“Behind me are a Shadow Commander, Archimage, Rune Maker, and Shape Shifter.”
Wide eyes stared back at me from both sides of the crowd as their gazes roamed over my men.
“The triads declared our affinities extinct centuries ago, but the truth is that we were erased—cut from every record, every memory—because our existence threatened the order they built after our ancestors rebelled and threatened their power.”
No one dared to speak and my eyes shifted to the wyvern along the wall, knowing it was vital to speak of their history here and now.
“This isn’t the first time they’ve purged what they feared,” I said, meeting the eyes of each of the wyvern in the room. “You may not recognize the two standing before you, but you should. They are as much a part of Alfemir’s history as any angel. Wyverns lived beside us once, as equals, until their power grew too great to control.”
I drew a steadying breath. “When one of the triad’s members wanted what they couldn’t have and the wyverns refused to bend, they called them dangerous. They ordered a cleansing.”
My voice didn’t waver as I clarified. “It was genocide.”
My gaze found Nora and Conan. “They ripped magic from the wyverns they didn’t slaughter, leaving them without a human form to shift into. They drove them into the forests and mountains, leaving them to use as beasts to tame in the future–the wyverns you all know. But some survived with their magic intact and escaped. They endured and rebuilt against all odds.”
A tremor crossed Nora’s face as I saw tears gathering in her eyes. My own throat grew tight with emotion but I swallowed it down to gaze back out at the crowd.
“I can’t undo what they did,” I said softly, shaking my head for a moment to gather my surging anger. “But I can promise this: while I still draw breath, I won’t sit aside and let this happen ever again. Not to the wyverns. Not to anyone. I will fight to save the stars from falling and allow us all the time needed to rebuild together.”
Nora’s sharp gaze lingered on me as the chamber fell silent and she stepped forward, drawing the attention of all in the room. “Our trust is not easily given after what our people have had to endure,” she announced with the composure of a queen, “but it is time to acknowledge that the past doesn’t dictate thefuture. We once viewed all angels as our enemies in the fallout of our near extinction, but no longer. You do not stand alone, Kieran. You have the backing of all the wyvern.”
Her words settled deep within my heart and all I could manage was a grateful nod as heat pricked at my eyes.
When Archangel Astor stepped forward and drew my focus, the concern etched across her pinched face quickly quelled any warm feelings stirring within my chest.
“Kieran,” she said, voice steady but heavy, “before we let ourselves hope too much for a future past the stars falling, we need to remember the nature of the triads we served and what could happen in our rebellion now.”
You could have heard a pin drop in the silence of her words, and my gut churned with apprehension. I had known in the back of my mind since Niz explained the history of wyverns to us that the upper triads could be a problem, but everything in me hoped to not worry about that yet.
My body tensed as I gestured toward her. “Please expand. We need all of the information we can get.”
There was already so much on our plates with needing to get Alfemir in a new order and for my focus to turn to the dying stars. I didn’t know how we were supposed to handle anything more.
“The Archangels were created to maintain balance between Alfemir and the first and second triads,” she said, her tone steady but edged with regret. “We have always served their orders and in hearing the truth of what has occurred, I fear that those orders will always be righteous violence in their eyes. Archangel Shrue can expand.”
An older Archangel stood up next to her and twined his hands together. “There is a pattern in all of these histories. When the wyverns’ power grew too great, the triads answered withannihilation. When the angelic rebellion rose, they did the same and rewrote history, wiping affinities from our knowledge.”
My lips thinned, my head nodding in acknowledgement.
He cleared his throat and announced, “I knew of everything going on and was too fearful to speak up and stop it. I knew my dissent alone couldn’t change anything.”
Unease rippled through the chamber and he nodded. “I understand your anger and I am ashamed of placing my selfishness to live above the good of all. I can do nothing but ensure that we are all aware of the dangers we face now, with my knowledge.”
While I would have loved if someone else stood up earlier within Alfemir to put an end to this, deep down I knew the truth in his words. If he had spoken up alone, he would have been disposed of before he could take another breath. I held no judgment for his actions–it was survival in a world that held no room for leniency or questioning.
“And now with Alfemir’s careful order destroyed, they’ll see this alliance,” Archangel Astor said, as her hand swept toward the wyverns and us, “as another rebellion. They’ll come to correct it as they have with anyone who stepped out of line or didn’t abide by their rules, as they always have.”
A low murmur spread through the chamber as my men edged closer at my back.
Bile rose in my throat as my stomach twisted. Everything I wanted to shove to the corner of my mind to worry about later was suddenly being ripped to the forefront.
“You think this isn’t just a possibility, but a certainty?” I asked, needing clarity as I looked between Astor and Shrue.
They exchanged a look and nodded at each other, clearly already having had this somber conversation.
Archangel Astor’s voice carried over the quiet. “The only question iswhenwill they come to correct this uprising.”
10
