His heart twisted at the thought of her. How desperately he wanted to see her again, but not like this. Not with confusion clouding every truth he once knew. First, he had to understand what had happened. Why she had married Coran– the Beta of the Alpha King. Coran, the heir to the Mountain Wolves, is Elaika’s brother.
Why him? Not a Fae. Not a human. Why Coran?
They climbed the spiral stairs tucked behind the temple, winding upward into the stone heart of the mountain. At the top, Seraphina turned to her brother with a smug smile. "You see those clouds now, don’t you?"
She mocked him with a light giggle, then turned to Kai. "Thank you for warning us."
Standing beside him, she knocked confidently on the towering wooden door. "Saint Saga must be inside. We didn’t see him in the sky."
Kai sniffed the air and paused. A mouthwatering scent wafted toward him: rabbit soup, spiced just right, and freshly baked bread. His stomach twisted at the sll. Was the old owl feasting inside while the mountain prepared to howl with snow?
The door creaked open from within. A pair of large, round eyes t his and widened. Saint Saga, the owlman, stared at him as if he’d seen a ghost. Words clogged in his throat.
Kai raised a quiet hand, a warning in his eyes. Shush. Breathe, old friend.
The owlman gave a strained nod, barely composing himself. "Ah... what an unexpected surprise, my friend."
Swallowing his shock, Saint Saga stepped aside and let them in, adopting a gruff tone for the children’s benefit. "You two ran off again without telling your mother? Do you have any idea how stressed she’s been lately?"
The siblings bowed their heads. Clearly, they were used to these little sermons.
As they crossed the main hall, Seraphina and Benkin spotted the table and stopped short. It was overflowing with food, far too much for one.
"Saint Saga, you eat a lot! How about sharing with us?" Benkin chirped, eyes wide.
"Be polite, stupid boy," his sister hissed, elbowing him in the ribs.
He shrugged, still licking his lips as he stole another glance at the table.
The owlman gave a half-snort, half-chuckle. "Help yourselves. As always you just arrive at dining ti."
Then his gaze returned to Kai, and the sharpness in his features softened. "Co. Eat. You look starved."
Kai didn’t need to be asked twice. His stomach twisted again, this ti more forcefully, almost painfully. In all the futures he’d wandered through, in all the tilines where he’d bled and broken, nothing had ever made him feel quite like this: a simple table, a warm room, the scent of bread, and the ache of children he could never claim.
If this was the tornt Elcasore had chosen for him, this silent, aching exile, then perhaps she had already won.
After a warm and satisfying lunch, the siblings were preparing to leave when the sky suddenly cracked open with a thunderbolt.
"You can’t leave now," Saint Saga snapped, casting a wary glance at the windows. "Go to the library and read sothing useful."
His tone was bitter. These two were always troubleso.
They offered sheepish smiles, then obeyed. Saint Saga wasn’t soone they dared argue with.
Kai watched them disappear down the corridor. "You see them often, don’t you?"
The owlman gave a resigned nod. "Almost every week. Last ti, they crashed a griffin into one of the temple pillars. Their mother forbade them from sneaking beasts out of the academy, but... they’re children. Curiosity is a wildfire."
Saint Saga then led Kai down a quiet hallway and into a modest chamber. Once the door closed behind them, the owlman dropped to one knee.
"Your Highness... you’re alive."
Kai frowned. "Yes. And my wife is remarried. Tell , how did everyone co to the conclusion that I’m so easy to kill?"
The owlman’s shoulders trembled. "Please, don’t be angry. Everything unraveled after the war. You vanished. The Fae King punished King Benkin, and the Seven Kingdoms scattered. Peace hasn’t returned since."
Kai tilted his head, his voice sharp. "Rise, and tell everything."
Saint Saga stood and they both took their seats by the window. The wind hooted faintly through the stonework as the owlman began.
"After the war, two vampire lords vanished, Victor and another called Zolan. We never found them. King Benkin and the Queen led the war effort, they destroyed the vampire armies, but the war dragged on for three long years. She didn’t see her children during that entire ti."
Kai’s eyes darkened the hurt bleeding into his voice. "She went to war?"
Saint Saga nodded solemnly. "She summoned your father, hoping he could find a way to bring you back. But the Saint of the Gods’ Prison said you died in the tunnels of the future. She returned broken. A few months later, she gave birth in the Fae realm. She asked the Fae King to care for the twins... and left again to aid her father."
Kai sat frozen.
The Fae King raised our children for three years?Lucieth, heir of the Fae Throne, was as strict as he was proud. How did he allow that? He hated half-bloods.
His heart pounded with a mix of disbelief and sorrow. Sowhere in those lost years, everything had changed, and he had missed it all.
Kai swallowed the lump in his throat and brought the na into his mouth, "Have you not seen Azrael?"
The owlman’s face darkened, "Azrael was punished by your father. After that, he left and never returned. He kept blaming himself for losing you. We don’t know where he is."
Kai drumd his fingers on the table. In all the futures he saw, he killed Rail and Gloria for cheating on Reneira.
"Tell about Gloria, is she a good Queen?"
Saint Saga bead and nodded, "I cannot believe that maiden could be a good Queen. She married our Gamma Rail despite the objections. However..." He paused for a while, "Her brother, Dankin, has been a problem. He has made all the houses against her, they are trying to bring her down."
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