he woke up now.

I reached out and stroked his cheek, hoping somehow that he could register it in his unconscious state and feel the comfort of it.

Comfort.

That was usually something I was doling out, especially to Tal.

But, to be honest, right now I needed some of that.

First, seeing Alena in that state, witnessing the evidence of what that psychopath had put her through and inflicted upon her.

Talon being in here.

X trying to kill himself.

My father now dying.

And the cherry on top of that nightmare was my mom.

A traitor among us.

I hadn’t seen or heard from her in three years. I’d spent six months trying to track her down when she’d first left the Dark Fae Realm and my father, but I’d made absolutely no headway. Even my father hadn’t been able to find her.

Now I knew why.

She’d been underground with Constantine’s acolytes.

I’d known she’d had a dangerous and twisted side, something my father had managed to hide most of from me, but this… this was another level. I could barely register it as a truth, as a cold, hard fact. Fuck.

I planted a kiss on Talon’s forehead, then stepped away, turning back to Alena, regret taking me over.

“Her natural healing ability is in effect again now.”

So immersed in my thoughts was I that I hadn’t even felt the approach, and I looked to see Abigail Rose standing in the open doorway in her golden jeweled robe, her long white hair windswept.

“Good.” When I’d brought her in here with Elliot, Abigail had needed to heal her completely. Alena had been so weak that she’d barely been healing at all, barely even at the rate of a human. I scrubbed my hand over my face. “The damage he did to her… not only physical… I can’t…”

“She’s home now. She’s safe. And she’s strong. We’ll help her work through all the rest.”

“He told me he’d damaged her beyond repair.”

“Constantine makes a great deal of grandiose statements. Don’t pay it any mind.”

“How can I not?”

“He doesn’t know her. He makes a lot of assumptions. He’s a great manipulator and he wants to get inside your head. You’re a threat to him and he’s found your heart—my daughter.”

I looked at Alena, then quickly averted my gaze.

“You can’t shut down. It will hurt her, Orpheus. Give her what you’ve been holding back. She won’t make you regret it. She’ll protect it like you will for her.”

I nodded slowly, taking her words in.

And also the fact that we were actually having this conversation. It was beyond surreal. For so many reasons. Not least of all was her history with my father.

But I couldn’t get any deeper into things regarding Alena right now.

“I don’t want to leave her, but I need to get to the Dark Fae Realm to be with my father.”

“There’s no need to worry about breaking the news of your mother’s involvement in this to Saryan. It’s already been taken care of.” Off my look of surprise, she told me, “We’ve made an agreement to be more transparent with one another.”

“You’re looping him in on Exemplar matters?”

“That I am. After what he’s done for my daughter, it was warranted.” She stepped further into the room. “But there’s more.”

I cocked an eyebrow.

“I can prevent his death.”

“How? You can’t absorb that much black magic without it corrupting you wholly. Exemplar would never allow it and I can’t imagine you wanting to allow it either.”

“I have a solution I am working on, but it will take time to reach fruition. In the meantime, I will put him in stasis so the infection cannot spread further.” She looked at Alena, something I noticed she’d been avoiding for the most part since she’d walked in. She was putting on a brave face, but clearly she could barely stand the state of her either and knowing what her daughter had been through as she’d been the one who had seen all of Alena’s injuries.

“However, it would mean that the black magic infection within Alena would remain. With Saryan in stasis, it will cut off the siphoning and she’ll feel it there. It will be a struggle, but I believe it’s one she can overcome until I’m able to cure your father.”

“She’s already suffered enough. They both have.”

“This way your father won’t perish. Alena can overcome the effects with your help.”

As I started shaking my head, she told me, “There is a reason Constantine chose your blood for the Orb of Vorlav. He has a gift for feeling out these sorts of things. You are the bridge between the Light and the Dark. And you walk that line better than any of us—myself and El included. You can be that for my daughter, you can help her in her struggle with her dark side, which I will admit to you now, comes from me.”

“You? How?”

“I am a Fallen, remember? Not an angel. I’ve just buried my past and the dark deeds and thoughts I’ve entertained. And I now stay firmly in the light. I have to. But that outlook which I’ve enforced over Exemplar and our supernatural Laws has cost us lately. Three years ago also. But I can’t cross a single line or I will become corrupted. As a result, and with the way things are altering, I am no longer what Exemplar needs, what the supernatural world needs. They require a leader who can walk the line. Just like you.”

“You’re asking me to take on the mantle of Leader of Exemplar?”

