14. History

14

HISTORY

I stare at Adicus Briarwick as he tells us my father, the Summer Fae King, knew Quinn and I had been Made into Dark Fae by the Gold Eyes, right from the very beginning. My mouth has fallen open, but I can’t shut it; Quinn’s energy churns, dark and nasty now, as Ariana’s power echoes our shock.

As all our energies blossom in dark, bright, and fiery tones around us now, despite our promise to act like humans while we’re here, Ariana moves silently to the couch. She takes a seat beside me now with Quinn on her other side, and I wrap an arm around her. Her comforting hand on my knee does nothing, however, for the fury that burns inside me.

Knowing my father has kept this from me my entire life.

“My father knew. That bastard knew we’d been Made Dark Fae by the Gold Eyes. All this time.” A dark shock moves all through me. Something in my aura is cold now; I feel it devour me like a thousand screaming hells as I take in my entire youth and early centuries in a new light, ever since Quinn and I were parted.

And know my father has betrayed me—all this time.

“He thought neither of you was fit for the throne.” Adicus takes me in soberly. Just then, Illyria bustles in, wiping her hands on her filthy apron, then untying it and casting it aside as she joins us. She doesn’t invade the conversation, merely sits with her impeccable commander’s way as their house help bustles back in with another cup of coffee for her, plus a tray of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast with peach jam for us all. No one is eating now, however, as the servant departs.

Illyria silently pouring herself a coffee, which she sips black, as she takes in the dire air of the room.

“I was still Tempest of the Darkwatch back when Archivolio Bellari made his plan.” Adicus leans back on his couch, cradling his coffee, and watching Quinn and me. “He knew you and Lucca were curious about the Dark Fae, Valerio; from the moment he learned what you both were looking into, to aid us in the war, he had the Darkwatch follow you both and report on your whereabouts. And how far you had gotten, learning about the Dark Fae.”

I stare at Adicus, blinking hard now to understand how thoroughly Quinn and I failed at being secretive with our operations, way back when. Adicus doesn’t mention it, only continues his tale.

As we all listen, horrified.

“When you both hatched your plan to go find the Dark Fae and try to become such, Archivolio had you followed. I followed you, along with old Torino Fellaviri, who is long since deceased,” Adicus continues. “It wasn’t just us who followed you; the Gold Eyes did, as well. I didn’t know Archivolio’s exact relationship to the creature then, like I do now, but I knew it was often around him. It did his bidding, when it suited the creature to do so.”

“It came after us that night, didn’t it?” I ask now as darkness floods me, feeling like a living nightmare devours me within. Quinn reaches across Ariana to take my hand where we sit on the couch, as Ariana cuddles closer to me.

But even Quinn’s roaring Night can’t match the wrath I feel right now. Livid hate blazes through me like the darkest void in the cosmos, eating my bright heart as I understand my own father was in league with the creature that Made me.

That Made us all—yoking Quinn, Ariana, and me to its diabolical might.

“The Gold Eyes wanted you; both of you. For what reason, I know not.” Adicus takes in Quinn and me, dire. “But Archivolio knew, and he forbade Torino and myself from becoming involved that night. We were to tail you and observe, then report back on what happened. But then the Gold Eyes fed your contact false information, which led you right into that Revenant trap it had prepared. As those Revenants drained you, none drained you so hard or fast as the Gold Eyes itself. And when we saw it feed you its energy, to make you both Dark Fae with its own power, I had enough. I vaulted in and Torino did as well, battling the creature back. I suspect it went of its own accord, however, after it got what it wanted. It must be this way , it said in my mind, before it disappeared. Torino and I fought off the rest of the Revenants and hauled you and Lucca out… leaving you both where we did so you would be discovered.”

“By Alleno,” I say now, knowing who it was that found me and got me back to the Palace of Light to recover.

“By Emiliana DiClario,” Quinn says with a darker bite to his voice, as he stares Adicus down hard now.

“That, we did not intend.” Adicus has woe in his eyes as he speaks to Quinn. “A cadre of Dark Fae warriors from the Hidden City in Venice were due to come through that spot at any moment; the Darkwatch were tracking their movements as part of our operations against that Lineage. Torino and I intended for them to find you beneath the bridge that night, rather than a Vampire. But then the Mistress of Florence left a party nearby… and could not resist you in your vulnerable state. A situation we could not intervene with, lest we start a war with the Vampires all over again.”

“Making me believe I was Vampire for centuries.” Quinn is furious now as he stares our old Darkwatch commander down. I feel the same, though I know Adicus probably saved both of us from simply expiring to the Revenants in the pit that night. Part of me wonders if it wasn’t all just part of the Gold Eyes’ plan, however.

Even though I can tell Adicus believes he was saving us of his own free will.

