Ren pulled away from his chest, her expression distant and unreadable. "I’ll co with you," she answered but her voice was flat.
Kai narrowed his eyes. "Wife... are you angry with ?"
"No, but from now on, be honest with . Why did Lutherieth attack here?"
Kai gently brushed his thumb along her cheek. "King Benkin made a deal with my father. The King’s daughter must marry one of his sons. He gave him Sunkiath in hopes of making him a conqueror... to draw Anarya’s father out. His plan for eting Anarya and luring her took him decades. But he didn’t understand, that’s not how the Fae accepted soone. He might have made her love him, but the Fae King didn’t care about love."
Ren fell silent. She could guess the rest, but she wanted to hear it from him.
"Your mother told her father she’d fallen in love with a human. They rejected her demand, without even asking his na, and locked her in a magical tower. Later, her maiden, Avenieth, helped her escape, and your father rescued her. Sunkiath helped him cross the Fae barriers in the Monster Ocean. They married with my father’s approval as her uncle."
Kai paused. This part of the story was the hardest to tell. But she deserved to know.
"Your father had to uphold the rite of the first treaty, offering a daughter to my father. After Seraphina’s death, no queen in House D’orient had given birth to a legitimate heir. Your father only wanted Anarya... but he didn’t realize she would do anything to protect her child."
His voice grew quieter, heavier.
"She found out she was carrying a daughter, and it terrified her. Anarya loved deeply, but she couldn’t bear the thought of her daughter marrying a demon... or even a half-demon."
His face darkened, jaw clenching with old resentnt.
"But the deal was already made."
Ren tilted her head. "My aunt... what about her? She’s the late king’s daughter too."
Kai shook his head. "She wasn’t born of a queen. She’s the daughter of a concubine and illegitimate."
Ren hadn’t known any of this. No one had ever spoken of it. Had they hidden the truth from the noble chiefs?
Of course, they had. They had so many dirty secrets already.
"The night you were born," Kai continued, "your uncle’s wife was also about to deliver her baby. She, too, was carrying a daughter... but a witch, driven by vengeance against your father, turned out to be your mother’s maiden. For nine months, she poisoned your mother... planning to kill both of you the mont you were born."
Ren’s shoulders stiffened. Her blood simred. How could this world be so cruel? And the other baby girl... What happened to her?
"To save you," Kai said, voice tightening, "your mother used the last drop of her healing power, and it burned her alive."
He faltered. This was too much. His chest felt like a furnace, searing from the inside.
Ren’s eyes dimd, her voice turning to ice. "The other girl? My cousin?"
"Your uncle’s wife loved Anarya like a sister," Kai said softly. "Before she died, she begged your uncle to protect you, to switch you with your cousin. So he paid a loyal servant to take his daughter away and hide her, and she was given to a foster family. Later, word ca that the family was attacked by bandits... and all of them were killed."
Sotis, a tragedy cuts so deep it takes the heart years to accept it if it ever does. Sotis, it doesn’t just scar, it stains the soul. So Lord Alekin, the king’s brother, was cold toward her because he had sacrificed so much.
"I thought Marianne was my mother."
"No, she wasn’t."
"Could they have tricked your father?" she asked, her voice barely audible. Her chest felt hollow as her heart was too heavy to even beat.
"No," Kai murmured. "He knew. He could read your father’s mind. But he still had to give him a choice after nineteen years... so your father ca to . And I didn’t refuse."
He looked away for a mont, as if ashad.
"I’d heard about you, rumors, whispers. I thought you might be the key to helping free myself from my father once and for all..."
Sha rolled over him like a tide. He was laying bare the truth, the reason he’d agreed to marry her.
"To offer to your father," Ren said, her voice sounding eerily calm. "So he could train . Make his pet instead of you... and then you could kill and have the excuse that I was a devil who threatened everyone."
The words left her lips like blades, casual in tone, but sharper than any poisoned thorn driven through the heart.
"Reneira, I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry..."
"No, you’re not!" she snapped, her voice cracking beneath the weight of betrayal. "You love because I’m Anarya’s daughter. Because you want to shield from your brother because he thinks it’s unfair that the demon god gave to you instead of him! That’s just possessiveness and your devotion to my mother, not love."
Ren rose to her feet, that too-calm expression on her face a warning. Kai saw it, the look of soone who wasn’t just hurt. She was breaking, shattering into pieces he might never be able to nd.
"That’s not true..." he whispered.
She raised her hand, cutting him off. "Stop explaining. I have too much to do."
Her voice was firm, emotion tightly leashed.
"Your brother is going to slaughter our people because of my family’s foolish deals with the Devil. I’m going to end this madness, with or without you. Stand by my side... or walk away."
Kai froze. Was she serious?
He searched her eyes, and his heart sank. He couldn’t sll it. He’d been too consud by everything else to notice.
The mating bond... was gone. Only their marriage and his mark remained.
He stepped out of the bathtub, his shadow casting long across the room, looming over her. Shadow’s voice thundered in his mind, "You dare defy ?!"
"No," she said quietly. "I’m trying to save us. But you’re free now. Make your choice. Just don’t pity because I fucking hate it."
She wrapped herself in a robe, walked toward the dressing room, and closed the door behind her.
Her back pressed against the wood. Her lungs wouldn’t fill the air. It was so hard to pretend. But she had no choice. If she wanted freedom, if she wanted to break the curse wrapped around her bloodline, she’d have to play this ga like a queen and be bound to the sa fate as her mother.
Wisely, ruthlessly, whatever, what she’d learned was terrifying. Her emotions would kill a lot of people so she had to suppress it, for now.
She was the rightful heir to Alvonia’s throne, by blood, by law. That made her the next queen. According to the ancient treaty crafted by Seraphina’s father, her daughter would be the next offering. Hell no. Not in this lifeti or the next ones.
She would never allow it. Worse, the blood of a demon would pulse through the veins of Alvonia’s future rulers. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the floor, her heart slamming against her ribs.
"Screw my heart," she whispered, bitter and breathless.
Once she finished in the dressing room, she reached out to Arkilla through the mind link. Her next steps were clear, interrogate the goblin, then head to the lab to resu work on the grated silver powder. She would perfect the poison, making it hellishly deadly. She would make it potent enough to bring Lutherieth to his knees.
Ren recalled the way the demon god had smiled, so calm, gentle, so sure of his victory. A hybrid like her, married to his son! He thought he’d already won to gain another mighty pet.
But she was going to wipe that smug grin off his face.
~*~
Announcent: My dear readers, unfortunately, my mother is ill and I’ve been taking her to clinics, please be patient. This week the updates will be slow.
Reviews
All reviews (0)