“Alongside El, yes. I intend for my daughter to join you when she’s ready as well. Your fate doesn’t belong in the Dark Fae Realm and I think you know that. Is that not why you have remained here while you’ve surpassed the entire faculty in both knowledge and power?”

I stared at her. “How do you know that?”

“I keep an eye on all powerful beings.” The corner of her mouth turned up. “Especially those in close proximity to my daughter.”

“Then you know—”

“Everything. How the relationship between the four of you began, how it’s progressed, and the line it’s close to crossing now if you can overcome your fear of being vulnerable.”

Moving away from that last unsettling part, I asked her, “If you know how it began, why support it at all?”

“Because you challenged Alena when she was most in need of a challenge, when she needed a push, not from me or the faculty, but from her peers. Although I detest the thought of my daughter suffering in any way, there are times when a trial is required for a being to grow and reach the next stage in their life and development. That is what clashing with the three of you gave her. The other two are much softer with her now, but I know that you won’t reach that stage, it’s not who you are, it’s not how you express your love and affection. Like I’ve said, you challenge her, you push her, and she needs that, as well as relishes it. Together, the four of you bring out the best in one another and guide one another toward your true potentials.”

“Wow. I… this is really something.” My gaze flitted between Alena and Talon. “But I can’t entertain it at the moment.”

“I didn’t expect you to. Once you’re ready to think it over, reach out to me. I’ll make myself available to you.”

“I need to leave for the DFR now. When Alena wakes up, put her through to me and we’ll discuss your stasis idea.”

“Orpheus, there isn’t much time. We’re talking a few hours at the most before your father meets his demise if I don’t intervene.”

“You don’t need to wait,” a voice croaked.

We both looked to see Alena wearily opening her eyes.

“Do it,” she told us.

“Darling, how are you feeling?” Abigail asked her, walking to her bedside.

“Fine,” she answered a little too quickly, like she couldn’t stand talking about it. She changed the subject back to the current dilemma, telling us, “I want to make the deal. I heard the two of you talking as I was regaining consciousness. I get it.”

I strode to the other side of her bed and perched on the edge.

Instinctively, I went to reach out to her, put pulled up short as she noticed and her eyes went wide with fear.

That fucking monster had caused this.

I summoned my self-control and resisted the overwhelming urge to touch her, to connect with her in that way. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Of course I do. I won’t let your father die when there’s something I can do to prevent it.”

“It’s not your responsibility to—”

“He’s saved me, it’s my turn to repay the favor.” She gazed at me earnestly. “Let me do this. Please, Orpheus. I couldn’t live with myself. If there’s a chance to save a life and the price is just some discomfort for me, it’s an easy decision, as far as I’m concerned.”

“It will be more than just discomfort, little angel. That dark side that you’ve been so afraid of will be front and center.”

“Then it’s a good thing I have you, isn’t it? The one being who made me feel like it was okay to explore it.”

She looked between us and told us resolutely, “I don’t want to be afraid anymore. Do you understand that?”

Abigail smiled back at her, pride shining in her eyes. “Very well, my darling.”

I sucked in a breath. “All right. We’ll see to it.”

“Thank you. Just… if you’re going to help me with it… don’t let me hurt you.” Emotion welled in her eyes. “I remember what he made me do to you, Orpheus. I remember all of it. I can’t—”

“I don’t blame you. No one does.”

“What if I—”

“I won’t let you hurt anyone. I promise.”

She wiped her eyes, nodding. Then she reached out and brushed her fingers over mine.

Hope sparked in me, but as soon as I responded, moving to grasp her hand back, she jerked away with a gasp.

“I’m sorry, I just… I don’t seem to be able to….”

“Give it time,” Abigail told her. “Don’t rush yourself.”

“The three of us don’t need you to, all right?” I assured her.

“Okay,” she murmured.

Her eyes darted around the room and then her gaze landed on Talon and she jolted, panic swirling. “What’s he doing in here? What happened?”

“He lost his temper and went full enraged phoenix.”

“Oh God.”

I added quickly, “He’s recovering well and he’ll be fine.”

“Go, Orpheus.”

“What?”

“Go to your father. You too, Mom. I’ll be fine.”

Abigail looked at me. “You go ahead, I’ll be along shortly. I need some time with Alena.”

“Mom, I said I’ll be fine.”

“And I want some time with my daughter.”

Surprise flickered in Alena’s eyes. “Okay,” she answered, unsure, because it was such a rarity.

“Before you head out, bringing Xavier in here. I don’t want her or Tal left alone,” I told her.

“Of course.”