“That night broke me.” Adicus gazes at Quinn and me, sad. “I knew I could no longer be a part of the Darkwatch under Archivolio Bellari; when you both were compromised, Prince Valerio gone and his father, the King, dead in the war, Lucca still too sick and weak to challenge Archivolio for the throne, Archivolio rallied his support among the Summer Fae and took the Kingship. I knew, however, that it was only because of his treachery, and his association with the Gold Eyes. A Kingmaker, or a King-taker… in Archivolio’s case, the former.”

“His pogroms against the Forbidden Lineages became brutal after he ascended the throne,” I say now, as darkness devours me. “Especially against the Dark Fae. He wanted to kill them all off so Quinn and I would never discover what we were, didn’t he? He wanted to keep us forever in the dark about our power… and how convincing it could be to regular Fae and Vampires. So Quinn would never take back his rightful throne. And I would never help him.”

“Or take the throne, either. Yes.” Illyria chimes in now as she watches us, her dark eyes flinty. “Your father kept you in manacles, Lucca, punished you and pushed you to take punishments for others for decades, all because it kept your Dark Fae power from becoming too awake. He had power-draining sigils cast into the bottom of your throne—the blue and white dragonfly one—to keep you from realizing your power and supplanting him. He swore the few of us who knew about it to terrible oaths, threatening to kill everyone we ever knew or loved if we spoke about it or tried to help you.”

“My gods.” Quinn says it for me as I sit silent now, seething with a bitter wrath. Darkness boils all through me now, with a void-like sensation that devours my heart. I can’t help the aura that spreads around me in the room, though it looks almost like Ariana’s power now as it surges with nasty, dark rainbows churning through my usual, far brighter ones.

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” Ariana says as she cuddles to my side, her arm around my waist. “King Bellari saw Lucca as an enemy, rather than as his son, ever since he became Dark Fae.”

“He saw you as an enemy right from the moment you were born,” Illyria says to me now, her voice sad as her dark eyes hold mine. “Though Archivolio loved your mother—and she was a very good friend of mine—he never could stand that she bore him a son whom he could not control. He put you in the Darkwatch so he could command you. He made sure you were in the most challenging regiments in the war because he wanted to break you. He did not expect you to rise to every challenge he ever gave you and surpass them. And he did not expect you to fall in love with the Summer Fae Prince… potentially becoming the most powerful and influential person in the Realm, should the old King die. Which he did.”

“He wanted me dead that night. Quinn and me both,” I say now as ashes fill my mouth, finally knowing that truth of who my father really is.

Though some part of me has known all along.

“He did.” Adicus watches me. “He wanted you both out of the way and thought the Gold Eyes would do his will and kill you that night. It did its own will instead. I only discovered what Archivolio had intended when he went into a vicious rage that Lucca had been returned to the palace. He was only somewhat mollified by the news that Valerio had gone to the Vampires. Though the Gold Eyes told him the truth later—that you had both been Made Dark Fae. For reasons the Gold Eyes kept only to itself.”

“So if Archivolio Bellari could not kill us outright, he made sure to hamstring us from ever finding out we were Dark Fae, and connecting with the people who could teach us about our power and give us strength.” Quinn sits immaculately still beside Ariana as he speaks. “Did Archivolio have a relationship with Emiliana DiClario, do you know? Was she aware I was Dark Fae? Did he tell her?”

“That, we do not know.” Adicus and Illyria share a glance. “You’ll have to ask your man Curio, for the lair of the Florentine Vampires was not a place the King ever had us go. When we retired in protest from our positions over what he was doing to the Forbidden Lineages, and especially the Dark Fae, we were no longer a part of court life. Illyria and I focused our efforts on saving the Dark Fae, then. To right all the wrongs we had been a part of under Archivolio Bellari’s reign. Even under the old King’s, when he was so harsh with the Forbidden Lineages prior to the war.”

“So you began trafficking Dark Fae, getting them out of the Twilight Realm.” Ariana frowns, her own story finally coming into play.

“Getting them to their secret citadels, yes,” Adicus corrects gently as he smiles at his daughter. “Which are in the Twilight Realm, but heavily protected by ancient magic so that they are not quite of it. If that makes any sense.”

“Hidden in plain sight,” Ariana says. I feel her recall how the ice fortress of Novakitsk was protected by an outer magical barrier, and almost seemed to be in another Realm after we breached that barrier. “You mentioned there is one in Venice?”

“The Italian secret citadel, yes.” Illyria smiles at her daughter now as the conversation takes a brighter turn. “Some ten thousand Dark Fae strong. At last count.”

“Did Archivolio Bellari find out about that citadel?” Ariana digs for information from her parents now. “Was that why he sent the Gold Eyes to kill my original family, because he found out they were helping Dark Fae escape there?”

