Chapter 6

GOLL

I read the missive from Soryn in the war room my father had rarely used. In the past few days, I came to realize that my father waged this war by throwing more and more of his soldiers into one battle after another rather than wield any kind of strategy that might end it more quickly or spare any bloodshed.

After hearing firsthand some of his commands given to the officers at the front, I berated myself for not acting sooner. The toll this war had taken on our people was harrowing. So many lives lost, and yet it still wasn't over. Not officially. One step remained.

The only smart move my father made was sending his Kel Klyss on a covert mission to abduct Connall Hartstone's daughter. My gut tightened at the thought of her several stories above me in my mother's former bedchamber.

"What news from Soryn?" asked Keffa.

My old friend was recovering well. Except for the eye patch and the scar down one cheek, he looked like his old self. While he was still healing, he seemed to be gaining weight quickly and appeared vigorous and healthy. It was remarkable what the healers had managed in only a few days.

"It is time," I answered him, dropping the scroll on the table where a map of Lumeria was spread wide with campaign movements marked around Issos.

"I would like to join the soldiers at the encampment, Goll." Voice grave and solemn, he added, "Seeing as I missed all the glory, I'd at least like to celebrate with them at the end."

"You fought your own battles well enough." For many years he'd battled the darkness and loneliness and starvation in the dungeon. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner."

He shook his head. "There will be no apologies for what Xakiel is responsible for. Leave them behind. We are embarking on a new world. Thanks to you."

I grunted and rolled up Soryn's message then tucked it with the others in a drawer in the desk.

"That will depend on Princess Tiarrialuna."

"How so?"

"Whether or not I must follow in my father's footsteps, that is. Much depends on her ."

He grew quiet for a moment then added. "Dalya's vision. You believe she is the one mentioned, don't you?"

"I know that she is," I answered without hesitation.

Last autumn, Dalya had a powerful vision while scrying with a drop of my blood shortly after she'd pledged her fealty and service to me as my royal seer. She was a distant cousin serving as a priestess at the Temple of Silvantis, but secretly she'd been scrying for me, guiding me in my ascension to the throne.

She'd had many visions, but the one that had stayed with me the most was when she proclaimed the female fae with the demon's mark will bring about Vix's reckoning.

Vix's reckoning was the old legend, the promise that one day our kind would rise above and rule over all. In all the written histories of faekind, the light fae—specifically the moon fae of Issos—had dominated our world. They'd controlled the richest, most fertile lands, woodlands overfull with game, and mines of precious stones. And they'd kept their borders well-guarded to prevent trade, except when it benefited them.

Smuggling was common, especially around Hellamir. Many wood fae who lived there ignored the laws of their king that prevented trade with the dark fae of Northgall, but it was the bloody skirmishes and attacks on our fae by their soldiers that was unconscionable to me.

"My father was content to dwell here, Keffa, in this palace while he ignored the problems of our people. I will not do that. I know it is my right by birth, sanctioned by the gods, to take this crown and to rule over our land and Lumeria. And I will do it at all costs."

"And the princess is the key, is she."

"She is. Now, I must make her understand that."

He chuckled, his scar pulling tight on his cheek. "You think she'll accept your…invitation gratefully?"

I straightened from the desk, steeling my spine, my entire body locking tight, finally ready to go to her after Soryn's message.

"No. She'll hate me for it." I shrugged. "But she will do it all the same."

"So you will force her," he said casually. "That sounds very much like what Xakiel would have done."

"My father planned to violate her for five years and send her back in pieces to Issos. That is not my plan."

"Forcing her to be your mizrah and keeping her prisoner here isn't all that much better."

" Keffa ," I snapped with warning. "It must be done."

None of us knew who the female of Dalya's vision was, not until I laid eyes on Una in the throne room and had seen her wings. Her black wings. They'd grown back in the hue of my home, N?kt Mir, a palace carved into the volcanic obsidian left behind by Vixet Krone's eruption thousands of years ago. It was the color of our armor, our swords, our temples, our entire world.

She was meant to be mine, to bring about the rise of the dark fae with me at its helm. Whether she hated me for what I planned to do, for the role she must play, didn't matter. I would make it so at all costs.

We dark fae had sequestered in our separate kingdoms, eking out our lives beneath the shining beacon of Lumeria, where fertile lands of abundance and excess thrived, where their populations flourished and where magick whispered everywhere. I was not only going to open the gates to those lands, I would be their new ruler. A union with Una would strengthen my claim and keep Prince Baelynn of Issos compliant and peaceful.

But first…the princess must accept her fate.

Keffa had gone quiet, giving me that paternal expression of disapproval. I didn't fucking care.

