My smile fades, but Brahm waves a hand, dismissing his mate’s words. “In any case, we would never show her off like a prized bird, Damien. We are only excited to have you home—and with such a unique mate at your side.”
My shoulders relax a fraction. He’s trying, and the truth is that Nevina is a similar curiosity. I’m sure he’s fielded his share of questions at his choice of mate. I’m tempted to ask how they met, but there is something else I need to know first.
“Brother, after all this time away, I am glad to see you,” I say, “but where are Mother and Father? Karyl? We should all be together for this reunion.”
Brahm’s face falls. “Oh dear, of course you wouldn’t know. This is difficult. So difficult.”
I don’t like the sound of that. I wait for him to elaborate.
“The war you fought centuries ago has come to be called the War of Plagues and Arrows. It is so called because, after your departure, Tenebris was ravaged by a wasting disease. Both elves and shades were afflicted. Eight in ten shades who caught the disease succumbed to it within a year. No cure was ever found.”
My stomach sinks, and a lump grows in my throat until I can scarcely breathe. I try my best to remain impassive. Eloise can’t understand a word of what Brahm is saying, and I don’t want my reaction to cause her undue worry. But I am worried. Plague was not unheard of in my time here, but is he claiming it reached the castle?
“Father caught it early on,” Brahm explains, and my heart sinks like a stone. “Out of desperation, Mother sought the help of the witches of Dimhollow for an antidote.”
My ears perk at this revelation. I had long suggested an alliance with the witches, the only beings in our world who could wield magic stronger than that of the elves. My friendship with Aurora was the reason for my father’s rescue from Willowgulch after all.
“Sadly, there was nothing they could do to cure the afflicted, but they were able to surmise the cause,” Brahm says. “It was the war itself that was killing us.”
The ridiculousness of the statement gives me pause. It’s far too convenient. Sounds more like elf magic than a disease. I narrow my eyes on Nevina. “Brother, are you suggesting something about the battle itself caused a plague?”
“I understand your skepticism. I felt the same way. But in the end, our scholars proved it to be true. Troops had trampled the delicate grasslands between our two kingdoms and ravaged the forest in search of the dragon and her egg. Both sides believed that the magic inherent in the dragon’s scales and flesh would tip the outcome of the war in their favor. But I digress. The soldiers, in their searching, had stirred up a poison that is normally contained within the soil in such quantities it polluted the air throughout the kingdom and infected a large number of the population. No one in Tenebris was safe. We soon learned that lasting peace was the only hope for our people, but still, the war raged on. The elves were dropping as fast as the shades, but neither Father nor King Entrydal would bow.”
“Why should Father have bowed? Willowgulch was the aggressor.” My hand balls into a fist in my lap. I willfully loosen it when my brother directs an arched brow at it.
Brahm sighs. “Sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice for the greater good. You must know that, Damien. Father, growing ever sicker, understood that in the end and finally took the high ground. He sent an emissary to Blackspire Palace, relaying what he’d learned from the witches and asking for a peace accord. King Entrydal agreed. The fruits of their negotiations was a ceasefire, but there were terms necessary to bind the treaty. King Entrydal offered to give up his claim to the dark forest on the condition that his daughter be awarded a position in Stygarde’s ruling class.”
My gaze darts to Nevina, whose fingers tangle in her lap as if the conversation makes her unduly uncomfortable. When I look back at Brahm, he nods. “I’d spent most of the last decade inside a bottle, Damien. You know better than anyone what kind of a mess I was, but Father’s condition had worsened and you were gone. He asked me to do my duty for the kingdom. I went to Willowgulch and met Nevina. Honestly, it was easy. Love at first sight.” He takes her hand and gives it a gentle squeeze, eliciting the first genuine smile I’ve seen on the elf’s face since this story began. “We were wed the following day, bringing peace to Stygarde.”
“And Father?”
Brahm’s face betrays an old, festering grief. “It was too late for him. He passed from the illness within the week.”
A ball of lead forms in the pit of my stomach, and this time, I can’t disguise my pain. I hunch over, squeezing my eyes shut against a gnawing emptiness that seems to be everywhere at once.
“And Mother and Karyl?”
Brahm clears his throat before answering. “They’d contracted the disease only a few weeks before the peace accord. They succumbed a few months later.”
I bring my fists to my forehead, memories of my family flashing through my mind. My father’s laugh, my mother’s warm smile, Karyl’s zest for life. Grief pummels me, a hailstorm from the inside.
Eloise’s hand lands on my back, and she gently rubs my shoulders. She has no idea what Brahm’s just told me, only that I’m in agony. I’ll have to find the strength to explain this all to her. Gods, I can’t fathom it.
Brahm sighs. “So many times, I’ve asked myself, ‘Why not me?’ ‘Why them?’ But I know why I didn’t catch it. At the time, I was spending my days in a hole-in-the-wall pub in Aendor, which meant the wind off the water blew the poison away from me. I simply wasn’t as exposed. Mother and Karyl hunted on polluted grounds. I was rarely here to breathe the air.”
I straighten. I can’t break down here. Not yet. Not until I know everything. “Father passed,” I reiterate.
“Yes.”
“And you were made king.” Despite myself, my voice breaks.
“Yes,” he says somberly. “Almost fifty years ago.”
“And Nevina is queen.”
Brahm nods. “Much has changed since your time here, Damien. Our kingdom is at peace. Willowgulch is now our closest political ally. But yes, there was a price. We lost thousands. We lost our family.” His eyes shift. “A few isolated instances of the disease still exist in Stygarde.”
My eyes burn. I so badly want to be alone to nurse the gaping wound that’s been slashed into my chest. But there are a few more things I need to know. “The crest above the door… Does it mean that you’ve formed a new kingdom?”