“Partly. Though he never found out about the citadel itself, and never will.” Adicus continues as he watches his daughter. “Archivolio Bellari sent the Gold Eyes to kill off Royal House Altvie that night, the House of Shadow Truth, because they were ever his opposition to the throne, Ariana. For centuries, your family had been the strongest supporters of our Dark Fae-saving operations, helping us get tens of thousands of Dark Fae safely to their secret citadels in Venice and elsewhere. Archivolio moved on them that night because he found out they were about to contact you, Lucca, and you, Valerio, to bring you into our operations. He couldn’t have you knowing what you were, lest you join forces at last to supplant him. So he sent the Gold-Eyed Revenant to kill off House Altvie and make it look like Vampires that night. Illyria and I got there just as the creature was about to slay its final victim—their tiny, newborn daughter. It already had its tentacles of darkness wrapped around you, draining you to death,” he says, as he looks at Ariana. “But a blast of light from you suddenly thrust it back. We were able to fight it, then… and it disappeared.”

“I fought off the Gold Eyes… as a baby?” Ariana blinks, as I feel shock flood her.

“Something in your magic did, yes.” Illyria nods now as she leans across the table, taking her daughter’s hand. “Adicus and I knew right then and there that you were special, Ariana. We knew something about you might be the key to destroying the Gold Eyes’ power, and its support of King Bellari’s heinous reign, once and for all. So we got you out of the Twilight Realm that same night. We made a new home in the human world and I let Adicus chain my power to yours, to hide your Dark Fae magic so the creature would never discover you as you grew up—or King Bellari, for that matter. It worked until you met protectors who could help you. Two angels of Summer Fae Princes, one dark and one light… forever changed by what they had gone through. And the perfect balance to your own Dark Fae power, who could help you mature your magic, at last.”

Ariana sits back now, quiet at what her adopted mother has revealed. I feel her energy churn just as much as mine; I put an arm around her now, hugging her close as Quinn slips an arm behind her, stroking her waist with his fingertips.

She’s silent now, just as silent as us as we all take in what Adicus and Illyria have revealed about our lives. It’s almost too much to process, on the heels of us just getting Quinn back from going Revenant, to only yesterday discovering that he’d lost the Dark Haven of Florence to his utter nemesis, the Master of Monaco, Florian Delano.

All three of us are stewing now, as a dark energy churns through our bonds. Just then, a knock comes at the door. Adicus frowns as Illyria’s eyebrows rise and she looks around at it. I assume the house help don’t interrupt conferences like this unless something is urgent; as Adicus rises and goes to the door, opening it, my eyebrows lift to see Alleno standing in the doorway.

Opening the door, Adicus invites him in. Alleno waits for Adicus to close the door before he turns to me.

His energy churning in a dark thundercloud, the moment the door is shut.

“Lucca. I have news from the Palace of Light.” Wrath is in Alleno’s voice, and it bodes ill for whatever he has to tell me.

“Just tell me, whatever it is,” I say now, knowing my cousin won’t hold back when I command him to be blunt.

“It’s your father.” Alleno’s face is dark as his emerald eyes burn. “I’m sorry, Lucca… but your father has just made an announcement before all the Royal and High Houses, the Summer Fae Magistros, and the military leaders, that you have been discovered to be Dark Fae. He has… cut you from the line of succession and made a public pronouncement that anyone caught colluding with you, or supporting your rise to the Summer Fae throne, will be put to death as a traitor to the Realm and a sympathizer with the Forbidden Lineages. The Summer Fae rumor mill is already abuzz like wildfire. Word is spreading across the countryside… faster even than the mushroom blight.”

Everything goes cold inside me as Alleno gives me the news. Though some part of me knew, ever since I found out I was Dark Fae, something like this might happen, it’s like the final nail in the coffin of my rebellion.

That rebellion was so massively difficult to get started at all. I feel it as my support among the Summer Fae populace, in the court, and among the Magistros and the military breaks like a spider’s web in a hurricane. Something inside me goes dark, then, as that terrible void beneath my magic devours me.

Darker than all of Quinn’s Revenant changes, though I don’t shift shape.

“Thank you, Alleno,” I hear myself say, as I sit perfectly still on the couch.

“Lucca…” My cousin hesitates as something dire comes into his eyes, watching me go so still and cold. “Do you have any response for your supporters, that I could spread as a counter to everything your father is saying?”

“What counter could I give?” I feel like I’m a thousand leagues away now, hearing my voice escape my lips as something becomes empty, deep inside me. “I am Dark Fae. My father knows it, and has known ever since it happened. He was only waiting until the opportune moment to destroy me, and everything I’ve been trying so hard to accomplish. I have no counter to his argument, Alleno. I just… don’t.”

As Alleno watches me, I see something in him is shocked at the way I’m responding. I feel like my heart has gone empty inside me, devoured by that terrible void.

As Ariana and Quinn cuddle close, putting their arms around me at this terrible news, I barely feel it. Even Quinn’s chill body feels somehow warmer than mine, as my entire being feels cold to my very marrow, like I somehow went to my grave all those centuries ago.

The moment I was Made Dark Fae in the first place.

By the Revenant the Gold Eyes—who was supposed to assassinate me for my father, but made me its puppet instead.