Lex nodded. “Very well.”
Lex led them through the castle, waving off any guards who questioned where she was going. Draven’s heart was beating hard in his chest, the look the Nitesh had had on her face when she stood now seared in his mind.
When they reached the Throne Room, the Nitesh did not stop until she was standing at the front of Arbina’s pool.
“Back,” the Nitesh warned. “Both of you.”
They took steps back behind her, and the Nitesh plunged her staff so forcefully into the water that it swelled into a great tidal wave.
The golden streaks on her skin glowed like nerves on the surface. The wave splashed onto the great white tree, and from its depths he saw a woman form out of the mist.
His giver’s enemy. The reason his own maker was cursed.
Arbina Promregis Amaris.
He’d never seen her in her corporeal form. Long white blonde wavy hair billowed in the wind that had encircled the room. Her icy eyes stared at the Nitesh, and a slow smile spread over her beautiful face.
“Nari,” Arbina called the Nitesh by her true name. “I did not realize you were the new pet.”
“What. Have. You.Done?” the Nitesh asked wildly.
Arbina picked at one of her pointed nails and raised a brow. “I don’t know what—”
Lightning lit up the sky.
Thunder cracked so violently that the entire castle shook.
“The child, Arbina,” the Nitesh spat. “The child in the womb she should not even have.”
Draven’s heart stopped. “What?”
Lex grabbed Draven’s arm.
“How many of your daughters have you given this ability to?” the Nitesh shouted.
Arbina’s smile widened, and her eyes flashed towards Draven. “Finally. I wondered how many it would take before she found you.” Arbina began walking then, her figure dancing over the water’s surface as she continued to ignore them.
“How many, Promregis?!” the Nitesh shouted again.
“All of them,” Arbina said shortly.
“Wait,” Draven cut in, stepping up from the shadows. “You’re telling me… Aydra is carrying a…” his voice choked on the word “child?” he finally managed. “My child?” His eyes darted between the women in the room, and he felt the blood draining from his face. “But how? How can she be with child? What—”
“Ancient stories tell of a race of beings beyond our shores,” the Nitesh began darkly. “A race of savages, power hungry and greedy, the same beings who have arrived on our shores now—”
Draven and Lex exchanged a wide-eyed glance, but the Nitesh continued to speak, and they didn’t have a chance to ask her about the words she’d used.
“—The stories say they grew children in their women’s bellies over a period of time, and birthed them as squalling babies. These children would share the nature of both their combined givers, a man and a woman.” The Nitesh turned to Arbina. “I will assume this is where you received such an idea.”
Arbina smiled a sly, mischievous smile that sent a chill down Draven’s spine. “It is,” she answered.
The Nitesh screamed.
Lightning struck the tree.
“You have meddled with Haerland!” the Nitesh shouted. “Meddled with the sanctity of this land! What will this child even be?!”
“A child of greatness,” Arbina affirmed. “Born of the Sun and Darkness merged as one.”
