26. Chapter 26

My eyes scanned the room, dominated by a silver throne at the front. I focused on the King in front of me instead of the over-the-top décor, though. He was slightly heavy-set and extremely tall. His dark hair was highlighted with streaks of silver. His eyes matched my own, dark green that reminded me of the moss that grew in the forbidden wood. His crown was tall, gold, and decorated in blue stones that matched the blue robe he wore. He was good-looking, but years of being king had weighed on him and had weathered him a bit.

His dark, bushy eyebrows furrowed as I stood staring at him. His eyes widened as he gazed over me like he was seeing a ghost. I guess I hadn't been here in seven years at least. He cleared his throat as if he was getting emotional.

"So, it's true. You finally made it through the trials." His voice wrapped around me like an emotional hug, but I didn't answer.

He locked eyes with me, and I could see the questions swimming in them. His grip tightened on the red stone in his hand.

"You will not be stopped if you choose to take this stone to the Crimson Kingdom." He frowned at me. "You and all of your friends can go back if you choose to."

"I'm supposed to believe that you'll let me walk out of here and give your enemy this stone?" I scoffed. Did he think I was stupid? "Why would I ever believe you?"

He took a deep breath and looked over my face in thought.

"You still don't have any memories," he guessed. "Is that why you look at me like a stranger?"

"You are a stranger," I hissed.

Pain. That is what crossed his features and something deep in my chest tugged at the sight. I pushed away the feeling.

"I thought the curse wouldn't take all your memories. I thought you could recognize your own father, Thea."

Father.

I blinked slowly as my mind tried to process this. An empty void filled my mind as the word ricocheted through it.

"Thea," he whispered and took a step towards me slowly, but I stepped back. "We have missed you so much over the years," the king choked out with emotion. "You have a family, and we love you."

Something deep in my memories called him a liar. I had seen him in my dreams, and he was always so mean to me in them. I glared at his comment.

"I know we fought, and I pushed you too hard. I have regretted it every day that you've been gone. I have often wondered if I showed you how much I did care if that would have kept you from running into the arms of our enemy."

"What are you doing?" I questioned. "Am I supposed to stand here and believe that you missed me? That you tried to find me, that you love me, that you want me back? I have flashes of memories and all of them that showed you left me feeling like shit."

He flinched at my words as if they slapped him.

"I know, but now we have a chance to try again. For me to right my mistakes and show you that I can be the father you always needed me to be."

"Give me the stone," I demanded and held out my hand.

The king stood, stunned, looking at me like he couldn't believe I wouldn't take his word for it. His eyes filled with unshed tears. His daughter. I had thought images or memories would plague me with this information, but nothing came. Why didn't Cassius tell me this?

"They haven't told you anything have they? If they had, then you wouldn't be getting this stone for them. You wouldn't choose them over your own father. Over your family. Over your Kingdom. Did they tell you who cursed you or what happened?"

"They can't. The curse keeps them from saying too much."

He laughed. This bastard laughed at my response, and it made me so angry. I felt my fire coming forth and he held up his hands in defense.

"Cassius was always a clever boy. Always had a keen sense of telling pretty lies and finding ways out of telling the truth. I almost wasn't surprised when you told me you loved him. He's a master manipulator and you were the perfect target because of me. Because you felt you had to settle for that monster. The Crimson Kingdom will do whatever it can to be in control. To have all the power. Including lying to you about all of this. About whom and why you were cursed to begin with. He can tell you, but he doesn't want to because he is still using and manipulating you after everything. After seven years you still fall for it, and I can't be upset because you have no memories."

I wanted to refute this, to argue with him, but something stopped me. A tickle of a memory somewhere in my broken mind. Was Cassius lying to me? He had told me he couldn't say anything, but he had told me a lot about us in recent days. He had waited until the trials were almost over to tell me anything.

"I can see you thinking it over, which means you know it's possible." The king watched me with pity.