I marched from the room, frustration firing my blood. As I ascended the first few steps of the staircase, the outer door opened behind me. I stopped to watch as Pullo marched inside with Tierzel and two other wraith fae males.

While I hadn't allowed them to leave for the front with Soryn, I did reassign two other fae on duty to guard the door of the princess so they could patrol the city.

The past several days had been precarious while we rounded up all of my father's allies. We gave them the choice to either bow and pledge fealty to me or die. So far, their decisions had been swift. Bending the knee was easy when your life was on the line. But I was aware there could still be rebellion at my ascension.

As they drew closer, I recognized the twin brothers being escorted toward me, their expressions grim and tight. I turned and awaited their approach, keeping my arms at my sides, ready to fight if that's what my cousins had in mind.

Meck and Ferryn were the only sons of my aunt, my sister's mother. They'd joined my father's forces not too long ago, so I'd heard, and had been assigned as ambassadors. Reports had told us my father had sent them north to trade with the shadow fae king to acquire more gold to fund the war.

My cousins, because of their noble blood and distant connection to King Xakiel through my mother, were the most suitable to barter a deal with the shadow fae. The shadow fae had plenty of gold in their mines deep in the Solgavia Mountains, and they coveted our black steel mined from Vixet Krone.

They'd left last spring, according to ledgers my father's scribe kept. When they reached the bottom of the steps, Pullo and Tierzel stepped to the side while both Meck and Ferryn knelt on one knee, bowing their heads.

"Greetings, cousin," said Meck, always the more talkative of the two. "We bring good tidings from the north. Prince Torvyn of Gadlizel accepted the offer of black steel. We return with payment in gold…for you."

I didn't bother asking why they negotiated with the prince and not the king. There were rumors that Prince Torvyn's father had gone mad. That conversation could wait for another time.

"For me ?" I questioned sharply. "My father commanded you to take this mission. As I'm sure you know by now, he is dead. And while I can assume that your return with gold owed to N?kt Mir is a sign of your allegiance to the crown of Northgall, I cannot accept your loyalty until it is actually given. To me ."

Meck lifted his gaze to mine while Ferryn kept his on the stone floor. I hadn't seen either of them for years. They'd grown to be fine looking warriors.

They had no father, and my aunt left Silvantis to raise them in Belladum. My mother had always felt sad for her sister who was forced to raise her two sons on her own. I thought my aunt had always envied my mother, who had wanted for nothing as my father's mizrah. That is, until he accused her of adultery and murdered her.

"I, Meck Vulsgar, pledge my life and loyalty to the rightful heir of Northgall, Gollaya Verbane." He withdrew his short dagger at his belt and cut his palm, his offering and promise by blood. "May our god Vix hear my sincerity and truth." He fisted his palm, letting blood drip to the stone, then pressed it over his heart in a salute to me.

I descended the steps, eyeing Ferryn, who finally met my gaze. They both had unusually pale-yellow eyes, the same as my aunt and my mother.

Ferryn pulled out his dagger and cut his palm, tightening his fist and pounding it to his chest. "I, Ferryn Vulsgar, pledge my life and loyalty to the rightful heir of Northgall." His expression was intense and tight. "To Gollaya Verbane."

Our relationship had never been close or comfortable. When they were young boys and I was an adolescent, I'd play swords with them in the yard at Windolek, where I spent summers with my mother. I believed they admired me then, even if there may have been a touch of envy there.

But as they grew older, my aunt stopped visiting, then my mother was killed by my own father and I hadn't seen them since.

Until now.

It was no wonder they both wore tense expressions. Though we shared blood, we didn't know each other anymore. And I could reject their pledges of fealty since they served as ambassadors to my father, an honored position in his central court. I could kill them for it, just as I had killed my father's inner circle in the throne room. My father would certainly execute them if he were in this position.

But I was determined not to rule as he had done.

"You will both serve me as your new king, but not as my ambassadors."

Meck pursed his brow, and Ferryn clenched his jaw, still on one knee, their bleeding fists over their hearts.

"You will join my Kel Klyss. That is the only way you may serve me."

Their tight expressions instantly softened to surprise.

"Keffa will guide you in your trial. If you endure it and survive, then you will have your rightful place in my Kel Klyss as my kin."

Meck swallowed hard. "Thank you, my lord."

Ferryn was speechless, the brothers sharing a brief smile.

"When?" asked Meck.

"Now." Then I turned to Pullo. "Prepare them for the rite. Their trial begins at once. I'll speak to Keffa to oversee their trial and send word to Dalya at the Temple."

"Yes, sire."

Then I turned back toward my war room on a heavy sigh. It seemed my visit to the princess would have to wait.