I looked between Alena and Talon for a few moments, the idea of leaving them regrettable.

But I knew it had to be done.

My father needed me too.

It took me a few moments, but I managed to shore up my focus.

And then I teleported out.

Grief hung heavy.

I’d felt it in the air the moment I’d stepped foot inside the DFR.

As I’d made my way along the bridge and through the palace, looks of sorrow and sympathy had come my way.

Their King was dying.

Or so they thought.

I reached my father’s bedroom, picking up on voices inside.

The door was ajar and I peered inside to see my father in bed with Edgar Marlowe perched beside him holding his hand and stroking his thick black hair.

“I love you,” Marlowe confessed.

I started.

The way those three words had just spilled from him so easily.

So earnestly.

So passionately.

So vulnerably.

Just so fucking openly like that.

How was he doing that?

Maybe it had been a long time coming for the first time he’d spoken the words to my father, because it was clear by the knowing look in his eyes that he’d heard them many times from Marlowe.

He responded just as heartfelt. “Even in death, our love will never extinguish.”

Wow. My father actually had a romantic bone in his body after all.

I’d never seen him that way with my mom. Then again, now I’d been subjected to her true nature, that wasn’t a surprise in the least.

But it was a surprise that my father had this in him. I’d thought, except when it came to me, that he was locked up tight, unable to give anybody any part of himself. I’d thought that was how I’d need to be as K ing too, to be unfeeling, stoic, not allow anybody to get under my skin, not allow myself to feel anything strongly.

But now there was this with him and Marlowe.

It changed things for me.

“No need to lurk, son,” my father called out in a worryingly strained voice.

I stepped into the room, hating the sight of the almighty Saryan Hart tucked up in his huge silver four-poster bed draped in black silk sheets.

“I didn’t want to interrupt,” I responded as I made my way over to the bed.

Marlowe smiled out at me sadly.

My father shifted his weight in the bed, grunting with the effort.

He was already covered in sweat, it was literally dripping down his face and his bare chest, and I could hear his labored breathing also.

But the most striking thing of all was his skin, the black veins all fucking over every visible inch of it. They were so prominent, I could even make them out through his Fae markings.

“How is Alena?”

That was his first question?

“Father, I don’t think—”

“Well, I assumed Abigail healed whatever wounds she’d sustained, but I meant mentally.”

“I came here to talk about you, to see you.”

“Son, you’ll need to discuss it, to face it. Don’t shut down. I know it’s painful, but she needs you to do this. You need to be strong for her.”

“It’s not about being strong.”

“There are different ways of showing strength,” Marlowe interjected.

“Being there for her, rather than merely plotting how to avenge her,” my father said.

The two of them knew me well.

Too well.

I shoved my hand through my hair. “That day in the dungeon, Constantine taunted me with having… had her. But when we brought her back to the infirmary and Abigail began healing her, I saw some evidence of it. Seeing it is very different from merely hearing about it.”

“He raped her,” my dad said.

No, stated.

I arched an eyebrow, the realization setting in. “When you were being held captive, you saw something in that regard, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“The act itself was horrific enough, but it’s also the way he manipulated the situation that will stay with her, how he treated her. He tortured her mind as much as her body,” Marlowe informed me.

I looked at my dad. “You showed him inside your memories?”

“I’ve been informing him of everything that’s happened. With me unable to resume your tutelage to ascend the throne, you’ll need Edgar at your side in my stead.” He beamed out at him. “He’s the next best thing.”

“High praise,” Marlowe said, with a bittersweet smile. Then he told my father, “I’ll show him, if you agree. He needs to understand to be able to help his love.”

My father pinched the bridge of his nose. “So be it.”

Marlowe held out his hand to me.

I swallowed hard and took it, bracing myself.

It was the last thing I wanted to see, but if it could help me to understand what Alena needed from the three of us to help her through it, it was worth it, definitely worth my own discomfort.

I reached into his mind and with him allowing me, it was easy to access the particular memory he’d taken from my father.

In a flash, it was upon me.

And it sickened me.

“Kneel to me, sweet princess.”

“Fuck,” I rasped, watching the scene through my father’s memories.

“Hands behind your back.”

I grunted as I saw her being forced to obey him, to want him, and do his bidding.

“It burns.”

“Black magic runs through me. That’s what you’re feeling. Don’t fight it and it will cease hurting. Drink it down like my dirty whore. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To be mine? To serve me like my whore as I grant you pleasure you’ve been without for so long?”

“Yes.”

My father had tried to look away, to block it out, but Constantine hadn’t allowed it.