"He took you from me. Kept you for himself under the guise of love, but this was always his plan. From the moment he saw you, you were his finale in gaining the most power in Elloryon. To overthrow the other Kingdoms. You are the key to power and control Thea, and the prophet told all of us. You alone can make Kingdoms crumble. You control everything because of your magic. You are a weapon, but you can still choose if it's for good or evil. You just have to choose what side to fight for."

A new sense of belonging slipped into place in my mind. My father seemed accepting of my power and abilities. It was the first time that I contemplated my power being used for good instead of evil. No one else had ever mentioned that I had a choice in this. Sadness filled me as I realized that I let others dictate and tell me what I was going to be without much of a fight. They had treated me like something to be feared, but my magic could do good. I could use it to help others. Maybe I could change the prophets telling.

"You don't think my magic is…evil."

"Only if you want it to be, Thea."

I turned away from him so he couldn't see the confusion clouding me. I glanced at Wisp for some clarity, but she floated in the shadows in a white flame. She had never been that color, and I didn't know what it meant. Doubt swirled in my mind and wrapped everything I knew about Cassius in a dark blanket. Cassius's face clouded my mind. He wouldn't do that to me. He wouldn"t hold things like the reason for the curse from me. Cassius loved me. Didn't he? Everything I thought I knew threatened to crumble around me. I couldn't possibly know the truth of anything on my own. I relied on others, and it made this all impossible to sort. My heart couldn't fathom Cassius betraying me. It wasn't true. I turned back to the king to find that he was holding out the bloodstone to me.

"I know you are confused. I can't even imagine, Thea. So, take this." He handed it over without hesitation. The stone's power hummed through it as I looked up at him, not understanding why he was letting me have it. "Just do me one favor before you cross over to Crimson."

"Okay," I agreed hesitantly.

"Ask Cassius who is responsible for the curse. Ask him why you were cursed, to begin with. He can tell you, so do not let him fool you into thinking he can't. Demand it if you have to. You deserve to know the truth before giving this stone to a side." He pulled me to him and hugged me so tightly, his scent of sunshine, flowers, and fresh air wrapping around me. I could feel my eyes filling with tears but I refused to let them fall.

I didn't hug him back. When he pulled away, I peered over his face, which barely resembled mine, but those eyes undeniably mirrored my own.

Father.

My father was king. Cassius didn't tell me that. Cassius didn't tell me anything but happy, pretty memories of us. He intentionally left out anything bad and I didn't question it because I wanted to be happy. I wanted to turn a blind eye to the bad times. It didn't even cross my mind to think about asking.

He could tell me things, but only told me what would make him look good. The whole Kingdom had treated me so well for being the daughter of their enemy, for being the Captain of their enemies" guard. Doubt crept into my mind. I turned around and headed for the wooden doors that I had come in.

"You will always have a spot here in your home," My father called after me.

I didn't acknowledge him. I wanted to say this wasn't my home, but I just kept walking. The guards bowed to me like I was still their Captain as I passed. The stone felt heavy in my hand. There was a shift of uneasiness that filled me. I walked through the castle and out the front doors. Slowly, I walked towards the tree line where my horse was. The rest of the competitors were all waiting for me with looks of confusion and worry. Haden gripped me tightly by the shoulders.

"I thought they killed you." Haden sighed. "They caught all of us and let us go," he said confused. I held out the bloodstone and they all quieted down. "You got it." His shoulders sagged with relief, but I couldn't even summon a fake smile.

My mind was weighed down by what my father had said. I knew he had a motive and wanted me to choose him and the Kingdom of Cerithia, but I couldn't shake the words away. They swirled and gripped all my happy memories of Cassius and shielded them. This would all be sorted out when I asked him. That's what I told myself as I climbed on my horse and took off in a dead sprint towards the Crimson Kingdom.

I could feel Cassius tug on the bond of the blood mark, and I barely could muster thinking I was ok. Was I ok? No. Haden had asked me countless times if I was alright. I lied and said yes, but he told me he wasn't buying it. I didn't answer him again. When we rested for the night, I didn't sleep. There was no way I could face Cassius right now. My mind was still processing things my father told me. I would confront Cassius at the border. He couldn't cross over to me and it would give me time to think. Besides, my father was following us, I had heard his guards moving in the trees around us as we slept. I would have them if this went sideways.

Worry filled me from the blood mark. He knew something was wrong, but I didn't even try to respond anymore. I needed someone to tell me the truth and Cassius would do that. Whatever he told me I would take it as the truth because I loved him. I woke the guys up at first sunlight so we could get to the boundary of Crimson and Cerithian lands quickly.

"You didn't sleep," Haden observed. "Please tell me what's going on, Thea. I'm on your side."

"Did you know the King of Cerithia is my father?" I scrutinized him, hoping that he showed me a face of pure shock, but he frowned instead.

"Yes."

"Cassius never told me," I whispered. "He could have told me that at least."

"Thea…" Haden started but I urged my horse to go quicker. She ran so fast that my braid whipped in the wind and became loose. My mind was a foggy haze of confusion, racing with thoughts of Cassius and me. What if everything my father said was true? What if Cassius never loved me, never cared for me, but really was using me? Flashes of when Nev had kidnapped me swarmed through me. My memory of Cassius had been awful. He had said such cruel things about me.

Cassius said he was trying to avoid me to help me through the trials, but was that an excuse too? Did he just want to be far away from me because I was just a pawn? He humiliated me twice and gave me some excuses that I believed immediately. I should have pushed more, and questioned his motives more. Fae in Exile had blamed the Crimson King for our imprisonments. I had fallen for their fake kindness so easily. Shame filled me. I felt like I failed Sybil and the twins.

Or maybe my father was lying. But what did he have to gain from lying? Maybe he didn't want his daughter to serve his enemy. Dread filled my chest, crushing my lungs to the point it physically hurts to breathe.

When the boundary came into sight my stomach churned with fear. I asked the Gods above to let this all be untrue as we came to a large clearing. The boundary between Crimson and Cerithia threatened to swallow me whole as the pressure of choosing settled heavily on me.

They were all there waiting. Crimson's fae and royalty all stood in this clearing to welcome us back. The guys had ridden in front of me through the boundary that divided the land without noticing I had fallen behind. I could feel the bloodstone pulsing in my pocket as if to tell me to ask for answers.

Immediately, Haden went and said something to Cassius and the king. Their gazes immediately darted to me, full of concern as they moved closer. I dismounted my horse and stood twenty yards from the boundary. Cassius"s body was tense, and his eyes flickered with something close to worry.

"My Love?" Cassius stopped right at the boundary. "What's the matter?"

Our eyes locked and I could feel it. I could feel that I would never be the same after this. I would either be broken beyond repair or finally whole. I would forever be altered.

This was the defining moment of my life.

"Did you not get the stone?" The stone. He was worried about the damn stone. I pulled it from my pocket and showed it to him. "Then why do you look so… sad?"

I took a breath to steady myself for whatever was going to happen. For whatever he would tell me. Maybe I could even forgive him for withholding the information from me. Maybe it wasn't that bad. Cassius ran his eyes over me as if trying to see if I was wounded.

"Why am I cursed?" I asked softly, but I knew he heard me. His body stilled ever so slightly that if I wasn't so worried about his response I wouldn't have noticed.

"I can't tell you." Just as my father predicted. A lie. The realm stood so still as doubt clouded my empty mind even more. Please, Cassius, don't betray me like everyone else. Not you. I can't handle you being the one to hurt me. To break me.

"Who cursed me?" I tried a different question.

"Thea, I can't—" His skin paled.

"Yes, you can!" I yelled so loudly that it shook the ground. "Just tell me."

He didn't say anything for a long moment. His pretty golden eyes stared at me like he was trying to come up with a way to tell me something I didn't want to hear.

"She knows you can tell her." The King of Cerithia appeared from the forest behind me. I had felt them following us, but I didn't care. I didn't warn the rest of my team because I had a feeling this was the beginning of the end. Cassius glanced at his father with a look of sadness I had never seen before. Was his father the one who had cursed me like I had thought all these years? Could I forgive that?

"Tell her who cursed her Cassius," my father demanded softly.