“Ungh… such a sweet fucking cunt. Squeezing me like a vise. Pulsing for me. Fucking dripping for me, Your Majesty. Look at her getting off on every moment, bouncing on my cock. She’s desperate for me. My dirty little whore to do with as I will. Make sure your son and his cohorts get the message—and the visual.”

“No,” I cried, gritting my teeth as I saw her being defiled by the madman.

“It hurts,” she told him.

“It’s the black magic filling you up, me filling you up.”

I jerked back from Marlowe, panting and squeezing my head, trying to cast it all out.

I felt sick, bile rising in my throat.

It was all I could do to swallow it down and prevent myself from retching.

“Given how much black magic he’s infected her with since and that being his favored way of doing it to take his pleasure and revel in her humiliation and degradation, it’s clear incidents like that occurred throughout her time in his captivity,” Marlowe told me, grimacing as he spoke the awful words.

“Motherfuck,” I choked. “How do we help her through that?”

“With time and patience and listening to her needs while tabling your own,” Marlowe told me.

My father nodded. “Precisely.”

I shook my head. “This is going to manifest dangerously.”

“Orpheus, you have a big heart, you love this woman, you can do this,” my father told me.

“It’s not that. It’s the black magic.”

“A few more hours and it will be—”

“A few more hours and you’ll be dead.”

He frowned. “That’s why you’re here. For us to say our goodbyes.”

“No. Our goodbye will be temporary only.”

“What are you talking about?” Marlowe asked.

I eased onto the other side of the bed opposite him and took my father’s hand. “Abigail will be here shortly to put you in stasis. She has a solution to cure you of the infection completely, but it’s not ready yet, so this will buy us some time.”

A whole lot of shock flitted across his features.

He looked at Marlowe, who shook his head.

“Orpheus,” he said, eyeing me. “There is no way. I don’t know what Abigail was possibly referring to, but it can’t be done. I mean, unless she obliterated it with her celestial magic, but that would destroy her.”

“It must have something to do with Sabre Tech. Melding technological innovation with magic. So much more is possible through that.”

They both looked skeptical.

“Why would she offer this if there wasn’t truly a solution?” I put to them.

“That’s true,” Marlowe mused. “She speaks plainly and she certainly doesn’t offer false hope.”

My father slowly nodded, but then he started shaking his head. “If you do this, Alena will still be infected with too much black magic for it not to impact her.”

“She’s agreed. Actually, she insisted.”

Realization shone in his eyes. “You’re going to school her on what you do better than anyone—walking that line.”

“Yes.” Although with what they’d just shown me and the nature in which it had occurred, that was going to be complicated. It would surely be a severe trigger for her. I wasn’t sure I could stabilize her.

But I wasn’t alone. Xavier and Talon would be right by her side also. Together, we’d find a way to make it work.

Before he could protest further, I moved things along, telling him, “While you’re in stasis, I’ll hand command to Edgar and Cassius for day-to-day rule. I need to remain at Electi Academy to both assist Alena and to prepare my army.” I told Marlowe, “Final and executive decisions come to me, the buck will stop at me only.”

He smiled. “Absolutely.”

My father reached out and grasped my hand, his weak grip sending a shudder through me. “My son, my heir,” he uttered, emotion clogging his throat. “My greatest creation.”

Marlowe stood up. “I’ll give the two of you some time alone.” He gazed at my father, adoration bleeding forth. “Enjoy your sleep. I’ll see you soon, darling King.”

“Don’t do anything I would. ”

Marlowe grinned. “I would never be so ridiculously brazen.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” my father jested.

Marlowe chuckled, then made his way to the door.

Once he was there, I saw him stop and hesitate, clearly not wanting to leave my father, not wanting to lose him, even temporarily.

I knew the feeling all too well.

He drew in an uneven breath, gave me a chin lift, then walked on out.

My father patted the bed. “Sit with me until Abigail arrives.”

“Of course.”

As I climbed on, he said, “We’ve wasted a lot of time these last few years. Let’s not waste these last few moments.” He shifted with some clear effort to face me head-on. “Tell me everything that I’ve missed.”

“You mean anything your spy-slash-lover may have missed?”

He smiled. “You’re my son, I’d never truly leave you.”

“And you won’t now. We’ll bring you back. I swear it. And then I’ll fix everything.”

Sometimes things happened that erased what had been and what could have been and set a new path. In those instances, often a great deal was lost.

And it had been.

But now it was time to charter that new course.

With it, our enemies would fall and a new day would come.